Add a variable to a class instance at runtime
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This demonstrates how to dynamically add variables to a class instance at runtime. This is useful when the methods/variables are based on a data file that isn't available until runtime. Hal Fulton gives an example of creating an OO CSV parser at An Exercise in Metaprogramming with Ruby. This is referred to as "monkeypatching" by Pythonistas and some others. It's possible in most dynamic OO languages such as Python, Ruby, and Smalltalk.
ActionScript
In ActionScript this can be done using an Object object <lang actionscript>var object:Object = new Object(); object.foo = "bar";</lang> Or by creating a dynamic class <lang actionscript>package {
public dynamic class Foo { // ... }
}</lang> <lang actionscript>var foo:Foo = new Foo(); foo.bar = "zap";</lang>
Ada
Ada is not a dynamically typed language. Yet it supports mix-in inheritance, run-time inheritance and interfaces. These three allow us to achieve the desired effect, however questionably useful it could be. The example declares an interface of the class (Class). Then a concrete type is created (Base). The object E is an instance of Base. Later, at the run time, a new type Monkey_Patch is created such that it refers to E and implements the class interface per delegation to E. Monkey_Patch has a new integer member Foo and EE is an instance of Monkey_Path. For the user EE appears as E with Foo. <lang ada>with Ada.Text_IO; use Ada.Text_IO;
procedure Dynamic is
package Abstract_Class is type Class is limited interface; function Boo (X : Class) return String is abstract; end Abstract_Class; use Abstract_Class;
package Base_Class is type Base is new Class with null record; overriding function Boo (X : Base) return String; end Base_Class; package body Base_Class is function Boo (X : Base) return String is begin return "I am Class"; end Boo; end Base_Class; use Base_Class;
E : aliased Base; -- An instance of Base
begin
-- Gone run-time declare type Monkey_Patch (Root : access Base) is new Class with record Foo : Integer := 1; end record; overriding function Boo (X : Monkey_Patch) return String; function Boo (X : Monkey_Patch) return String is begin -- Delegation to the base return X.Root.Boo; end Boo; EE : Monkey_Patch (E'Access); -- Extend E begin Put_Line (EE.Boo & " with" & Integer'Image (EE.Foo)); end;
end Dynamic;</lang> Sample output:
I am Class with 1
Common Lisp
This version adds a new slot only to one instance, not to the whole class.
<lang lisp>(defun augment-instance-with-slots (instance slots)
(change-class instance (make-instance 'standard-class :direct-superclasses (list (class-of instance)) :direct-slots slots)))</lang>
Example:
<lang lisp>CL-USER> (let* ((instance (make-instance 'foo :bar 42 :baz 69))
(new-slots '((:name xenu :initargs (:xenu))))) (augment-instance-with-slots instance new-slots) (reinitialize-instance instance :xenu 666) (describe instance))
- <#<STANDARD-CLASS NIL {1003AEE2C1}> {1003AEE271}>
[standard-object]
Slots with :INSTANCE allocation:
BAR = 42 BAZ = 69 XENU = 666</lang>
The following REPL transcript (from LispWorks) shows the definition of a class some-class
with no slots, and the creation of an instance of the class. The first attempt to access the slot named slot1
signals an error as there is no such slot. Then the class is redefined to have such a slot, and with a default value of 23. Attempting to access the slot in the preëxisting instance now gives the default value, since the slot has been added to the instance. This behavior is specified in §4.3.6 Redefining Classes of the HyperSpec.
CL-USER 57 > (defclass some-class () ()) #<STANDARD-CLASS SOME-CLASS 200BF63B> CL-USER 58 > (defparameter *an-instance* (make-instance 'some-class)) *AN-INSTANCE* CL-USER 59 > (slot-value *an-instance* 'slot1) Error: The slot SLOT1 is missing from #<SOME-CLASS 21F59E37> (of class #<STANDARD-CLASS SOME-CLASS 200BF63B>), when reading the value. 1 (abort) Return to level 0. 2 Return to top loop level 0. Type :b for backtrace, :c <option number> to proceed, or :? for other options CL-USER 60 : 1 > :a CL-USER 61 > (defclass some-class () ((slot1 :initform 23))) #<STANDARD-CLASS SOME-CLASS 200BF63B> CL-USER 62 > (slot-value *an-instance* 'slot1) 23
Io
<lang io>Empty := Object clone
e := Empty clone e foo := 1</lang>
J
Simple assignment will add variables to classes.
