Classes

Classes are the main encapsulation structure for the CLR, and IronRuby treats them as Ruby classes.

p = Person.new("Jimmy")
#=> Models.Person

This allows you to use any .NET framework classes from IronRuby.

dict = System::Collections::Generic::Dictionary[String, Array].new
#=> System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[IronRuby.Builtins.MutableString,IronRuby.Builtins.RubyArray]
dict['foo'] = [1,2,3]
#=> [1, 2, 3]
dict[23] = '34'
#:0: can't convert String into Array (TypeError)
#
dict[23] = [4,5,6]
#:0: can't convert Fixnum into String (TypeError)
#
dict['bar'] = [4,5,6]
#=> [4, 5, 6]

Find more about using .NET framework classes in IronRuby.

class MyPerson < Models::Person
  attr_reader :age
  def self.new(name, age)
    instance = super(name)
    instance.instance_variable_set(:"@age", age)
    instance
  end
end
#=> nil
p = MyPerson.new('jimmy', 25)
#=> <MyPerson:0x0000060 @age="25">

class Models::Person
  attr_reader :age
  class << self
    alias super_new new
    def new(name, age)
      instance = super_new(name)
      instance.instance_variable_set(:"@age", age)
      instance
    end
  end
end
#=> nil
Person.new("Jimmy", 25)
#=> <Models::Person:0x000005c @age="25">