cblunt / rails-attribute_searchable

(NOTE: Since starting this plugin, I've learned that similar results can be attained with named_scope. I'll therefore be updating the code of this plugin to use named_scope.) Rails plugin that lets ActiveRecord models be filtered by terms and attributes.

Attribute-searchable¶ ↑

Introduction¶ ↑

attribute_searchable is a small plugin that adds filtering ActiveRecord to models. The plugin makes use of the ez_where plugin to allow complex attribute filters to be built up.

To see my original blog posts that led to attribute_searchable, please visit chrisblunt.com/blog/2009/05/12/rails-building-complex-search-filters-with-activerecord-and-ez_where/

Installation¶ ↑

attribute_searchable is dependent on the ez_where plugin:

ruby script/plugin install http://opensvn.csie.org/ezra/rails/plugins/dev/ez_where

Once ez_where is installed, install attribute_searchable with:

ruby script/plugin install git://github.com/cblunt/rails-attribute_searchable.git

Usage¶ ↑

To make a model class attribute_searchable

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  attribute_searchable
end

User will now have a search method which wraps the normal find method. You can use search to wrap find, e.g:

User.search(:all)
=> [...]

As well as all the normal find options, search takes an optional filters hash, which is used to specify attribute filters, e.g:

# SQL: SELECT * FROM users WHERE (status = 5) AND (archived = TRUE)
User.search(:all, :filters => { :status => 5, :archived => true })

attribute_searchable models can also be searched using terms. terms is a special filter option which is used to build SQL ILIKE queries on your model’s string-type attributes.

You must first specify which attributes will be searched when filtering by terms, e.g:

To search for users by first_name, last_name or email_address:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  attribute_searchable :terms_attributes => [:first_name, :last_name, :email_address]
end

You can now filter user’s by search terms, e.g:

# SQL: SELECT * FROM users
# WHERE (first_name ILIKE '%mary%' OR last_name ILIKE '%mary%' OR email_address ILIKE '%mary%')
User.search(:all, :filters => {:terms => %w{mary} })

Where multiple terms are provided, they are joined using an AND clause:

# SQL: SELECT * FROM users
# WHERE (first_name ILIKE '%mary%' OR last_name ILIKE '%mary%' OR email_address ILIKE '%mary%')
#   AND (first_name ILIKE '%company%' OR last_name ILIKE '%company%' OR email_address ILIKE '%company%')
User.search(:all, :filters => {:terms => %w{mary company} })

Links/References¶ ↑

• The ez_where plugin: brainspl.at/articles/2006/06/30/new-release-of-ez_where-plugin

• Original blog post: chrisblunt.com/blog/2009/05/12/rails-building-complex-search-filters-with-activerecord-and-ez_where/

Copyright © 2009 Chris Blunt, released under the MIT license