The Opt Struct

A struct around a hash. Great for encapsulating actions with complex configuration, like interactor/action classes.

gem "opt_struct"

Examples

Creating an OptStruct

class User < OptStruct.new
  required :email, :name
  option :role, default: "member"

  def formatted_email
    %{"#{name}" <#{email}>}
  end
end

Using an OptStruct

user = User.new(email: "admin@user.com", name: "Ms. Admin", role: "admin")

# option accessors are available
user.name
# => "Ms. Admin"
user.formatted_email
# => "\"Ms. Admin\" <admin@user.com>"
user.name = "Amber Admin"
# => "Amber Admin"

# values are also accessible through the `#options` Hash
user.options
# => {:email=>"admin@user.com", :name=>"Amber Admin", :role=>"admin"}
user.options.fetch(:role)
# => "admin"

Documentation

Use As Inheritable Class

OptStruct.new returns an instance of Class that can be inherited or initialized directly.

The following are functionally equivalent

class User < OptStruct.new
  required :email
  option :name
end

User = OptStruct.new do
  required :email
  option :name
end

OptStruct classes can safely have descendants with their own isolated options.

class AdminUser < User
  required :token
end

User.new(email: "regular@user.com")
# => #<User:0x0... @options={:email=>"regular@user.com"}>

AdminUser.new(email: "admin@user.com")
# ArgumentError: missing required keywords: [:token]

AdminUser.new(email: "admin@user.com", token: "a2236843f0227af2")
# => #<AdminUser:0x0... @options={:email=>"admin@user.com", :token=>"..."}>

Use As Mixin Module

OptStruct.build returns an instance of Module that can be included into a class or another module.

The following are functionally equivalent

module Visitable
  include OptStruct.build
  options :expected_at, :arrived_at, :departed_at
end

class AuditLog
  include Visitable
end

Visitable = OptStruct.build { options :expected_at, :arrived_at, :departed_at }

class AuditLog
  include Visitable
end

These examples result in an AuditLog class with identical behavior, but no explicit Visitable module.

class AuditLog
  include OptStruct.build
  options :expected_at, :arrived_at, :departed_at
end

class AuditLog
  include(OptStruct.build do
    options :expected_at, :arrived_at, :departed_at
  end)
end

Optional Arguments

Optional arguments are simply accessor methods for values expected to be in the #options Hash. Optional arguments can be defined in multiple ways.

All of the examples in this section are functionally equivalent.

class User < OptStruct.new
  option :email
  option :role, default: "member"
end

class User < OptStruct.new
  options :email, role: "member"
end

class User < OptStruct.new
  options email: nil, role: "member"
end

Passing a Hash to .new or .build is equivalent to passing the same hash to options

User = OptStruct.new(email: nil, role: "member")

Default blocks can also be used and are late evaluated within the struct instance.

class User < OptStruct.new
  option :email, default: -> { nil }
  option :role, -> { "member" }
end

class User < OptStruct.new
  options :email, role: -> { "member" }
end

class User < OptStruct.new
  option :email, nil
  option :role, -> { default_role }

  private

  def default_role
    "member"
  end
end

Default symbols are treated as method calls if the struct #respond_to? the method.

class User < OptStruct.new
  options :email, :role => :default_role

  def default_role
    "member"
  end
end

Required Arguments

Required arguments are just like optional arguments, except they are also added to the .required_keys collection, which is checked when an OptStruct is initialized. If the #options Hash does not contain all .required_keys then an ArgumentError is raised.

The following examples are functionally equivalent.

class Student < OptStruct.new
  required :name
end

class Student < OptStruct.new
  option :name, required: true
end

class Student < OptStruct.new
  option :name
  required_keys << :name
end

Expected Arguments

OptStructs can accept non-keyword arguments if the struct knows to expect them.

For code like this to work...

user = User.new("admin@user.com", "admin")
user.email # => "admin@user.com"
user.role  # => "admin"

... the OptStruct needs to have some .expected_arguments.

The following User class examples are functionally equivalent and allow the code above to function.

User = OptStruct.new(:email, :role)

class User < OptStruct.new(:email)
  expect_argument :role
end

class User
  include OptStruct.build(:email, :role)
end

class User
  include OptStruct.build
  expect_arguments :email, :role
end

class User < OptStruct.new(:email)
  expected_arguments << :role
end

Expected arguments are similar to required arguments, except they are in .expected_arguments collection, which is checked when an OptStruct is initialized.

Expected arguments can also be supplied using keywords. An ArgumentError is only raised if the expected argument is not in the list of arguments passed to OptStruct#new and the argument is not present in the optional Hash passed to OptStruct#new.

The following examples will initialize any of the User class examples above without error.

User.new(email: "example@user.com", role: "member")
User.new("example@user.com", role: "member")
User.new(role: "member", email: "example@user.com")

The #options Hash

All OptStruct arguments are read from and stored in a single Hash instance. This Hash can be accessed directly using the options method.

Person = OptStruct.new(:name)
Person.new(name: "John", age: 32).options
# => {:name=>"John", :age=>32}

Feel free to write your own accessor methods for things like dependent options or other complex/private behavior.

class Person < OptStruct.new
  option :given_name
  option :family_name

  def name
    options.fetch(:name) { "#{given_name} #{family_name}" }
  end
end

On Initialization

All of the following examples are functionally equivalent.

OptStruct classes are initialized in an initialize method (in OptStruct::InstanceMethods) like most classes. Also, like most classes, you can override initialize as long as you remember to call super properly to retain OptStruct functionality.

class UserReportBuilder < OptStruct.new(:user)
  attr_reader :report

  def initialize(*)
    super
    @report = []
  end
end

OptStruct also provides initialization callbacks to make hooking into and customizing the initialization of OptStruct classes easier, less brittle, and require less code.

class UserReportBuilder < OptStruct.new(:user)
  attr_reader :report
  init { @report = [] }
end

class UserReportBuilder < OptStruct.new(:user)
  attr_reader :report

  around_init do |instance|
    instance.call
    @report = []
  end
end

Available callbacks

• around_init
• before_init
• init
• after_init

Inheritance, Expanded

See spec/inheritance_spec.rb for examples of just how crazy you can get.