acts_as_network 0.1.0

data/.gitignore

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+bin
+.bundle
+test/debug.log
+test/acts_as_network.test.db
+pkg

data/.rvmrc

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+rvm --create use 1.9.3@acts_as_network

data/Gemfile

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+source 'https://rubygems.org'
+
+# Specify your gem's dependencies in acts_as_network.gemspec
+gemspec

data/Gemfile.lock

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+PATH
+  remote: .
+  specs:
+    acts_as_network (0.1.0)
+      rails (~> 3.2.0)
+
+GEM
+  remote: https://rubygems.org/
+  specs:
+    actionmailer (3.2.1)
+      actionpack (= 3.2.1)
+      mail (~> 2.4.0)
+    actionpack (3.2.1)
+      activemodel (= 3.2.1)
+      activesupport (= 3.2.1)
+      builder (~> 3.0.0)
+      erubis (~> 2.7.0)
+      journey (~> 1.0.1)
+      rack (~> 1.4.0)
+      rack-cache (~> 1.1)
+      rack-test (~> 0.6.1)
+      sprockets (~> 2.1.2)
+    activemodel (3.2.1)
+      activesupport (= 3.2.1)
+      builder (~> 3.0.0)
+    activerecord (3.2.1)
+      activemodel (= 3.2.1)
+      activesupport (= 3.2.1)
+      arel (~> 3.0.0)
+      tzinfo (~> 0.3.29)
+    activeresource (3.2.1)
+      activemodel (= 3.2.1)
+      activesupport (= 3.2.1)
+    activesupport (3.2.1)
+      i18n (~> 0.6)
+      multi_json (~> 1.0)
+    arel (3.0.0)
+    builder (3.0.0)
+    erubis (2.7.0)
+    hike (1.2.1)
+    i18n (0.6.0)
+    journey (1.0.1)
+    json (1.6.5)
+    mail (2.4.1)
+      i18n (>= 0.4.0)
+      mime-types (~> 1.16)
+      treetop (~> 1.4.8)
+    mime-types (1.17.2)
+    minitest (2.11.1)
+    multi_json (1.0.4)
+    polyglot (0.3.3)
+    rack (1.4.1)
+    rack-cache (1.1)
+      rack (>= 0.4)
+    rack-ssl (1.3.2)
+      rack
+    rack-test (0.6.1)
+      rack (>= 1.0)
+    rails (3.2.1)
+      actionmailer (= 3.2.1)
+      actionpack (= 3.2.1)
+      activerecord (= 3.2.1)
+      activeresource (= 3.2.1)
+      activesupport (= 3.2.1)
+      bundler (~> 1.0)
+      railties (= 3.2.1)
+    railties (3.2.1)
+      actionpack (= 3.2.1)
+      activesupport (= 3.2.1)
+      rack-ssl (~> 1.3.2)
+      rake (>= 0.8.7)
+      rdoc (~> 3.4)
+      thor (~> 0.14.6)
+    rake (0.9.2.2)
+    rdoc (3.12)
+      json (~> 1.4)
+    sprockets (2.1.2)
+      hike (~> 1.2)
+      rack (~> 1.0)
+      tilt (~> 1.1, != 1.3.0)
+    sqlite3 (1.3.5)
+    sqlite3-ruby (1.3.3)
+      sqlite3 (>= 1.3.3)
+    thor (0.14.6)
+    tilt (1.3.3)
+    treetop (1.4.10)
+      polyglot
+      polyglot (>= 0.3.1)
+    tzinfo (0.3.31)
+
+PLATFORMS
+  ruby
+
+DEPENDENCIES
+  acts_as_network!
+  minitest
+  sqlite3-ruby

data/LICENSE

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+The MIT License
+
+Copyright (c) 2007 Zetetic LLC
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
+all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
+THE SOFTWARE.
+

