Nice Enumerations for Ruby¶ ↑

Ruby’s built-in enumeration support, or the lack thereof, is somewhere in the C/C++-Age. An enum in Ruby is usually a class or module with various constants. Attempting to display the enum constants will result in their values being displayed, which have no use to the end user of the application.

module Permissions
	Read = 4
	Write = 2
	Execute = 1
end

permissions = Permissions::Read | Permissions::Write
puts permissions
# Will output "6" - Although correct, it won't make any sense for a
# computer-illiterate user.

nice_enum solves this problem by encapsulating the enum values inside an instance of their enclosing class and making the to_s method return the name of the constant. The above code translates to

class Permissions < Flags
	enum :Read,  	4
	enum :Write,   2
	enum :Execute, 1
end

permissions = Permissions::Read | Permissions::Write
puts permissions.join(" and ")
# Will output "Write and Read".

nice_enum contains two classes: Enum and Flags. Instances of Flag will automatically figure out it’s components when or’d together and provides a different to_s method. Otherwise the classes are functionally identical.

Of course, an enum can use anything as it’s value type, not only integers. The value type must only provide a <=> operator, a hash method, and a eql? method.

The most recent documentation is available at rubydoc.info.

Installation¶ ↑

Using Rubygems:

gem install nice_enum

Manually:

git clone git://github.com/raphaelr/nice_enum
cd nice_enum
rake install

Usage¶ ↑

require "nice_enum"

Features¶ ↑

From Enums to Fixnums and back¶ ↑

Getting the underlying value from an enum instance is usually not neccessary because the Enumeration class will hand method calls automatically down to the underlying value:

puts Permissions::Execute.next  # => 2; Will call 1.next

You can explicitly ask for the underlying value:

puts Permissions::Execute.value # => 1

The inverse has to be done explicitly:

puts Permissions.new(1)  	  	 # => Execute
puts Permissions.new(3)  	  	 # => Execute | Write
puts Permissions.new(80)  	  	# => 80

In the last example, the Permission instance is treated as a Permission with the name “80” and the value 80.

Auto-Values¶ ↑

Like in most languages with enum support, you don’t have to explicitly provide values for enumerations. nice_enum will create sequential Integers if you don’t specify them:

class Suit < Enum
	enum :Spades  	# Will become 0
	enum :Hearts  	# Will become 1
	enum :Diamonds  # Will become 2
	enum :Clubs  	 # Will become 3
end

You can also mix explicit and implicit values together:

class Numbers < Enum
	enum :Zero
	enum :One
	enum :FourtyEight, 48
	enum :FourtyNine
end

Note that eventual gaps aren’t filled.

Iterating over values¶ ↑

Suit.each { |suit| puts suit }
# Outputs: Spades
#  	  	  Hearts
#  	  	  Diamonds
#  	  	  Clubs

The Enum class also includes the Enumerable module so you can do stuff like:

Suit.map { |suit| suit.name.chop }.each { |suit| puts suit }
# Outputs: Spade
#  	  	  Heart
#  	  	  Diamond
#  	  	  Club

Attributes¶ ↑

If that’s not nice enough for you, maybe this is: You can attach any number of attributes to enumerations. For example:

class Number < Enum
	enum :Zero, 0, :squared => 0
	enum :One, 1, :note => "Average number of eyes per eyehole", :squared => 1
	enum :Five, 5, :note => "Number of digits per hand", :squared => 25
end

Number.each do |enum|
	puts "#{enum} is squared #{enum.squared} and is special because it is the #{enum.note}."
end
# Outputs: Zero is squared 0 and is special because it is the nil.
#  	  	  One is squared 1 and is special because it is the Average number of eyes per eyehole.
#  	  	  Five is squared 25 and is special because it is the Number of digits per hand.

You can also provide default values for attributes:

class Number < Enum
	default :note => "number which is the same if multiplied with one"
	# ...
end
# Outputs: Zero is squared 0 and is special because it is the number which is the same if multiplied with one.
#  	  	  One is squared 1 and is special because it is the Average number of eyes per eyehole.
#  	  	  Five is squared 25 and is special because it is the Number of digits per hand.

Instance methods¶ ↑

Since enum values are instances of their enclosing class, you can add methods to them:

class Number < Enum
	enum :Zero, 0
	enum :One, 1
	enum :Two, 2
	
	def square
	  value ** 2
	end
end

numbers = Number.to_a
numbers << Number.new(3)

numbers.each { |number| puts "#{number} squared is #{number.square}." }
# Outputs: Zero squared is 0.
#  	  	  One squared is 1.
#  	  	  Two squared is 4.
#  	  	  3 squared is 9.

License¶ ↑

Copyright © 2010, Raphael Robatsch All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

• Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

• Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

• The names of the developers or contributors must not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE DEVELOPERS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE DEVELOPERS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.