Jacob Basham
11/7/2007 7:08:00 AM
Just the other week I taught myself how to make a plugin type
architecture using a similar manner, their might be a better way to do
this, but this works and it's simple.
Wrap all of the plugin (creatures in your case) in the same namespace,
and put them in their own directory.
i.e.
module Namespace
module Creatures
class Dragon
def initialize()
puts "Dragon#initialize"
end
end
end
end
Then you may dynamically import the creatures into your program, and
make an array of them in a snap.
Dir['creatures/*.rb'].each { |path|
require path
}
creatures = Namespace::Creatures.constants
This gives you an array of Strings containing the names of all classes
in the Namespace::Creatures namespace in the creatures directory. You
can then initialize any of your creature objects using it's name in
the Array.
creature = Namespace::Creatures.const_get(creatures[0]).new
# Dragon#initialize
Now just add the random factor you desire
someCreature =
Namespace::Creature.const_get(creatures[rand(creatures.size)])
Have fun!
Jake
On Nov 6, 2007, at 10:44 PM, Thufir wrote:
> I want to not just create Dragons, but randomly other creatures.
> Perhaps from a hard coded list? I was thinking of using random
> numbers and case statements, but surely there's ruby-esque way to
> specify:
>
> types of creatures:
>
> AssistantViceTentacleAndOmbudsman.rb
> Dragon.rb
> IntrepidDecomposedCyclist.rb
> TeethDeer.rb
>
> and then (pseudo-) randomly select one to instantiate? Symbols seem
> promising but I'm not sure how to implement it.
>
> C:\code>
> C:\code>
> C:\code>type Driver.rb
> require 'ArrayOfCreatures'
> require 'Dragon'
> require 'Creature'
>
> #numOfCreatures=Kernel.rand(3)
>
> puts "\nquantity of creatures:"
> numOfCreatures = gets.chomp.to_i
>
>
> someCreatures = ArrayOfCreatures.new #need to ensure that this array
> can only hold Creatures
>
>
> 0.upto(numOfCreatures) do |i|
> someCreatures[i]=Dragon.new #all dragons? what about
> TeethDeer's?
> print "\n"
> print "someCreatures["
> print i
> print "]:\n"
> print someCreatures[i].toString
> end
>
>
> C:\code>
>
>
>
> thanks,
>
> Thufir
>
>