The base class of instantiation pipeline elements. All subclasses MUST implement is the call method, to define the logic that instances of that pipeline element should perform when invoked.
| [R] | default_priority | The default priority to use for elements of this type. | 
| [R] | name | The name of this element (may be nil). | 
| [R] | options | The hash of options that were given to this element. | 
| [R] | priority | The priority of this element, used to determine ordering. Higher ordered elements are invoked before lower-ordered elements. | 
| [R] | service_point | The service definition that this element belongs to. | 
| [RW] | succ | The next element in the chain. This value is only valid during pipeline execution—its value should not be relied upon at any other time. | 
- Comparable
Create a new element instance with the given name and priority. This will call initialize_element, so that subclasses only need to implement that method if they have any initialization logic to perform.
[ show source ]
    # File lib/needle/pipeline/element.rb, line 59
59:       def initialize( point, name=nil, priority=nil, options={} )
60:         @service_point = point
61:         @name, @priority = name, ( priority || self.class.default_priority )
62:         @options = options
63:         initialize_element
64:       end
  Set the default priority for elements of this type. Subclasses may use this method to set their default priority.
[ show source ]
    # File lib/needle/pipeline/element.rb, line 49
49:         def set_default_priority( priority )
50:           @default_priority = priority
51:         end
  Orders elements by their priority.
[ show source ]
    # File lib/needle/pipeline/element.rb, line 72
72:       def <=>( element )
73:         priority <=> element.priority
74:       end
  Alias for call
Invoke this element’s logic.
[ show source ]
    # File lib/needle/pipeline/element.rb, line 77
77:       def call( *args )
78:         raise NotImplementedError
79:       end
  Invoked by the constructor to perform any subclass-specific initialization logic.
[ show source ]
    # File lib/needle/pipeline/element.rb, line 68
68:       def initialize_element
69:       end
  Invoked by Pipeline::Collection#reset!. Subclasses of Element that save any kind of state should override this method to clear that state on demand.
[ show source ]
    # File lib/needle/pipeline/element.rb, line 84
84:       def reset!
85:       end