While I was busy scratching an irb itch, I came up with a handy technique for converting a method's block definition into a hash. Here's an example of using such a method:
Alias.init do |a| a.verbose = true a.constant = {'Array' = 'A'} a.instance_method = {'String'=>{'downcase'=>'dc' },'Array'=>{'select'=>'s'}} end
What I wanted was a quick but clean way to convert the data structure described in the method's block to a hash. So knowing about OpenStruct, I peered into its internals and saw that it stores its attributes as a hash in @table. Since there isn't a public method for @table, I realized I was going to have to use instance_variable_get(:@table). Now if I only wanted to be quick, I could simply have used that. But wanting code clarity (ie not have to read OpenStruct's internal variables each time) and to avoid monkeypatching (I have been bitten), I came up with:
Using it is simple. Pass your method's block to ConfigStruct.block_to_hash() and you'll get back a hash with whatever was defined in the block:
def init(*args, &block) config = ConfigStruct.block_to_hash(block) #process your config ... end
init do |c| c.some = "config" c.info = "goes here" end # In init(), config = {:some=>'config', :info=>'goes here'}
If you decide to not pass your method a block? No worries. You get back an empty hash. To see this idea in my ruby gem, see here
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