Introducing AutoCode

AutoCode is a class (and module) loader from Ruby, complete with initialization hooks and reloading. It works as a mixin and uses const_remove for unloading so there can never be any artifacts from prior loads hanging around.

  require 'autocode'

  module Application
    include AutoCode
    auto_load true, :directories => [ :configurations, :models, :views, :controllers ]
  end

This will attempt to load code dynamically from the given directories, using the module name to determine which directory to look in. Thus, Application::CustomerModel could load the file models/customer_model.rb.

Reloading Code

Auto-loaded or created code is automatically reloadable (very useful when debugging running processes). Just call reload on any given module.

 *Important*: Only code loaded via *AutoCode* (auto_load or auto_create) will be reloaded.

Autocreation

Sometimes it‘s useful to generate defaults for classes or modules that don‘t exist. This can be particularly powerful when used in combination with auto_loading.

  require 'auto_code'

  module Application
    include AutoCode

    %w( Models Views Controllers ).each |name| do
      auto_create_module name do
        include AutoCode
        auto_load true, :directories => [ name.downcase ]
      end
    end
  end

This will auto_create the modules Configurations, Models, Views, and Controllers within the Application module, as they are referenced, and then initialize them so that they will automatically load source files from the corresponding directories.

For example, referencing Application::Models::Customer will cause the file models/customer.rb to be loaded.

Initializing

Sometimes you want to reopen a class or module and add or change methods, etc. However, in the case of auto-loading or creating unless your code is in an auto_load or auto_create block, it will get clobbered upon reload. You address this using auto_eval which registers blocks against constant names so that auto_create and auto_load can run them after object creation.

require ‘auto_code‘

module Application

  include AutoCode
  Models.auto_eval(true) do
    set_model self.name
  end

end

Other Uses

Autoloading and autocreation, along with reloading, can be used to provide sophisticated rules for loading and even generating modules and classes within a given module. These capabilities are increasingly found within frameworks like Rails and Camping, but AutoCode makes it possible to mixin these capabilities into any situation and precisely control how they are applied.

Support

If you have questions or comments, please go to the Waves support forum (which also supports AutoCode, since AutoCode is principally used within Waves) at groups.google.com/group/rubywaves.