Calling a method on class creation

eggie5
Thu, 23 Aug 2007 23:15:23 -0000

I have a model User that has property called status. Status is just a
string that can only be evaluated and not persisted. I.e. it doesn''t
have a field in the user table.

Anyways, I would like a method get_status to be called anytime I
create a new instance of User. For example:

user=User.new

Since I created a new instance of User, I should now have access to
the status property, e.g.:

user.status
=>"Ready"

Here is my User class:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_and_belongs_to_many :roles

def evaluate_status
    #evaluate the status
    #@status = ...
  end
end

How would I call get_status whenever a new instance of User is
created? It''s constructor?

Thanks