Initializing Instance Variable as an Array - Ruby

Question

I'm trying to initialize and instance variable as an array as follows:

  class Arch < ActiveRecord::Base  
  attr_accessor :name1

    def initialize
      @name1 = []
    end

    def add_name1(t)
      @name1 << t
    end

  end

When I try Arch.new in a console session I get (Object doesn't support #inspect). What's up? How do I make an instance array variable? I tried to follow this like so:

class Arch < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessor :name1

  def after_initialize
    @name1 = []
  end

  def add_name1(t)
    @name1 << t
  end

end

and my @name1 was still a NilClass. :/

user664833 · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-19 18:31:15Z

10

You are overriding ActiveRecord's initialize method. Try using super:

def initialize(*args, &block)
   super 
   @name1 = []
end

edited Dec 19, 2014 at 18:31

user664833

19.7k20 gold badges97 silver badges151 bronze badges

answered Nov 9, 2011 at 23:13

Iuri G.

10.6k4 gold badges25 silver badges39 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

halfdan · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-09 23:12:48Z

3

You are overiding the initialize method of ActiveRecord::Base. When creating a new instance of your class only your initilize will be called. All the instance variables that ActiveRecord::Base would have created are uninitialized and #inspect fails. In order to fix this you need to call the constructor of your base class (using super)

class Arch < ActiveRecord::Base  

  attr_accessor :name1
  def initialize
    super
    @name1 = []
  end

  def add_name1(t)
    @name1 << t
  end
end

answered Nov 9, 2011 at 23:12

halfdan

34.3k8 gold badges82 silver badges88 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Initializing Instance Variable as an Array - Ruby

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related