Question

#!/usr/local/bin/ruby
class OReport
   attr_accessor :id, :name
   def initialize(id, name, desc)
      @id       = id
      @name     = name
      @desc     = desc
   end
end

reports = Array.new
reports << OReport.new(1, 'One', 'One Desc')
reports << OReport.new(2, 'Two', 'Two Desc')
reports << OReport.new(3, 'Three', 'Three Desc')

How do I now search “Reports” for 2, so that I can extract name and description from it?

Answer 1

If the primary use for reports is to retrieve by id, then consider using a hash instead:

reports = {}
reports[1] = OReport.new(1, 'One', 'One Desc')
reports[2] = OReport.new(2, 'Two', 'Two Desc')
reports[3] = OReport.new(3, 'Three', 'Three Desc')

p reports[2].name    # => "Two"

Hash lookup is usually faster than array lookup, but more important, it’s simpler.