Rails - May 2006 - Rails Bug when loading required files for API?

Hello,

I have seen some odd behaviour of my Web Services code plus some  
''similar'' postings to this list, so I believe this may be a
bug in
Rails. But I''m failry new to RoR, so maybe I''m doing something
wrong.
I''ll explain:

I have a WS API defined, communicating with a remote system that  
expects a stucture:

When defined like this (all definitions in one file) it all works fine:

/app/apis/myws_api.rb
----------
class SoapResponse < ActionWebService::Struct
    member :id, :int
    member :title, :string
end

class MyApi < ActionWebService::API::Base
   api_method :find_products_by_category, :expects =>  
[:string], :returns => [[SoapResponse]]
end
----------

Now when I try to isolate my API code and my structures into a module  
(listing below) things go wrong, but in a weird way. When I restart  
my Webrick server the initial "/myws/invoke" hit gives no complaints,
but when I reload the exact same page an ''uninitialized
constant''
error occurs (error msgs below). This happens with external clients  
as well, the first request is fine but all others throw an error. It  
seems to be related to loading the required file, but my expertise  
ends here. If I define the SoapResponse class in the application  
controller it all works fine, BTW (but I don''t want that).

Does anybody have any suggestions how to further investigate/remedy  
this? Am I doing this right anyway?

TIA,
Michel Benevento

--------------------------

/vendor/my_service.rb
----------
module MyService
   class SoapResponse < ActionWebService::Struct
     member :id, :int
     member :title, :string
   end
end
----------

/app/apis/myws_api.rb
----------
require "my_service"
class MywsApi < ActionWebService::API::Base
   include MyService
   api_method :find_products_by_category, :expects =>  
[:string], :returns => [[MyService::SoapResponse]]
end



error msg (occurs only on second and subsequent requests):
-------------
NameError

uninitialized constant SoapResponse

/opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-1.3.1/lib/ 
active_support/dependencies.rb:123:in `const_missing''

<snip>

This error occured while loading the following files:
    webpress_controller.rb
    webpress_api.rb
    my_service/soap_response.rb

Or maybe there is something deeper going on:

http://dev.rubyonrails.org/ticket/5126

This is a unrelated bug, but with similar symptoms.

ActionWebService::Struct classes are reloadable in the development
mode (just like model classes). That means that you shouldn''t place
them into the vendor folder. There is a special folder app/apis
created just for that. Another thing is that you must not use
standard ''require'' method to loaded reloadable classes, it
won''t work
in the development mode.

On 5/31/06, Michel Benevento <michelbenevento@yahoo.com>
wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have seen some odd behaviour of my Web Services code plus some
> ''similar'' postings to this list, so I believe this may be
a bug in
> Rails. But I''m failry new to RoR, so maybe I''m doing
something wrong.
> I''ll explain:
>
> I have a WS API defined, communicating with a remote system that
> expects a stucture:
>
> When defined like this (all definitions in one file) it all works fine:
>
> /app/apis/myws_api.rb
> ----------
> class SoapResponse < ActionWebService::Struct
>     member :id, :int
>     member :title, :string
> end
>
> class MyApi < ActionWebService::API::Base
>    api_method :find_products_by_category, :expects =>
> [:string], :returns => [[SoapResponse]]
> end
> ----------
>
> Now when I try to isolate my API code and my structures into a module
> (listing below) things go wrong, but in a weird way. When I restart
> my Webrick server the initial "/myws/invoke" hit gives no
complaints,
> but when I reload the exact same page an ''uninitialized
constant''
> error occurs (error msgs below). This happens with external clients
> as well, the first request is fine but all others throw an error. It
> seems to be related to loading the required file, but my expertise
> ends here. If I define the SoapResponse class in the application
> controller it all works fine, BTW (but I don''t want that).
>
> Does anybody have any suggestions how to further investigate/remedy
> this? Am I doing this right anyway?
>
> TIA,
> Michel Benevento
>
> --------------------------
>
> /vendor/my_service.rb
> ----------
> module MyService
>    class SoapResponse < ActionWebService::Struct
>      member :id, :int
>      member :title, :string
>    end
> end
> ----------
>
> /app/apis/myws_api.rb
> ----------
> require "my_service"
> class MywsApi < ActionWebService::API::Base
>    include MyService
>    api_method :find_products_by_category, :expects =>
> [:string], :returns => [[MyService::SoapResponse]]
> end
>
>
>
> error msg (occurs only on second and subsequent requests):
> -------------
> NameError
>
> uninitialized constant SoapResponse
>
> /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-1.3.1/lib/
> active_support/dependencies.rb:123:in `const_missing''
>
> <snip>
>
> This error occured while loading the following files:
>     webpress_controller.rb
>     webpress_api.rb
>     my_service/soap_response.rb
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>

-- 
Kent
---
http://www.datanoise.com