<lang j> C=:<'exampleclass'
V__C=: 0 OBJ=:conew 'exampleclass' V__OBJ
0
W__C
|value error
W__C=: 0 W__OBJ
0</lang>
JavaScript
This kind of thing is fundamental to JavaScript, as it's a prototype-based language rather than a class-based one. <lang javascript>e = {} // generic object e.foo = 1 e["bar"] = 2 // name specified at runtime</lang>
Lua
<lang lua>empty = {} empty.foo = 1</lang>
Mathematica
Mathematica doesn't rally have classes, so it doesn't have class variables. However, many rules can be applied to a single tag, so it has some aspects similar to a class. With that definition, adding a class variable is similar to adding a rule: <lang Mathematica> f[a]=1; f[b]=2; f[a]=3; ? f</lang>
Global`f f[a]=3 f[b]=2
Here, the two 'variables' can be seen under the single heading 'f'. And of course all of this is done at runtime.
Perl
<lang perl>package Empty;
- Constructor. Object is hash.
sub new { return bless {}, shift; }
package main;
- Object.
my $o = Empty->new;
- Set runtime variable (key => value).
$o->{'foo'} = 1;</lang>
PHP
<lang php>class E {};
$e=new E();
$e->foo=1;
$e->{"foo"} = 1; // using a runtime name</lang>
Pop11
In Pop11 instance variables (slots) are specified at class creation time and there is no way to add new slot to an instance after its class was created. However, for most practical purposes one can obtain desired effect in different way. Namely, except for a few low-level routines slots in Pop11 are accessed via getter and setter methods. Getters and setters are like ordinary methods, but are automatically defined and "know" low level details of slot access. Pop11 allows dynamic definition of methods, and one can add new methods which work as "getter" and "setter" but do not store data directly in instance. One possibility is to have one instance variable which contains a hastable (this is essentially what Perl solution is doing). Another possibility (used below) is to create na external hashtable. Adding new slots typically make sense if slot name is only known at runtine, so we create method definition (as a list) at runtime and compile it using the 'pop11_compile' procedure.
<lang pop11>lib objectclass;
define :class foo; enddefine;
define define_named_method(method, class);
lvars method_str = method >< ; lvars class_str = class >< ; lvars method_hash_str = 'hash_' >< length(class_str) >< '_' >< class_str >< '_' >< length(method_str) >< '_' >< method_str; lvars method_hash = consword(method_hash_str); pop11_compile([ lvars ^method_hash = newassoc([]); define :method ^method(self : ^class); ^method_hash(self); enddefine; define :method updaterof ^method(val, self : ^class); val -> ^method_hash(self); enddefine; ]);
enddefine;
define_named_method("met1", "foo"); lvars bar = consfoo(); met1(bar) => ;;; default value -- false "baz" -> met1(bar); met1(bar) => ;;; new value</lang>
PowerShell
PowerShell allows extending arbitrary object instances at runtime with the Add-Member
cmdlet. The following example adds a property Title to an integer:
<lang powershell>$x = 42 `
| Add-Member -PassThru ` NoteProperty ` Title ` "The answer to the question about life, the universe and everything"</lang>
Now that property can be accessed:
PS> $x.Title The answer to the question about life, the universe and everything
or reflected:
PS> $x | Get-Member TypeName: System.Int32 Name MemberType Definition ---- ---------- ---------- CompareTo Method int CompareTo(System.Object value), ... Equals Method bool Equals(System.Object obj), bool... GetHashCode Method int GetHashCode() GetType Method type GetType() GetTypeCode Method System.TypeCode GetTypeCode() ToString Method string ToString(), string ToString(s... Title NoteProperty System.String Title=The answer to th...
While trying to access the same property in another instance will fail:
PS> $y = 42 PS> $y.Title
(which simply causes no output).
