Rails - Feb 2006 - Ruby class variables and access from view templates

I have an app that requires me to define a class variable (actually an 
array) in a controller and then access it from within a view. It seems 
that the class variables aren''t working right. Here is an example of 
what I''m trying to do.

class DisplayController < ApplicationController

@@thumbnail_array = Array.new

...

def some_method
  @@thumbnail_array = SomeModel.find_all
...
end

.....
end

Then in the view for some_method,

<% for thumb in @@thumbnail_array %>
...
do something interesting


But my app blows up at that point giving me an unitialized class 
variable - @@thumbnail_array.

What am I doing wrong?

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Ross Ashley wrote:
> class DisplayController < ApplicationController
> 
> @@thumbnail_array = Array.new
> 
> ...
> 
> def some_method
>   @@thumbnail_array = SomeModel.find_all
> ...
> end
> 
> .....
> end
> 
> Then in the view for some_method,
> 
> <% for thumb in @@thumbnail_array %>
> ...
> do something interesting
> 
> 
> But my app blows up at that point giving me an unitialized class 
> variable - @@thumbnail_array.
Incidently, this works when I use an instance variable, 
@thumbnail_array, But I have to modify the array from another method in 
the controller which is why I am trying to get the class variable to 
work.

Suggestions?

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

@thumbnail_array = @@thumbnail_array

or...better yet...

def thumbails
   @@thumbnail_array
end

<% for thumb in thumbnails %>

--  
-- Tom Mornini

On Feb 16, 2006, at 1:37 PM, Ross Ashley wrote:
> Ross Ashley wrote:
>> class DisplayController < ApplicationController
>>
>> @@thumbnail_array = Array.new
>>
>> ...
>>
>> def some_method
>>   @@thumbnail_array = SomeModel.find_all
>> ...
>> end
>>
>> .....
>> end
>>
>> Then in the view for some_method,
>>
>> <% for thumb in @@thumbnail_array %>
>> ...
>> do something interesting
>>
>>
>> But my app blows up at that point giving me an unitialized class
>> variable - @@thumbnail_array.
>
> Incidently, this works when I use an instance variable,
> @thumbnail_array, But I have to modify the array from another  
> method in
> the controller which is why I am trying to get the class variable to
> work.
>
> Suggestions?
>
> -- 
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails

Tom Mornini wrote:
> @thumbnail_array = @@thumbnail_array
That allows me to access the instance variable from the view template. 
Thanks.
> def thumbails
>    @@thumbnail_array
> end
> 
> <% for thumb in thumbnails %>
> 
> --
> -- Tom Mornini
I no longer need this info but I''m not sure how to map the call to 
thumbnails back to the controller class. That is, how do you fix the 
undefined local variable or method error in the controller.

But, this doesn''t fix my real problem.

The reason I have go through this is that I have to access that class 
variable from a different method within the same class.

So...

class DisplayController < ApplicationController

  @@thumbnail_array = Array.new

  def some_method
    @@thumbnail_array = SomeModel.find_all
  end

  def another_method
    @variable = @@thumbnail_array.size
  end

end

Now any call to DisplayController.another_method will cause an error. It 
doesn''t matter where I put the @@thumbnail_array definition, either in 
the initialize method or at the top of the class.

This leads me to believe that class variables don''t work in Rails. That
makes no sense.

Ross

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

What is probably happening here is that your first method is setting up  
the array properly.  At the end of the request, the entire controller  
object goes out of scope and your class array with it.  When the  
controller gets set up for the next request, it creates and  
re-initializes the class variable.

You could set up a before_filter to populate an instance variable.

_Kevin

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Kevin Olbrich wrote:
> What is probably happening here is that your first method is setting up
> the array properly.  At the end of the request, the entire controller
> object goes out of scope and your class array with it.  When the
> controller gets set up for the next request, it creates and
> re-initializes the class variable.
> 
> You could set up a before_filter to populate an instance variable.
That makes sense. I suppose a class variable in Ruby is not really the 
same thing as a static variable in C++. It explains why I had to resort 
to global variables in another section.

Thanks.

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Ross Ashley wrote:
> That makes sense. I suppose a class variable in Ruby is not really the 
> same thing as a static variable in C++. It explains why I had to resort 
> to global variables in another section.
Hmm, why not? I thought "@@" variables are available to all instances.
How is that not
like "static"?

