Question

Say I have a set of attributes on my Client model like this:

#  firm_size                 :float
#  priority_level            :float
#  inflection_point          :float
#  personal_priority         :float
#  sales_priority            :float
#  sales_team_priority       :float
#  days_since_contact        :float
#  does_client_vote          :float
#  did_client_vote_for_us    :float
#  days_until_next_vote      :float
#  does_client_vote_ii       :float
#  did_client_vote_ii_for_us :float
#  days_until_vote_ii        :float

And I need to run a check on each attribute like this:

max = Max.find_or_create_by_user_id(:user_id => current_user.id)

if client.firm.size > max.firm_size
    max.firm_size = client.firm.size
end

if client.inflection_point > max.inflection_point
    max.inflection_point = client.inflection_point
end

And so on for the rest of the attributes, but this seems quite un-DRY to me.

How do I do this in an elegant way, without having to type out 1 billion if statements for all the attributes?

Answer 1

If you put all the attributes in an array, you could iterate over it and use some metaprogramming to only have to write the logic once:

good_attrs = %w(firm_size priority_level ...)

good_attrs.each do |attr|
  if client.send(attr) > max.send(attr)
    max.send("#{attr}=", client.send(attr)
  end
end