Python
<lang python>class empty(object):
pass
e = empty()</lang>
If the variable (attribute) name is known at "compile" time (hard-coded):
<lang python> e.foo = 1</lang>
If the variable name is determined at runtime: <lang python> setattr(e, name, value)</lang>
Note: Somewhat counter-intuitively one cannot simply use e = object(); e.foo = 1 because the Python base object (the ultimate ancestor to all new-style classes) will raise attribute exceptions. However, any normal derivatives of object can be "monkey patched" at will.
Because functions are first class objects in Python one can not only add variables to instances. One can add or replace functionality to an instance. Doing so is tricky if one wishes to refer back to other instance attributes since there's no "magic" binding back to "self." One trick is to dynamically define the function to be added, nested within the function that applies the patch like so:
<lang python>class empty(object):
def __init__(this): this.foo = "whatever"
def patch_empty(obj):
def fn(self=obj): print self.foo obj.print_output = fn
e = empty() patch_empty(e) e.print_output()
- >>> whatever</lang>
- Note: The name self is not special; it's merely the pervasive Python convention. In this example I've deliberately used this in the class definition to underscore this fact. The nested definition could use any name for the "self" object. Because it's nested the value of the object is evaluated at the time that the patch_empty() function is run and thus the function being patched in has a valid reference to the object into which it is being inserted. Other arguments could be passed as necessary. Such techniques are not recommended; however they are possible.
Ruby
<lang ruby>class Empty end
e = Empty.new e.instance_variable_set("@foo", 1) e.instance_eval("class << self; attr_accessor :foo; end") puts e.foo</lang>
Slate
Slate objects are prototypes: <lang slate>define: #Empty -> Cloneable clone. define: #e -> Empty clone. e addSlotNamed: #foo valued: 1.</lang>
Smalltalk
<lang smalltalk>Object subclass: #Monkey
instanceVariableNames: 'aVar' classVariableNames: poolDictionaries: category: nil !
!Monkey class methodsFor: 'new instance'! new
| o | o := super new. o init. ^o
!!
!Monkey methodsFor: 'init instance'! init
aVar := 0
! initWith: value
aVar := value
!!
!Monkey methodsFor: 'set/get the inst var(s)'! setVar: var
aVar := var
! getVar
^aVar
!!
"Create a new instance"
Smalltalk at: #aMonkey put: (Monkey new) !
"set the 'original' instance var to 12" aMonkey setVar: 12 .
"let's see what's inside" aMonkey inspect .
"add a new instance var" Monkey addInstVarName: 'x'.
"let's see what's inside now" aMonkey inspect .
"let us create a new method for x" !Monkey methodsFor: 'about x'! setX: val
x := val
! x
^x
!!
aMonkey setX: 10 . aMonkey inspect . (aMonkey x) printNl .</lang>
Output is:
An instance of Monkey aVar: 12 An instance of Monkey aVar: 12 x: nil An instance of Monkey aVar: 12 x: 10 10
Tcl
and the TclOO package
The code below uses the fact that each object is implemented as a namespace, to add a time variable to an instance of summation: <lang Tcl>% oo::class create summation {
constructor {} { variable v 0 } method add x { variable v incr v $x } method value Template:Var v { variable $var return [set $var] } destructor { variable v puts "Ended with value $v" }
}
- summation
% set s [summation new] % # Do the monkey patch! % set [info object namespace $s]::time now now % # Prove it's really part of the object... % $s value time now %</lang>
- Programming Tasks
- Object oriented
- ActionScript
- Ada
- Common Lisp
- Closer to MOP
- Io
- J
- JavaScript
- Lua
- Mathematica
- Perl
- PHP
- Pop11
- PowerShell
- Python
- Ruby
- Slate
- Smalltalk
- Smalltalk examples needing attention
- Examples needing attention
- Tcl
- ALGOL 68/Omit
- AutoHotkey/Omit
- AWK/Omit
- C/Omit
- C++/Omit
- D/Omit
- Fortran/Omit
- Gnuplot/Omit
- Haskell/Omit
- Java/Omit
- LaTeX/Omit
- M4/Omit
- Make/Omit
- Octave/Omit
- Pascal/Omit
- PlainTeX/Omit
- R/Omit
- TI-83 BASIC/Omit
- TI-89 BASIC/Omit