On Nov 23, 11:52 pm, Ge Bro <booms... / gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey all,
> this is a total newbie question, i'm just starting to learn Ruby.
>
> here's the thing: i've got a couple of arrays with several items in
> each. I'd like to use a block to iterate through each array, and create
> objects of the class that is named the same as the array.
>
> This is supposed to populate a database where tables are named after
> arrays, and each table contains 1 column called "item_name" with items
> from the corresponding array.
>
> allow me to illustrate:
>
> ###
>
> some_item = ['foo', 'bar']
> other_item = ['alpha', 'bravo', 'foxtrot', 'zebra']
>
> ['some_item', 'other_item'].each do |this_array|
>   array_length = 0
>   this_object = this_array.to_s.capitalize   #<== here's the problem
>   until array_length == this_array.length
>     this_object.new(:item_name => this_array[array_length])
>     array_length += 1
>   end
> end
>
> ###
>
> the problem is, this_object becomes a string with the value of
> |this_array|. How do I explain to the program that its value is not just
> a string, but actually a name of the class, an instance of which i'm
> trying to initialize?
>
> Forgive the dumb question, but i'm just starting out. I've been banging
> my head against this for hours.... any help would be appreciated...
>
> thanks!
> --
> Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Something like this will work.

class Foo; end
class Bar; end
arr = ['foo','bar','bad']
out = arr.collect {|a| Object.const_get(a.capitalize) rescue nil }
out.compact!

See http://www.ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Array.html

Look for collect and compact! to see what I'm doing there.