delegate

Provides a delegate class method to easily expose contained objects’ methods as your own. Pass one or more methods (specified as symbols or strings) and the name of the target object via the :to option (also a symbol or string). At least one method and the :to option are required.

Delegation is particularly useful with Active Record associations:

class Greeter < ActiveRecord::Base
  def hello
    "hello"
  end

  def goodbye
    "goodbye"
  end
end

class Foo < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :greeter
  delegate :hello, :to => :greeter
end

Foo.new.hello   # => "hello"
Foo.new.goodbye # => NoMethodError: undefined method `goodbye' for #<Foo:0x1af30c>

Multiple delegates to the same target are allowed:

class Foo < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :greeter
  delegate :hello, :goodbye, :to => :greeter
end

Foo.new.goodbye # => "goodbye"

Methods can be delegated to instance variables, class variables, or constants by providing them as a symbols:

class Foo
  CONSTANT_ARRAY = [0,1,2,3]
  @@class_array  = [4,5,6,7]

  def initialize
    @instance_array = [8,9,10,11]
  end
  delegate :sum, :to => :CONSTANT_ARRAY
  delegate :min, :to => :@@class_array
  delegate :max, :to => :@instance_array
end

Foo.new.sum # => 6
Foo.new.min # => 4
Foo.new.max # => 11

Delegates can optionally be prefixed using the :prefix option. If the value is true, the delegate methods are prefixed with the name of the object being delegated to.

Person = Struct.new(:name, :address)

class Invoice < Struct.new(:client)
  delegate :name, :address, :to => :client, :prefix => true
end

john_doe = Person.new("John Doe", "Vimmersvej 13")
invoice = Invoice.new(john_doe)
invoice.client_name    # => "John Doe"
invoice.client_address # => "Vimmersvej 13"

It is also possible to supply a custom prefix.

class Invoice < Struct.new(:client)
  delegate :name, :address, :to => :client, :prefix => :customer
end

invoice = Invoice.new(john_doe)
invoice.customer_name    # => "John Doe"
invoice.customer_address # => "Vimmersvej 13"

If the delegate object is nil an exception is raised, and that happens no matter whether nil responds to the delegated method. You can get a nil instead with the :allow_nil option.

class Foo
  attr_accessor :bar
  def initialize(bar = nil)
    @bar = bar
  end
  delegate :zoo, :to => :bar
end

Foo.new.zoo   # raises NoMethodError exception (you called nil.zoo)

class Foo
  attr_accessor :bar
  def initialize(bar = nil)
    @bar = bar
  end
  delegate :zoo, :to => :bar, :allow_nil => true
end

Foo.new.zoo   # returns nil