Custom Rake task unable to be called twice in same Rakefile unike Rake::TestTask

Question

I recently read an "older", 2009, article about how to make a Custom Rake tasks. So far it works for the first iteration, but I saw that Rake::TestTask can be called twice, so I figured I could do it, however my name attr_accessor is not picking up the symbol I'm passing to it.

require 'rake'
require 'rake/tasklib'

module Phil
  class FooTask < Rake::TaskLib
    attr_accessor :name
    attr_accessor :data
    attr_accessor :task_dependencies

    def initialize(name = :task, task_dependencies)
      @name = name
      @data = nil
      yield self if block_given?
      @task_dependencies = task_dependencies
      define
    end

    def define
      desc "Run the #{@name} task"
      task @name => @task_dependencies do
        puts 'Some Test being Printed'
        puts @data
        sh 'echo blah'
      end
      self
    end
  end
end

Phil::FooTask.new :foo, [:call_me_first, :call_me_second]

task :call_me_first do
  puts 'I am called first because I am a dependency'
end

task :call_me_second do
  puts 'I am called second because Im also a dependency'
end

Phil::FooTask.new(:stuff) do |t|
  t.data = 'I am a stuff task.'
end

The following is the results I get.

C:\Users\user01\Desktop
λ rake --tasks
rake foo    # Run the foo task
rake stuff  # Run the stuff task

C:\Users\user01\Desktop
λ rake foo
I am called first because I am a dependency
I am called second because Im also a dependency
Some Test being Printed

echo blah
blah

C:\Users\user01\Desktop
λ rake stuff --trace
** Invoke stuff (first_time)
rake aborted!
Don't know how to build task '{}' (see --tasks)
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/task_manager.rb:58:in `[]'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/task.rb:61:in `lookup_prerequisite'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/task.rb:57:in `block in prerequisite_tasks'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/task.rb:57:in `map'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/task.rb:57:in `prerequisite_tasks'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/task.rb:214:in `invoke_prerequisites'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/task.rb:193:in `block in invoke_with_call_chain'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/2.3.0/monitor.rb:214:in `mon_synchronize'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/task.rb:187:in `invoke_with_call_chain'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/task.rb:180:in `invoke'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/application.rb:152:in `invoke_task'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/application.rb:108:in `block (2 levels) in top_level'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/application.rb:108:in `each'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/application.rb:108:in `block in top_level'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/application.rb:117:in `run_with_threads'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/application.rb:102:in `top_level'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/application.rb:80:in `block in run'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/application.rb:178:in `standard_exception_handling'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/lib/rake/application.rb:77:in `run'
C:/tools/ruby23/lib/ruby/gems/2.3.0/gems/rake-12.0.0/exe/rake:27:in `<top (required)>'
C:/tools/ruby23/bin/rake:22:in `load'
C:/tools/ruby23/bin/rake:22:in `<main>'
Tasks: TOP => stuff

I'm not sure why the Rake task is failing. Even from reading the Rake's TestTask code, it seems I'm doing mostly everything correctly. I'll also say that I'm not a professional on Ruby and all the little tricks.

Answer 1

Keep arguments with default value at the end in method declaration!

The reason rake stuff is raising error is because of your Phil::FooTask.new(:stuff) do |t| call. Your initialize method expects two arguments. The error is in your declaration of the constructor where you've declared name = :task which has a default value of :task. However, the second parameter task_dependencies is expected. It is the second parameter that you're missing when initializing task with name :stuff.

Modify your initialize method declaration as follows:

def initialize(name = :task, task_dependencies = [])

Then you should see correct tasks when invoking rake -T:

rake foo    # Run the foo task
rake stuff  # Run the stuff task