conditional chaining in ruby

HermanD_43965 0
Viewed 11811

Is there a good way to chain methods conditionally in Ruby?

What I want to do functionally is

if a && b && c
 my_object.some_method_because_of_a.some_method_because_of_b.some_method_because_of_c
elsif a && b && !c
 my_object.some_method_because_of_a.some_method_because_of_b
elsif a && !b && c
 my_object.some_method_because_of_a.some_method_because_of_c

etc...

So depending on a number of conditions I want to work out what methods to call in the method chain.

So far my best attempt to do this in a "good way" is to conditionally build the string of methods, and use eval, but surely there is a better, more ruby, way?

chaining ruby
10 Answers

Sample class to demonstrate chaining methods that return a copied instance without modifying the caller. This might be a lib required by your app.

class Foo
  attr_accessor :field
    def initialize
      @field=[]
    end
    def dup
      # Note: objects in @field aren't dup'ed!
      super.tap{|e| e.field=e.field.dup }
    end
    def a
      dup.tap{|e| e.field << :a }
    end
    def b
      dup.tap{|e| e.field << :b }
    end
    def c
      dup.tap{|e| e.field << :c }
    end
end

monkeypatch: this is what you want to add to your app to enable conditional chaining

class Object
  # passes self to block and returns result of block.
  # More cumbersome to call than #chain_if, but useful if you want to put
  # complex conditions in the block, or call a different method when your cond is false.
  def chain_block(&block)
    yield self
  end
  # passes self to block
  # bool:
  # if false, returns caller without executing block.
  # if true, return result of block.
  # Useful if your condition is simple, and you want to merely pass along the previous caller in the chain if false.
  def chain_if(bool, &block)
    bool ? yield(self) : self
  end
end

Sample usage

# sample usage: chain_block
>> cond_a, cond_b, cond_c = true, false, true
>> f.chain_block{|e| cond_a ? e.a : e }.chain_block{|e| cond_b ? e.b : e }.chain_block{|e| cond_c ? e.c : e }
=> #<Foo:0x007fe71027ab60 @field=[:a, :c]>
# sample usage: chain_if
>> cond_a, cond_b, cond_c = false, true, false
>> f.chain_if(cond_a, &:a).chain_if(cond_b, &:b).chain_if(cond_c, &:c)
=> #<Foo:0x007fe7106a7e90 @field=[:b]>

# The chain_if call can also allow args
>> obj.chain_if(cond) {|e| e.argified_method(args) }
user_4985940

Use #yield_self or, since Ruby 2.6, #then!

my_object.
  then{ |o| a ? o.some_method_because_of_a : o }.
  then{ |o| b ? o.some_method_because_of_b : o }.
  then{ |o| c ? o.some_method_because_of_c : o }
user_33192980

Here's a more functional programming way.

Use break in order to get tap() to return the result. (tap is in only in rails as is mentioned in the other answer)

'hey'.tap{ |x| x + " what's" if true }
     .tap{ |x| x + "noooooo" if false }
     .tap{ |x| x + ' up' if true }
# => "hey"

'hey'.tap{ |x| break x + " what's" if true }
     .tap{ |x| break x + "noooooo" if false }
     .tap{ |x| break x + ' up' if true }
# => "hey what's up"
user_13309260
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