Question

I am using Ruby on Rails 3.2.2 and I would like to improve code below, maybe using some Ruby on Rails method.

I have an Array ["one", "two", "three"] for which I make

# From `Symbol`s to `String`s
array = [:one, :two, :three].map {|k| k.to_s}
# => ["one", "two", "three"]

and then (the attr_accessible method used below is just a sample method and only serves to give an idea of what I do; in production I use the “splat” array in a my custom method)

attr_accessible *array
# => attr_accessible "one", "two", "three"

Is there a better way to make the above? If so, how can I “convert” the ["one", "two", "three"] array in an “elegant” way?

Answer 1

In plain Ruby you can do

array = [:one, :two, :three].map(&:to_s)

With the map_by_method gem you can do:

array = [:one, :two, :three].map_by_to_s

If you implement your custom method like this:

def foo(*args)
  converted_args = args.flatten.map(&:to_s)
end

You can call it like

 foo "one", "two", "three"
 foo :one, :two, :three

 args = [:one, :two, :three]
 foo *args
 foo args # see flatten above