Set array elements (string) as variable name in Ruby

Question

I have the following array, that I use to later write the header on an Excel file.

fields = ["fileName", "type", "id"]

And then I have the following code that reads values from an XML:

filename = xml.xpath('//path/filename').text
type = xml.xpath('//path/type').text
id = xml.xpath('//path/id').text

The I iterate the initial array (fields) in order to set the Excel cells to the values extracted in the previous step:

row = 2
c = 1
fields.each do |content|
  ws.Cells(row,c).Value = content
  c = c + 1

I'm trying to have the array's (fields) contents to variable names instead of strings in order to be able to reuse the head fields.

Can anyone recommend a way of making it possible?

Any time you find yourself wanting to look up local variables using code, or create local variables using code, you should realize that this is "code smell" and you should instead be using a collection like a hash or an array, or a structured object. — Phrogz
– Phrogz, Commented May 15, 2012 at 17:11

SirDarius · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-15 16:24:44Z

3

This sounds like you need to use a Hash to associate field names to the values you extracted:

fields = {
  "fileName" => xml.xpath('//path/filename').text,
  "type" => xml.xpath('//path/type').text,
  "id" => xml.xpath('//path/id').text
}

row=2
c=1
fields.each do |key,value|
  ws.Cells(row,c).Value = value
  c=c+1
end

answered May 15, 2012 at 16:24

SirDarius

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3 Comments

Phrogz Over a year ago

Even better: values={}; fields.each{ |name| values[name]=xml.at_xpath("//path/#{name}").text }

SirDarius Over a year ago

@Phrogz well, I thought about that, but I assumed fileName vs. filename was not a typo.

Tedi Over a year ago

It is a typo. Thanks for your comments... I'm pretty new to Ruby so I would try what you are proposing.

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