Where to add code to add a method to String class?

[steveo7]

Where would you put code to add a method to the String class?

[anlek]

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're trying to do.
Maybe if you give me an example I might be able to give you a better answer.

[steveo7]

I need to test whether a string contains a valid date so I can convert it properly in a 'before_save'. The way I thought I could do that is to extend the String class with an is_date? method.

    class String
       def is_date?
          begin
            return true if Date.parse(self)
              rescue
                #do nothing
          end
          return false
       end
   end

Then I can test the string from the SQL db like so;

"some string that may contain a date".is_date? 

I know how to make it work in a Rails console by requiring the file. I'm not that familiar with Ruby command lines apps and cant figure out where to put the code. I can share more if that would help.

[anlek]

I think inside the translation file (in the table), you might be able to do def is_date?. and call it inside the before_save block. I"m not too sure how to include it otherwise. If it doesn't work including it into the translation file, then let me know and I'll look into it a bit deeper.

[steveo7]

Thanks Anlek. For the benefit of anyone else reading this, here is what worked in the translation file;

table "accounts" do
      column "account_no", :key, :as => :string
      column "my_date", :string

       before_save do |row|
          row.my_date = is_date(row.my_date) ?  Date.strptime(row.my_date,"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S").to_time : ""
       end

    def is_date(date_str)
        begin
          return true if Date.parse(date_str)
            rescue
             #do nothing
        end
        return false
    end
end

[anlek]

I'm so glad you got it working and thank you very much for sharing it with everyone else!