And you make a "static" method by defining it as MyClass.methodname or
self.methodname...

b

I asked about this once on the IRC channel and the answer was basically,
"use a database for this" .. I suspect it''s a reasonable
thing to suggest.
I think it really has to do with the lifecycle of classes, when they are
created, destroyed, etc.

Tony

On 2/16/06, Ross Ashley <rashley@katto.com> wrote:
>
> Tom Mornini wrote:
> > @thumbnail_array = @@thumbnail_array
>
> That allows me to access the instance variable from the view template.
> Thanks.
>
> > def thumbails
> >    @@thumbnail_array
> > end
> >
> > <% for thumb in thumbnails %>
> >
> > --
> > -- Tom Mornini
>
> I no longer need this info but I''m not sure how to map the call to
> thumbnails back to the controller class. That is, how do you fix the
> undefined local variable or method error in the controller.
>
> But, this doesn''t fix my real problem.
>
> The reason I have go through this is that I have to access that class
> variable from a different method within the same class.
>
> So...
>
> class DisplayController < ApplicationController
>
>   @@thumbnail_array = Array.new
>
>   def some_method
>     @@thumbnail_array = SomeModel.find_all
>   end
>
>   def another_method
>     @variable = @@thumbnail_array.size
>   end
>
> end
>
> Now any call to DisplayController.another_method will cause an error. It
> doesn''t matter where I put the @@thumbnail_array definition,
either in
> the initialize method or at the top of the class.
>
> This leads me to believe that class variables don''t work in Rails.
That
> makes no sense.
>
> Ross
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
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Tony Collen wrote:
> I asked about this once on the IRC channel and the answer was basically,
> "use a database for this" .. I suspect it''s a reasonable
thing to
> suggest.
> I think it really has to do with the lifecycle of classes, when they are
> created, destroyed, etc.
> 
> Tony
In C++ when you instantiate a class, if it has a static variable, that 
variable is available to any instance of that class, regardless of 
whether all instances of it go out of scope. That is, when a new object 
is created, even if all previous instantiations have gone out of scope, 
it has access to the static variable and to it''s previously defined 
value. I thought that was what @@ meant. But, apparently, if all 
instances of a class are out of scope, when a new object is 
instantiated, the class variable loses it''s previously defined value.

I wish this weren''t the case, but when a new controller class is 
instantiated in Rails, any @@ variables get reinitialized.

So how is that not just a @ variable?

IOW, has anyone gotten @@ variables in a controller class to work?

--Ross

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Ross Ashley wrote:
> In C++ when you instantiate a class, if it has a static variable, that 
> variable is available to any instance of that class, regardless of 
> whether all instances of it go out of scope. That is, when a new object 
> is created, even if all previous instantiations have gone out of scope, 
> it has access to the static variable and to it''s previously
defined
> value. I thought that was what @@ meant. But, apparently, if all 
> instances of a class are out of scope, when a new object is 
> instantiated, the class variable loses it''s previously defined
value.
> 
> I wish this weren''t the case, but when a new controller class is 
> instantiated in Rails, any @@ variables get reinitialized.
> 
> So how is that not just a @ variable?
> 
> IOW, has anyone gotten @@ variables in a controller class to work?
> 
> --Ross
I''ve been wondering about this too. Here''s what I just tried:

I put this in my environment.rb:

@@foo = ["Start foo: " + Time.now.to_s]

I put this in a controller:

logger.info("foo output: " + @@foo.to_s)
@@foo << "foo again: " + Time.now.to_s

When I hit that action the "foo output: ..." shows up in my log and on
each request I get
another addition to my array with the time on it.

However, if I move the initialization of @@foo into the controller, I get just
"Start
foo..." on every request. So, yes, rails somehow renders @@ variable
useless. Guess that''s
why I never see them in code examples.

You can, however, put the global in environment.rb and it''ll retain
it''s state... at least
in webrick. Not sure how FastCGI handles that.

b

I would be interested to see if there are differences in class variable  
handling between development and production mode.  In development mode a  
lot of the code gets reloaded every request, but in production mode this  
doesn''t happen so much.

As a general rule it is probably best to avoid using class variables to  
store stuff.  If you scale your app to multiple web servers, the next  
request might not go back to the same box and would not have access to  
anything you put in the class variable.

You should probably use one of the following to get the same effect..

1. store it in the database
2. use the session hash
3. use a before_filter
4. write it to a temp file

An enterprising person could probably write a plugin that would emulate  
the typical class variable behavior by using one the previously  
mentioned methods to store the contents.

_Kevin

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