Question

Possible Duplicate:
Notification of object destruction in Ruby
Ruby: Destructors?

#initialize starts functions when a class is instantiated. Just wondering if there’s an #uninitialize function. For example:

class Something
  def initialize
    @browser = Watir::Browser.new :chrome #opens browser
  end

  def stuff(url)
    @browser.goto url
  end

  def uninitalize
    @browser.quit #close browser
  end
end

s = Something.new
s.stuff("google.ca")

In this case, the browser will be opened by the initialize function. Is there a way to automatically quit it?

Answer 1

Ruby Finalizers Aren’t Really Destructors

While you can define finalizers for Ruby objects, they aren’t really destructors as such. In fact, they aren’t triggered until after the object is destroyed. The docs say:

define_finalizer(obj, aProc=proc())
Adds aProc as a finalizer, to be called after obj was destroyed.

Rethink Your Approach

Rather than instantiating your browser instance with #new, consider a pattern more like:

class Something
  attr_accessor :browser

  def start_browser
  end

  def quit_browser
  end
end

s = Something.new
s.start_browser
s.quit_browser

Other patterns are also possible, including setting callbacks or timers within your object. Ultimately, the point is that objects should go out of scope and be garbage collected—they can’t actually destroy themselves.