Dynamically Naming a Variable

rubyonrails-talk
1

Hello, I would like to dynamically name a variable... for example, in my program, I iterate over a SQL query that gives me 'displayname', 'phone_office', and 'phone_mobile' (in the actual query there are many more columns). For each row in the results, I want to create an array with [0]='phone_office' and [1]='phone_mobile' and then I would like to name the array the 'displayname'. Is there a way I could do this?

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks! - Jeff Miller

2

I can't believe i'm about to post this, but this will work

user = User.find(params[:id]) arr = eval("#{@user.user_name} = ") User.column_names.each { |name| arr[arr.size] = user[name.to_sym] }

3

Honestly though I'd urge you to use a hash:

directory = {} directory[display_name] = results = your_SQL_query results.each {|r| directory[display_name].push r}

4

thanks for your help, a co-worker of mine just showed me how to use hashes. I'm still pretty new to Ruby, so I honestly didn't even know of how powerful a hash can be. It makes a lot more sense to do it that way!

Thanks again, - Jeff Miller