lawrencepit / autocode forked from dyoder/autocode

= Introducing Autocode 

Autocode makes it relatively easy to automatically (re)load or even generate classes and modules on the fly. You can use 
it like this:

  require 'autocode'
  
  module Application
    extend Autoload
    autoload 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, <tt>Application::CustomerModel</tt> could load the file <tt>models/customer_model.rb</tt>.

== Reloading Code

To make code reloadable (very useful when debugging running processes), simply extend Reloadable. Thus, our above 
example would become:

  require 'autocode'

  module Application
    extend Autoload; extend Reloadable
    autoload true
    directories :configurations, :models, :views, :controllers
  end
  
Then, later on, we can simply call <tt>Application.reload</tt> to reload all the code that was loaded via *Autocode*. 
*Important*: Only code loaded via *Autocode* (Autoload or Autocreate) 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 autoloading.

  require 'autocode'

  module Application
    extend Autocreate; extend Reloadable
    [ [ :Configurations, :configurations ], 
      [ :Models, :models ],
      [ :Views, :views ],
      [ :Controllers, :controllers ] ].each |mod_name, dir_name| do
      autocreate mod_name, Module.new do 
        extend Autoload
        autoload true
        directories dir_name
      end
    end
  end

This will autocreate the modules Configurations, Models, Views, and Controllers within the Application module, as they 
are referenced, based on the exemplar Module configured to autoload code from the configurations, models, views, and 
controllers directories.

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

== Autodefinition

If you do configuration or method definition for a reloadable class or module, unless your code is in an autoloading 
file, it will get clobbered upon reload.  You can work around this with autodef, which registers blocks against constant 
names so that autocreate and autoload can run them after object creation.

require 'autocode'

module Application
  extend Autodef
  autodef(:Configurations) do
    def self.upcase_name; name.upcase ; end
  end

  autodef('Models::Doodad') do
    def self.create_broken; new(:working => false); end
    def part_number; 12345 ; end
  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 *Autocode* Web site first at 
http://code.google.com/p/ruby-autocode/.

(c) 2007 Dan Yoder

Licensed under the MIT License.