Can't display more than one table model inheriting from the same class on different tables in QtRuby

I've been following this article to display ActiveRecord data in QtRuby. I've copied the BoatTableModel class from there(used my own code for the rest). In the article, BoatTableModel is defined to only support the Boat model, but except for the column definitions the code is quite generic. So, I've changed it so instead of having the columns defined there, I've made it take the columns from a column_names method, and define that methods in subclasses for each model.

Here is my code:

class QtArModel<Qt::AbstractTableModel
    def initialize(items)
        super()
        @items=items
    end

    def rowCount(parent=nil)
        @items.size
    end

    def columnCount(parent=nil)
        column_names.length
    end

    def data(index,role=Qt::DisplayRole)
        invalid=Qt::Variant.new
        return invalid unless role==Qt::DisplayRole or role==Qt::EditRole
        item=@items[index.row]
        return invalid if item.nil?

        v=item[column_names[index.column]]||""

        return Qt::Variant.new(v)
    end

    def headerData(section,orientation,role=Qt::DisplayRole)
        invalid=Qt::Variant.new
        return invalid unless role==Qt::DisplayRole

        v=case orientation
          when Qt::Horizontal
              column_names[section]
          else
              ""
          end
        return Qt::Variant.new(v.to_s)
    end

    def flags(index)
        return Qt::ItemIsEditable|super(index)
    end

    def setData(index,variant,role=Qt::EditRole)
        if index.valid? and role==Qt::EditRole
            s=variant.toString
            item=@items[index.row]
            if index.column.between?(0,column_names.length-1)
                item[column_names[index.column]]=s
            else
                raise "invalid column #{index.column}"
            end

            item.save

            emit dataChanged(index,index)
        else
            return false
        end
    end
end



class QtCoursesTableModel<QtArModel
    def column_names
        return [
            :number,
            :name,
            :tutor_name,
            :site,
            :active,
        ]
    end
end

class QtTasksTableModel<QtArModel
    def column_names
        return [
            :course,
            :ex_number,
            :received,
            :due,
            :description,
            :link,
            :completed,
            :file,
        ]
    end
end

Now, when I display one model(doesn't matter which) - everything works just fine. However, when I display both models, each in it's own Qt::TableView - only the first one is displayed, and the other table view is blank.

I've tried different ordering, and the table that gets to display it's data is always the one which it's Qt::TableView is created first - the order of the creating the Qt models does not matter. Also, when I create the model object for the first table, but don't actually set it's model property to it, the second table displays it's data.

I've also tried to display the same model twice in two different table views - and it worked - for a split second, and then the second view's data disappeared.

I've also tried to copy-paste the QtArModel, change it's name, and make one of the models inherit from the copy. That did work - but it's obviously a huge code duplication, so I would really like to avoid that.

Now, my guess is that something in QtArModel is defined as a class member instead of instance member, making both model instances share something they shouldn't share. It has to be in QtArModel - because if it was higher in the inheritance tree, the problem would have remained when I've duplicated QtArModel. However, I can't find anything in my QtArModel that's class-scoped instead of instance-scoped.

What am I missing?

OK, I've managed to work this out. Apparently, the problem was not the inheritance, but the GC. Since the only connection to the models was from TableView's model property - which is just a wrapper for C++ getter and setter - ruby thought it lost the reference to my models, and GC'd them.

Solved by keeping the models in ruby variables.