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@smpallen99
Created April 5, 2014 18:22
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Approach for constants shared between modules in Elixir
defmodule Constants do
@moduledoc """
An alternative to use @constant_name value approach to defined reusable
constants in elixir.
This module offers an approach to define these in a
module that can be shared with other modules. They are implemented with
macros so they can be used in guards and matches
## Examples:
Create a module to define your shared constants
defmodule MyConstants do
use Constants
define something, 10
define another, 20
end
Use the constants
defmodule MyModule do
require MyConstants
alias MyConstants, as: Const
def myfunc(item) when item == Const.something, do: Const.something + 5
def myfunc(item) when item == Const.another, do: Const.another
end
"""
defmacro __using__(_opts) do
quote do
import Constants
end
end
@doc "Define a constant"
defmacro constant(name, value) do
quote do
defmacro unquote(name), do: unquote(value)
end
end
@doc "Define a constant. An alias for constant"
defmacro define(name, value) do
quote do
constant unquote(name), unquote(value)
end
end
end
@houmanka
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Perfect. Thank you :)

@DerKastellan
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DerKastellan commented Mar 9, 2018

This generally works fine:
defmacro constant(name, value) do
quote do
defmacro unquote(name), do: unquote(value)
end
end

But if you use it in some other context, like for example this:

for {name, value} <- [ some_list_of_name_value_pairs ] do
constant(name, value)
end

I get a problem because it doesn't work with variables bound from the environment, at least not in elixir 1.3.4

I have a modified version that works for me:

defmacro constant(key, entry) do
quote bind_quoted: [key: key, entry: entry] do
def unquote(key)() do
unquote(entry)
end
end
end

This ties values from the caller environment into the definition... IIRC. Anyway - for my purposes that version worked better.

@guzishiwo
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66666666

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