psharpNumerex / corned_beef

(CornedBeef) Hash-based Models <img src=“https://secure.travis-ci.org/spemmons/corned_beef.png?branch=master” alt=“Build Status” />¶ ↑

For ActiveRecord or other Ruby classes¶ ↑

CornedBeef allows the use of Hash-type data structures, such as those coming from JSON or YAML, to be used for Ruby classes, and in particular, ActiveRecord classes.

On any class including CornedBeef::Attributes, you may define generic, as well as typed, reader or accessor (i.e., read/write) attributes that are pulled from a “corned_beef_hash” attribute. Each attribute can have a default value that, when set, will NOT be included in the “corned_beef_hash” – the intent is to keep this collection minimal.

For an ActiveRecord::Base class, you may include CornedBeef::Model and specify a string-based “corned_beef_hash_alias” that will be the database field used to store the “corned_beef_hash”. When setting the “corned_beef_hash_alias” attribute, any hash keys matching actual database fields will be removed and used to set the field values – this occurs on “new/create”, “update_attribute(s)”, and explicity assignment. Methods “to_hash”, “to_json”, and “to_yaml” will combine all fields and values of “corned_beef_hash” into a single, combined list, as well.

When an ActiveRecord class is intended for use as a set of idempotent “seeds”, you may include CornedBeef:Seeds to provide convenient mapping of a YAML file in the Rails config directory to be loaded into the database. Simply name the YAML file the “underscore” version of the model name and call the class method “reset_seeds” in the /db/seeds.rb file for the Rake “db:seed” task to load.

Usage Notes¶ ↑

• If accessor attributes are defined, be sure to use the named “setter” method or “corned_beef_set_attribute(s)” methods.

While it is possible to perform actions “corned_beef_hash = …”, subsequent calls to “getter” methods may not return the new value.

• Avoid changing the value of any “corned_beef_defaults” dynamically, as this may lead to inconsistent results.

Instead, change the default in the definition of the attribute.

This project rocks and uses MIT-LICENSE.