Describe ActiveSupport core extensions for BigDecimal, JSON support, and instance variable names.

This commit is contained in:
Jeff Cohen 2013-06-08 11:10:30 -05:00
parent 1f4c4c69ee
commit ad2dc5f90c

@ -418,6 +418,14 @@ TIP: Since `with_options` forwards calls to its receiver they can be nested. Eac
NOTE: Defined in `active_support/core_ext/object/with_options.rb`.
### JSON support
Active Support provides a better implemention of `to_json` than the json gem ordinarily provides for Ruby objects. This is because some classes, like Hash and OrderedHash, needs special handling in order to provide a proper JSON representation.
Active Support also provides an implementation of `as_json` for the Process::Status class.
NOTE: Defined in `active_support/core_ext/object/to_json.rb`.
### Instance Variables
Active Support provides several methods to ease access to instance variables.
@ -439,6 +447,39 @@ C.new(0, 1).instance_values # => {"x" => 0, "y" => 1}
NOTE: Defined in `active_support/core_ext/object/instance_variables.rb`.
#### `instance_values`
The method `instance_values` returns a hash that maps instance variable names without "@" to their
corresponding values. Keys are strings:
```ruby
class C
def initialize(x, y)
@x, @y = x, y
end
end
C.new(0, 1).instance_values # => {"x" => 0, "y" => 1}
```
NOTE: Defined in `active_support/core_ext/object/instance_variables.rb`.
#### `instance_variable_names`
The method `instance_variable_names` returns an array. Each name includes the "@" sign.
```ruby
class C
def initialize(x, y)
@x, @y = x, y
end
end
C.new(0, 1).instance_variable_names # => ["@x", "@y"]
```
NOTE: Defined in `active_support/core_ext/object/instance_variables.rb`.
### Silencing Warnings, Streams, and Exceptions
The methods `silence_warnings` and `enable_warnings` change the value of `$VERBOSE` accordingly for the duration of their block, and reset it afterwards:
@ -2011,8 +2052,31 @@ NOTE: Defined in `active_support/core_ext/integer/inflections.rb`.
Extensions to `BigDecimal`
--------------------------
### `to_s`
The method `to_s` is aliased to `to_formatted_s`. This provides a convenient way to display a BigDecimal value in floating-point notation:
...
```ruby
BigDecimal.new(5.00, 6).to_s # => "5.0"
```
### `to_formatted_s`
Te method `to_formatted_s` provides a default specifier of "F". This means that a simple call to `to_formatted_s` or `to_s` will result in floating point representation instead of engineering notation:
```ruby
BigDecimal.new(5.00, 6).to_formatted_s # => "5.0"
```
and that symbol specifiers are also supported:
```ruby
BigDecimal.new(5.00, 6).to_formatted_s(:db) # => "5.0"
```
Engineering notation is still supported:
```ruby
BigDecimal.new(5.00, 6).to_formatted_s("e") # => "0.5E1"
```
Extensions to `Enumerable`
--------------------------