data/README.md

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+# acts_as_network
+
+This gem is intended to simplify the definition 
+and storage of reciprocal relationships between entities using
+`ActiveRecord`, exposing a "network" of two-way connections between
+records. It does this in DRY way using only **a single record**
+in a `has_and_belongs_to_many` join table or `has_many :through` 
+join model. Thus, there is no redundancy and you need only one instance of 
+an association or join model to represent both directions of the relationship.
+
+This is especially useful for social networks where 
+a *friend* relationship in one direction implies the reverse
+relationship (when Jack is a friend of Jane, Jane should also
+be a friend of Jack). 
+
+## History
+
+[Zetetic LLC](http://www.zetetic.net) extracted `acts_as_network` from
+[PingMe](http://www.gopingme.com) where it drives the social 
+networking features of the site.
+
+[ExamTime](http://www.examtime.com) forked the project in February 2012
+to repackage it from a Rails 2 plugin to a Rails 3 gem. Minimal code
+changes have been made. Significant changes were pulled in from
+[Erik Hollensbe's
+fork](https://github.com/erikh/acts_as_network/commits/rails3/lib/zetetic/acts)
+
+## Installation
+
+Add this line to your application's `Gemfile`:
+
+    gem 'acts_as_network'
+
+And then execute:
+
+    $ bundle
+
+Or install it yourself as:
+
+    $ gem install acts_as_network
+
+## Contributing
+
+This fork is maintained on GitHub:
+  git@github.com:ExamTime/acts_as_network.git
+
+The original project is here:
+  http://github.com/sjlombardo/acts_as_network/tree/master
+
+1. Fork it
+2. Create your feature branch (`git checkout -b my-new-feature`)
+3. Commit your changes (`git commit -am 'Added some feature'`)
+4. Push to the branch (`git push origin my-new-feature`)
+5. Create new Pull Request
+
+## Usage
+
+The usual way of representing network relationships in a database is 
+to use an intermediate, often self-referential, join table (HABTM). 
+For example one might define a simple `Person` type
+
+```ruby
+  create_table :people, :force => true do |t|
+    t.column :name, :string
+  end
+```
+
+and then a join table to store the friendship relation
+
+```ruby
+  create_table :friends, {:id => false} do |t|
+    t.column :person_id, :integer, :null => false
+    t.column :person_id_friend, :integer, :null => false      # target of the relationship
+  end
+```
+
+Unfortunately this model requires *two* rows in the intermediate table to
+make a relationship bi-directional
+
+```ruby
+  jane = Person.create(:name => 'Jane')
+  jack = Person.create(:name => 'Jack')
+
+  jane.friends << jack          # Jack is Jane's friend
+  jane.friends.include?(jack)   # => true
+```
+
+Clearly Jack is Jane's friend, yet Jane is *not* Jack's friend
+
+```ruby
+  jack.friends.include?(jane)   # => false
+```
+
+unless you need to explicitly define the reverse relation
+
+```ruby
+  jack.friends << jane
+```
+
+Of course, this isn't horrible, and can in fact be implemented
+in a fairly DRY way using association callbacks. However, things get
+more complicated when you consider disassociation (what to do when Jane 
+doesn't want to be friends with Jack any more), or the very common
+case where you want to express the relationship through a more complicated
+join model via `has_many :through`
+
+```ruby
+  create_table :invites do |t|
+    t.column :person_id, :integer, :null => false           # source of the relationship
+    t.column :person_id_friend, :integer, :null => false    # target of the relationship
+    t.column :code, :string                                 # random invitation code
+    t.column :message, :text                                # invitation message
+    t.column :is_accepted, :boolean
+    t.column :accepted_at, :timestamp                       # when did they accept?
+  end
+```
+
+In this case creating a reverse relationship is painful, and depending on 
+validations might require the duplication of multiple values, making the
+data model decidedly un-DRY.
+
+### Using acts_as_network
+
+Acts As Network DRYs things up by representing only a single record
+in a `has_and_belongs_to_many` join table or `has_many :through` 
+join model. Thus, you only need one instance of an association or join model to
+represent both directions of the relationship.
+
+### With HABTM
+
+For a HABTM style relationship, it's as simple as
+
+```ruby
+  class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
+    acts_as_network :friends, :join_table => :friends
+  end
+```
+
+In this case `acts_as_network` will expose three new properies
+on the Person model
+
+```ruby
+  me.friends_out    # friends where I have originated the friendship
+                    # (people I consider friends)
+
+  me.friends_in     # friends where they originated the friendship
+                    # (people who consider me a friend)
+
+  me.friends        # the union of the two sets, that is all people who I consider
+                    # friends and all those who consider me a friend
+```
+
+Thus
+
+```ruby
+  jane = Person.create(:name => 'Jane')
+  jack = Person.create(:name => 'Jack')
+  
+  jane.friends_out << jack                  # Jane adds Jack as a friend
+  jane.friends.include?(jack)    =>  true   # Jack is Janes friend
+  jack.friends.include?(jane)    =>  true   # Jane is also Jack's friend!
+```
+
+### With a join model
+
+This may seem more natural when considering a join style with a proper Invite model. In this case
+one person will "invite" another person to be friends.
+
+```ruby
+  class Invite < ActiveRecord::Base
+    belongs_to :person
+    belongs_to :person_target, :class_name => 'Person', :foreign_key => 'person_id_target'        # the target of the friend relationship 
+    validates_presence_of :person, :person_target
+  end
+
+  class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
+    acts_as_network :friends, :through => :invites, [:conditions => "is_accepted = ?", true]
+  end
+```
+
+In this case `acts_as_network` implicitly defines five new properties on
+the `Person` model:
+
+```ruby
+  person.invites_out      # has_many invites originating from me to others
+  person.invites_in       # has_many invites orginiating from others to me
+  person.friends_out      # has_many friends :through outbound accepted invites from me to others
+  person.friends_in       # has_many friends :through inbound accepted invites from others to me
+  person.friends          # the union of the two friend sets - all people who I have
+                          # invited and all the people who have invited me
+```
+
+Thus
+
+```ruby
+  jane = Person.create(:name => 'Jane')
+  jack = Person.create(:name => 'Jack')
+
+  # Jane invites Jack to be friends
+  invite = Invite.create(:person => jane, :person_target => jack, :message => "let's be friends!")
+
+  jane.friends.include?(jack)    =>  false   # Jack is not yet Jane's friend
+  jack.friends.include?(jane)    =>  false   # Jane is not yet Jack's friend either
+
+  invite.is_accepted = true  # Now Jack accepts the invite
+  invite.save and jane.reload and jack.reload
+
+  jane.friends.include?(jack)    =>  true   # Jack is Jane's friend now
+  jack.friends.include?(jane)    =>  true   # Jane is also Jack's friend
+```
+
+For more details and specific options see `ActsAsNetwork::Network::ClassMethods`
+
+The applications of this plugin to social network situations are fairly obvious,
+but it should also be usable in the general case to represent inherant 
+bi-directional relationships between entities.
+
+#### Migrations
+
+This Gem does not attempt to help you write your migrations. For the
+join example above, the changes to the model and the corresponding
+migrations would be:
+
+```ruby
+class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
+  ...
+  acts_as_network :friends,
+    :through => :invites,
+    :conditions => [ "is_accepted = ?", true ],
+    :association_foreign_key => "person_target_id"
+```
+
+```ruby
+class CreateInvite < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def change
+    create_table :invites do |t|
+      t.integer :person_id
+      t.integer :person_target_id
+      t.text    :message
+      t.boolean :is_accepted
+      t.timestamps
+    end
+  end
+end
+
+class CreateFriends < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def change
+    create_table :friends do |t|
+      t.integer :person_id
+      t.integer :person_id_friend
+      t.timestamps
+      end
+  end
+end
+```
+
+## Tests
+
+The plugin's unit tests are located in `test` directory under 
+`vendor/plugins/acts_as_network`. Run:
+
+```
+  [%] cd vendor/plugins/acts_as_network
+  [%] ruby test/network_test.rb
+```
+
+This will create a temporary `sqlite3` database, a number of tables,
+fixture data, and run the tests. You can delete the sqlite database
+when you are done.
+
+```
+  [%] rm acts_as_network.test.db
+```
+
+The test suite requires `sqlite3`.

