(Ruby) Converting string values into assignable properties for OpenStructs...?

Question

Hi All,

I've got a bit of an odd situation. If I were using a hash, this issue would be easy, however, I'm trying to use "OpenStruct" in Ruby as it provides some decently cool features.

Basically, I think I need to "constantize" a return value. I've got a regular expression:

  textopts = OpenStruct.new()
  textopts.recipients = []
  fileparts = fhandle.read.split("<<-->>")

  fileparts[0].chomp.each{|l|
    if l =~ /Recipient.*/i
      textopts.recipients << $&
    elsif l =~ /(ServerAddress.*|EmailAddress.*)/i
      textopts.$& = $&.split(":")[1]
    end
  }

I need a way to turn the $& for "textopts" into a valid property for filling. I've tried "constantize" and some others, but nothing works. I would assume this is possible, but perhaps I'm wrong. Obviously if I were using a hash I could just do "textopts[$&] = .....".

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Keeping the structure of your solution, this is one way to do it:

  textopts = OpenStruct.new(:recipients => [])
  fileparts = fhandle.read.split('<<-->>')

  fileparts.first.chomp.each_line do |l|
    case l
    when /Recipient.*/i
      textopts.recipients << $&
    when /(Server|Email)Address.*/i
      textopts.send "#{$&}=", $&.split(':')[1]
    end
  end

But I can't help but think that this should be a proper parser.