calling ruby method in rails controller raises error

Question

I have a rails app and I'm trying to call the methods below from the controller, but I get this error:

undefined local variable or method "service" for #<EventsController:0x007fb6d27da1c8>` for this line: `api_method: service.freebusy.query

What's the problem here? Why can't the get_busy_events see the service var if it's defined above it?

controller

include GoogleCalendarApi
.....
@user = current_user
@google = @user.socials.where(provider: "google_oauth2").first
unless @google.blank?
  @client = init_google_api_calendar_client(@google)
  @result = open_gcal_connection(get_busy_events, @client, @google)

lib/google_api_calendar.rb

def init_google_api_calendar_client(google_account)
  #method only called if google_oauth2 social exists
  client = Google::APIClient.new
  client.authorization.access_token = google_account.token
  client.authorization.client_id = ENV['GOOGLE_API_KEY']
  client.authorization.client_secret = ENV['GOOGLE_API_SECRET']
  client.authorization.refresh_token = google_account.refresh_token
  return client
end

def open_gcal_connection(options, initialized_client, social_object)
  client = initialized_client
  old_token = client.authorization.access_token
  service = client.discovered_api('calendar', 'v3')
  result = client.execute(options) #after execution you may get new token

  # update token if the token that was sent back is expired
  new_token = client.authorization.access_token
  if old_token != new_token
    social_object.update_attribute(token: new_token)
  end
  return result
end

def get_busy_events
  result = open_gcal_connection(
    api_method: service.freebusy.query,
    body: JSON.dump({ timeMin: '2015-12-24T17:06:02.000Z',
                   timeMax: '2013-12-31T17:06:02.000Z',
                   items: social_object.email }),
    headers: {'Content-Type' => 'application/json'})
  #handling results
end

When you call service it treats it as a method of EventController because it is not defined inside the method it is called from. Default rails behaviour is to treat that as a method. if you are calling the service that is declared in the open_gcal_connection, I suggest you declare it in the get_busy_events action — Kkulikovskis
– Kkulikovskis, Commented Dec 31, 2015 at 0:26
Side note: you might get some unepexpected behaviour since it looks like you are calling the open_gcal_connection as one of its(open_gcal_connection) arguments. I don't know if that is intentional or not, but it looks sketchy — Kkulikovskis
– Kkulikovskis, Commented Dec 31, 2015 at 0:32
I'm just trying to keep it DRY based on the answer in the comment here: warolv.net/blog/2013/11/16/working-with-google-calendar-v3 . Just don't know how to do it yet. — Sean Magyar
– Sean Magyar, Commented Dec 31, 2015 at 0:37
Steve, how should I change the code? If I put service = client.discovered_api('calendar', 'v3') to the get_busy_events, then client won't be defined :S — Sean Magyar
– Sean Magyar, Commented Dec 31, 2015 at 0:44

Kkulikovskis · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-31 01:01:14Z

1

To answer your question(as I did in the comments):

To fix your method, you have to define the service variable in the action where you are calling it.

As for your posted link: if you look at the get_busy_events method there is a line where service = client.discovered_api('calendar', 'v3')

and it is fine, because it is in the method. The same goes for client that the service declaration depends on- you have to declare them inside the method where you use them.

You should follow the article and make the code as it is there so you would have:

def init_client
  client = Google::APIClient.new
  # Fill client with all needed data
  client.authorization.access_token = @token #token is taken from auth table
  client.authorization.client_id = @oauth2_key
  client.authorization.client_secret = @oauth2_secret
  client.authorization.refresh_token = @refresh_token
  return client
end

which you can use to define client variable in all your other actions and then use the service method:

def get_busy_times
  client = init_client
  service = client.discovered_api('calendar', 'v3')
  @result = client.execute(
    :api_method => service.freebusy.query,
    :body_object => { :timeMin => start_time, #example: DateTime.now - 1.month
                      :timeMax => end_time, #example: DateTime.now + 1.month
                      :items => items
                    },
    :headers => {'Content-Type' => 'application/json'}})
end

EDIT No2:

Since you have a controller, where client is initialized I suggest passing it down as an argument:

include GoogleCalendarApi
.....
@user = current_user
@google = @user.socials.where(provider: "google_oauth2").first
unless @google.blank?
  @client = init_google_api_calendar_client(@google)
  @result = open_gcal_connection(get_busy_events(@client), @client, @google)

and changing your get_busy_events method:

def get_busy_events(client)
  service = client.discovered_api('calendar', 'v3')
  result = open_gcal_connection(
    api_method: service.freebusy.query,
    body: JSON.dump({ timeMin: '2015-12-24T17:06:02.000Z',
                   timeMax: '2013-12-31T17:06:02.000Z',
                   items: social_object.email }),
    headers: {'Content-Type' => 'application/json'})
  #handling results
end

Although this is a bit weird for me(nesting arguments like this) so you should look at refactoring this.

edited Dec 31, 2015 at 1:01

answered Dec 31, 2015 at 0:45

Kkulikovskis

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3 Comments

Sean Magyar Over a year ago

Kkulikovskis, I have the init_client method called in my controller @client = init_google_api_calendar_client(@google), which is then passed to the open_gcal_connection method as an argument. I'm totally confused could you provide the full code example with the controller as well? (I edited my code and showing my init_client method as well). Btw. I need to identify the user as well and the code example in the post doesn't deal with that.

Kkulikovskis Over a year ago

@SzilardMagyar It does. That is what the init_client does. Just pass it the @user as an argument and tweak it so you include the @google verification that you have in the controller action

Sean Magyar Over a year ago

Thanks @KKulikovskis. I didn't know I could pass argument within argument. I will figure something out. This is not the cleanest solution for sure. I may keep some repetitions, it won't be DRY but at least won't look weird.

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