# <img src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRb1vaCQj_2gIgEdX5Fly1vMjfbFKYkuLW1P5c4-3dcFyQ3OqgZoTiOto_8" height="50"> Load Path

This gem is written to make it easy to configure the load path in Ruby files. Simple use a *configure* block to setup your load path without ugly code to interact with the file system.

===================

### Contributing

For questions and to report bugs, <nayyara.samuel@opower.com>. For contributing to code, send a pull request with a detailed description of changes to this repo.

### Building

To build the gem use the rake commands for gem tasks. To install:

	rake install

### Usage
If you have been programming Ruby you will notice that `require_relative` is not encouraged.
The alternative is to setup your load path with code that looks something like the following:

```
this_dir = File.dirname(__FILE__)

#Add the folder `lib` 2 levels above
lib_dir  = File.join(this_dir,  '..', '..', 'lib')
$: << lib_dir

#Add the folder `utils` to load path
utils_dir  = File.join(this_dir,  '..', 'utils')
$: << utils_dir

#Add the folder `others` under this directory to load path
others_dir = File.join(this_dir, 'others')
$: << others_dir

#Add the folder `bin` on the same level as `lib` folder
bin_dir = File.join(this_dir, '..', '..', 'bin')

```

And so forth. You can make the code look nicer but the line `$: << some_directory` looks ugly. With **LoadPath** your code looks something like this:

```
require 'load_path'

LoadPath.configure do
   add parent_directory('lib', up: 2)
   add sibling_directory('utils')
   add child_directory('others')
   add path_buider { parent_directory('lib', up: 2).sibling_directory('bin') }
end
 ```
Notice the use of the `path_builder` block. This is required if you wish you chain paths together.

You can then proceed to require the files with `require` instead of `require_relative` as normal. **NOTE**: You must first have the desired directory on the load path before requiring files from it.

The configure block also lets you require your files in bulk. For example to require all files in the lib folder 2 levels above, you would write code like this:

```
 Dir.glob(File.join(this_dir, '..', '..', 'lib', '*.rb')) do |file|
   require File.basename(file)
 end
```

Which can be made cleaner with:

```
require 'load_path'

LoadPath.configure do
  add parent_directory('lib', up: 2)
  add sibling_directory('utils')

  require_all parent_directory('lib', up: 2), '*.rb'
  # Default is '*.rb', so missing second option works for Ruby source files
  require_all sibling_directory('utils')
end
```

There is also a `PathBuilder` class to help you construct paths in your code. Here is how the class can be used:

```
require 'path_builder'

path_builder = LoadPath::PathBuilder.new('.')
config_file = path_builder.child_directory('config').file_path('config.yml')

```

### Examples

See also the example under tests directory. The following file system structure is used by the test:

<img src="https://github.com/nayyara84/load-path/blob/master/img/test_case.png?raw=true" height="250">