How to require some lib files from anywhere

Question

I'll explain my situation.

Here is my file tree in my rails application :

lib/my_module.rb

require 'my_module/my_file'

module My_module

end

lib/my_module/my_file.rb

class Tweetag::Collector
   (...)
end

I've made a ruby script that I've put in config/jobs/

I really don't understand how I am supposed to require the file my_file.rb in this file.

require '../../my_module/my_file.rb'

It gives me `require': cannot load such file

Same error with just require 'my_module' which is what I do in my controllers...

Someone here to explain to me ? Thanks a lot

Solution 1

You can autoinclude everything under the lib folderand avoid these problems:

Type this your file in config/application.rb

config.autoload_paths += %W(#{config.root}/lib)
config.autoload_paths += Dir["#{config.root}/lib/**/"]

Solution 2

If you want to require only a specific file then, do something relative to Rails root like this

for example: --

lib/plan.rb

module Plan
 ...some code...
end

and if you want to require it only in some model, say app/models/user.rb

do in user model

require "#{Rails.root}/lib/plan"

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  include Plan
end

if you want it to be available everywhere

one solution is given by @VecchiaSpugna

or you can create a ruby file in config/initializers folder

and require all file over there one by one

OR

try this

require '../../my_module/my_file'

instead of 

require '../../my_module/my_file.rb'

You don't need to specify extension for a file in require.

Solution 3

I think there are two solutions.

1) Add the lib path to the search path. In ruby:

$:.unshift('../../my_module/lib')

Then you can require 'my_module.rb'

I think Vecchia Spugna answer is the rails-version of my ruby-answer. (I'm not familiar with rails).

2) Another solution:

In your lib/my_module.rb you require my_file. This file is located relative to your my_module.rb? Then use require_relative:

require_relative './my_module/my_file'

Solution 4

Just chiming in because it took me forever to figure this out because very little solutions worked.

• I had to use plain old require. I put it in the config/application.rb file.

patching_file_path = File.expand_path("./lib", Dir.pwd) Dir[patching_file_path+'/*.rb'].each {|file| require file }

• I also put a temporary puts "I'm Working! in the file I'm trying to require so I can check the console to see if it's actually loading.

• Also, if you're using spring loader, before you start your console you should do bin/spring stop in your terminal before you start your rails console. Otherwise, it won't load new files.

View more solutions

Comments

[Zoz]

I did it, but still : `<main>': uninitialized constant MyModule (NameError)

[Vecchia Spugna]

now include your module where you need it, with include My_module

[Vecchia Spugna]

you declared My_module but you are using MyModule. Fix this inconsistency. However the convention is to use MyModule form for the modules you define

[Zoz]

Well actually you can replace all the "my_module" by "Tweetag" and all the "my_file" by "Collector". I tried to be generic in my explanations but I failed. Anyways, when I do "include Tweetag", it doesn't work.

[Vecchia Spugna]

have you restarted your application server, so that the config file is read?

[Zoz]

Well actually I just understood that I cannot do something specific to rails as you just said. I juste would like to run the command line "ruby my_ruby_script.rb" and require my lib module in it.

[tvw]

1) is the way to go, since the job in config/jobs seems not to be started from within his rails application. Therefore he must setup the load path himself as you describe it rather than expecting, that a not used rails environment will do this for him.

[Fábio Araújo]

On production server with Rails 5.2.2 you might need to use config.eager_load_paths += %W(#{config.root}/lib)

[Jason Swett]

Wouldn't it be more idiomatic to do require Rails.root.join('lib', 'plan')?

[Jarno Lamberg]

I was also stuck with this for a while. Stopping Spring did the trick for me. Cheers!