Inherit Class-Level Instance Variables in Ruby

Inherit class-level instance variables in Ruby?

Use a mixin:

module ClassLevelInheritableAttributes
  def self.included(base)
    base.extend(ClassMethods)    
  end

  module ClassMethods
    def inheritable_attributes(*args)
      @inheritable_attributes ||= [:inheritable_attributes]
      @inheritable_attributes += args
      args.each do |arg|
        class_eval %(
          class << self; attr_accessor :#{arg} end
        )
      end
      @inheritable_attributes
    end

    def inherited(subclass)
      @inheritable_attributes.each do |inheritable_attribute|
        instance_var = "@#{inheritable_attribute}"
        subclass.instance_variable_set(instance_var, instance_variable_get(instance_var))
      end
    end
  end
end

Including this module in a class, gives it two class methods: inheritable_attributes and inherited.

The inherited class method works the same as the self.included method in the module shown. Whenever a class that includes this module gets subclassed, it sets a class level instance variable for each of declared class level inheritable instance variables (@inheritable_attributes).

Ruby class instance variable vs. class variable

Instance variable on a class:

class Parent
  @things = []
  def self.things
    @things
  end
  def things
    self.class.things
  end
end

class Child < Parent
  @things = []
end

Parent.things << :car
Child.things  << :doll
mom = Parent.new
dad = Parent.new

p Parent.things #=> [:car]
p Child.things  #=> [:doll]
p mom.things    #=> [:car]
p dad.things    #=> [:car]

Class variable:

class Parent
  @@things = []
  def self.things
    @@things
  end
  def things
    @@things
  end
end

class Child < Parent
end

Parent.things << :car
Child.things  << :doll

p Parent.things #=> [:car,:doll]
p Child.things  #=> [:car,:doll]

mom = Parent.new
dad = Parent.new
son1 = Child.new
son2 = Child.new
daughter = Child.new

[ mom, dad, son1, son2, daughter ].each{ |person| p person.things }
#=> [:car, :doll]
#=> [:car, :doll]
#=> [:car, :doll]
#=> [:car, :doll]
#=> [:car, :doll]

With an instance variable on a class (not on an instance of that class) you can store something common to that class without having sub-classes automatically also get them (and vice-versa). With class variables, you have the convenience of not having to write self.class from an instance object, and (when desirable) you also get automatic sharing throughout the class hierarchy.

---

Merging these together into a single example that also covers instance variables on instances:

class Parent
  @@family_things = []    # Shared between class and subclasses
  @shared_things  = []    # Specific to this class

  def self.family_things
    @@family_things
  end
  def self.shared_things
    @shared_things
  end

  attr_accessor :my_things
  def initialize
    @my_things = []       # Just for me
  end
  def family_things
    self.class.family_things
  end
  def shared_things
    self.class.shared_things
  end
end

class Child < Parent
  @shared_things = []
end

And then in action:

mama = Parent.new
papa = Parent.new
joey = Child.new
suzy = Child.new

Parent.family_things << :house
papa.family_things   << :vacuum
mama.shared_things   << :car
papa.shared_things   << :blender
papa.my_things       << :quadcopter
joey.my_things       << :bike
suzy.my_things       << :doll
joey.shared_things   << :puzzle
suzy.shared_things   << :blocks

p Parent.family_things #=> [:house, :vacuum]
p Child.family_things  #=> [:house, :vacuum]
p papa.family_things   #=> [:house, :vacuum]
p mama.family_things   #=> [:house, :vacuum]
p joey.family_things   #=> [:house, :vacuum]
p suzy.family_things   #=> [:house, :vacuum]

p Parent.shared_things #=> [:car, :blender]
p papa.shared_things   #=> [:car, :blender]
p mama.shared_things   #=> [:car, :blender]
p Child.shared_things  #=> [:puzzle, :blocks]  
p joey.shared_things   #=> [:puzzle, :blocks]
p suzy.shared_things   #=> [:puzzle, :blocks]

p papa.my_things       #=> [:quadcopter]
p mama.my_things       #=> []
p joey.my_things       #=> [:bike]
p suzy.my_things       #=> [:doll] 

Confused about instance variable scope, top-level vs. class

Look below:

@x = 'foo'
def show_var
  puts @x,self
  p defined? @x
end

show_var
# >> foo
# >> main
# >> "instance-variable"

In the first case you defined @x in the main scope. And then when call the method show_var,from the main,thus you got the output of @x,which is not the case of the other.

class Test
  @x = "foo" 
  def show_var
    p @x,self 
    p defined? @x
  end 
end

Test.new.show_var
# >> nil
# >> #<Test:0x9b6fcd4>
# >> nil

Should I use class variables or class-instance variables for class static variables in Ruby?

I recently discovered ActiveSupport defines class_inheritable_accessor, which does what the class-instance variables do with the advantage that objects are not shared across inheritance, and you can have a default value for the variable when subclassing.

class Foo
  class_inheritable_accessor :x, :y
end

Foo.x = 1

class Bar < Foo
end

Bar.x #=> 1
Bar.x = 3
Bar.x #=> 3
Foo.x #=> 1

More info here

Just for completeness: of the two presented options, I prefer going with the class-instance variables, since is often the expected behavior.

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