class OpenStruct

An OpenStruct is a data structure, similar to a Hash, that allows the definition of arbitrary attributes with their accompanying values. This is accomplished by using Ruby's metaprogramming to define methods on the class itself.

Examples¶ ↑

require "ostruct"

person = OpenStruct.new
person.name = "John Smith"
person.age  = 70

person.name      # => "John Smith"
person.age       # => 70
person.address   # => nil

An OpenStruct employs a Hash internally to store the attributes and values and can even be initialized with one:

australia = OpenStruct.new(:country => "Australia", :capital => "Canberra")
  # => #<OpenStruct country="Australia", capital="Canberra">

Hash keys with spaces or characters that could normally not be used for method calls (e.g. ()[]*) will not be immediately available on the OpenStruct object as a method for retrieval or assignment, but can still be reached through the Object#send method.

measurements = OpenStruct.new("length (in inches)" => 24)
measurements.send("length (in inches)")   # => 24

message = OpenStruct.new(:queued? => true)
message.queued?                           # => true
message.send("queued?=", false)
message.queued?                           # => false

Removing the presence of an attribute requires the execution of the delete_field method as setting the property value to nil will not remove the attribute.

first_pet  = OpenStruct.new(:name => "Rowdy", :owner => "John Smith")
second_pet = OpenStruct.new(:name => "Rowdy")

first_pet.owner = nil
first_pet                 # => #<OpenStruct name="Rowdy", owner=nil>
first_pet == second_pet   # => false

first_pet.delete_field(:owner)
first_pet                 # => #<OpenStruct name="Rowdy">
first_pet == second_pet   # => true

Implementation¶ ↑

An OpenStruct utilizes Ruby's method lookup structure to find and define the necessary methods for properties. This is accomplished through the methods method_missing and define_singleton_method.

This should be a consideration if there is a concern about the performance of the objects that are created, as there is much more overhead in the setting of these properties compared to using a Hash or a Struct.

Public Class Methods

json_create(object) click to toggle source

Deserializes JSON string by constructing new Struct object with values t serialized by to_json.

# File ext/json/lib/json/add/ostruct.rb, line 11
def self.json_create(object)
  new(object['t'] || object[:t])
end

new(hash=nil) click to toggle source

Creates a new OpenStruct object. By default, the resulting OpenStruct object will have no attributes.

The optional hash, if given, will generate attributes and values (can be a Hash, an OpenStruct or a Struct). For example:

require "ostruct"
hash = { "country" => "Australia", :capital => "Canberra" }
data = OpenStruct.new(hash)

data   # => #<OpenStruct country="Australia", capital="Canberra">

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 91
def initialize(hash=nil)
  @table = {}
  if hash
    hash.each_pair do |k, v|
      k = k.to_sym
      @table[k] = v
    end
  end
end

Public Instance Methods

==(other) click to toggle source

Compares this object and other for equality. An OpenStruct is equal to other when other is an OpenStruct and the two objects' Hash tables are equal.

require "ostruct"
first_pet  = OpenStruct.new("name" => "Rowdy")
second_pet = OpenStruct.new(:name  => "Rowdy")
third_pet  = OpenStruct.new("name" => "Rowdy", :age => nil)

first_pet == second_pet   # => true
first_pet == third_pet    # => false

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 359
def ==(other)
  return false unless other.kind_of?(OpenStruct)
  @table == other.table!
end

ostruct[name] → object click to toggle source

Returns the value of an attribute.

require "ostruct"
person = OpenStruct.new("name" => "John Smith", "age" => 70)
person[:age]   # => 70, same as person.age

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 244
def [](name)
  @table[name.to_sym]
end

ostruct[name] = obj → obj click to toggle source

Sets the value of an attribute.

require "ostruct"
person = OpenStruct.new("name" => "John Smith", "age" => 70)
person[:age] = 42   # equivalent to person.age = 42
person.age          # => 42

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 259
def []=(name, value)
  modifiable?[new_ostruct_member!(name)] = value
end

as_json(*) click to toggle source

Returns a hash, that will be turned into a JSON object and represent this object.

# File ext/json/lib/json/add/ostruct.rb, line 17
def as_json(*)
  klass = self.class.name
  klass.to_s.empty? and raise JSON::JSONError, "Only named structs are supported!"
  {
    JSON.create_id => klass,
    't'            => table,
  }
end

delete_field(name) click to toggle source

Removes the named field from the object. Returns the value that the field contained if it was defined.

require "ostruct"

person = OpenStruct.new(name: "John", age: 70, pension: 300)

person.delete_field("age")   # => 70
person                       # => #<OpenStruct name="John", pension=300>

Setting the value to nil will not remove the attribute:

person.pension = nil
person                 # => #<OpenStruct name="John", pension=nil>

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 308
def delete_field(name)
  sym = name.to_sym
  begin
    singleton_class.remove_method(sym, "#{sym}=")
  rescue NameError
  end
  @table.delete(sym) do
    raise NameError.new("no field `#{sym}' in #{self}", sym)
  end
end

dig(name, ...) → object click to toggle source

Extracts the nested value specified by the sequence of name objects by calling dig at each step, returning nil if any intermediate step is nil.

require "ostruct"
address = OpenStruct.new("city" => "Anytown NC", "zip" => 12345)
person  = OpenStruct.new("name" => "John Smith", "address" => address)

person.dig(:address, "zip")            # => 12345
person.dig(:business_address, "zip")   # => nil

data = OpenStruct.new(:array => [1, [2, 3]])

data.dig(:array, 1, 0)   # => 2
data.dig(:array, 0, 0)   # TypeError: Integer does not have #dig method

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 283
def dig(name, *names)
  begin
    name = name.to_sym
  rescue NoMethodError
    raise TypeError, "#{name} is not a symbol nor a string"
  end
  @table.dig(name, *names)
end

each_pair {|name, value| block } → ostruct click to toggle source

each_pair → Enumerator

Yields all attributes (as symbols) along with the corresponding values or returns an enumerator if no block is given.

require "ostruct"
data = OpenStruct.new("country" => "Australia", :capital => "Canberra")
data.each_pair.to_a   # => [[:country, "Australia"], [:capital, "Canberra"]]

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 144
def each_pair
  return to_enum(__method__) { @table.size } unless block_given?
  @table.each_pair{|p| yield p}
  self
end

eql?(other) click to toggle source

Compares this object and other for equality. An OpenStruct is eql? to other when other is an OpenStruct and the two objects' Hash tables are eql?.

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 369
def eql?(other)
  return false unless other.kind_of?(OpenStruct)
  @table.eql?(other.table!)
end

freeze() click to toggle source

Calls superclass method Object#freeze

# File lib/ostruct.rb, line 202
def freeze
  @table.each_key {|key| new_ostruct_member!(key)}
  super
end

hash() click to toggle source

Computes a hash code for this OpenStruct. Two OpenStruct objects with the same content will have the same hash code (and will compare using eql?).