Problems w/ class_inheritable_accessor - setting base class vars

[clem_c_rock]

Hello,
I'm overriding the initialize method of a base class and I'm trying to get a class_inheritable_accessor class variable to register in the base class but I'm failing miserably.

Here's my code:

class Base
  include Options
  class_inheritable_accessor :spec

  def initialize(runtime_args, runtime_options = {})
    @args = runtime_args
    parse!(@args, runtime_options)
  
    # Derive source and destination paths.
    @source_root = options[:source] || File.join(spec.path, 'templates')
  end
end

class MediaModuleGenerator < Rails::Generator::Base 
  def initialize(runtime_args, runtime_options = {})
     self.spec.path = File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/generators/media_module'    
     super
  end
end

When I run my generator, I get this error:

You have a nil object when you didn't expect it! (NoMethodError) The error occurred while evaluating nil.path

So when I set the self.spec.path var to File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/generators/media_module', it's not registering in the base class.

Any ideas?

[ReggieB]

"class Base" is not the same as "Rails::Generator::Base". That's two Base classes in different name spaces.

When I've created a set of models based on an alternative configuration (for example when some models grab data from an alternative database), I've used a new class that inherits from Base rather than modify Base itself:

class OtherBase < ActiveRecord::Base
  # additional code
end

class ModelOne < OtherBase
  # Normal model code
end

It might be worth trying a similar approach with your Generator class.

[clem_c_rock]

I'm actually not trying to modify the Base class - I was just displaying a section of that class for reference purposes.

thanks again for your time.