Question

I realize that “lib” is no longer autoloaded by default. However, I have this in my application.rb file:

config.autoload_paths += %W(#{config.root}/lib #{config.root}/app/datatables)

I have a module in lib called utility.rb, declared as follows:

module MyApp
  module Utility

I have some utility methods in there, for example a method that takes an array and turns it into values that can be queried from MySQL. I have:

include MyApp

at the top of the classes that need that method, so that I can then just call:

Utility::array_to_query_string

Unfortunately, this does not work. Whether running a rake task or the application, I am met with:

uninitialized constant MyApp

I don’t know how to make Rails require other than what I have above. In the console, if I explicitly type require 'utility' and then I can successfully do the include. What do I have to do to make Rails autoload this module?

Answer 1

The problem could be the directory structure in your lib folder. That the rails autoloader can find your file, it needs to be placed in the right spot. Your MyApp::Utility module should live in a file called: lib/my_app/utility.rb.

If you place the file directly in lib lib/utility.rb the autoloader won’t find it.