data/Rakefile

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+#!/usr/bin/env rake
+
+require "bundler/gem_tasks"
+require 'rake/testtask'
+
+Rake::TestTask.new(:test) do |test|
+  test.libs << 'lib' << 'test'
+  test.pattern = 'test/**/*_test.rb'
+  test.verbose = true
+end

data/acts_as_network.gemspec

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+# -*- encoding: utf-8 -*-
+require File.expand_path('../lib/acts_as_network/version', __FILE__)
+
+Gem::Specification.new do |gem|
+  gem.authors       = ["Zetetic LLC (Stephen Lombardo), David Kennedy"]
+  gem.email         = ["david.kennedy@examtime.com"]
+  gem.description   = %q{Simplify the definition and storage of "network" relationships, especially useful for social networks.}
+  gem.summary       = %q{Simplify social network relationships}
+  gem.homepage      = "https://github.com/ExamTime/acts_as_network"
+
+  gem.executables   = `git ls-files -- bin/*`.split("\n").map{ |f| File.basename(f) }
+  gem.files         = `git ls-files`.split("\n")
+  gem.test_files    = `git ls-files -- {test,spec,features}/*`.split("\n")
+  gem.name          = "acts_as_network"
+  gem.require_paths = ["lib"]
+  gem.version       = ActsAsNetwork::VERSION
+
+  gem.add_development_dependency "minitest"
+  gem.add_development_dependency "sqlite3-ruby"
+  gem.add_dependency "rails", "~> 3.2.0"
+
+end

data/lib/acts_as_network.rb

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+require "acts_as_network/version"
+require "active_record"
+
+#
+# ActsAsNetwork contains
+# * ActsAsNetwork::Network::ClassMethods - provides the actual acts_as_network ActiveRecord functionality
+# * ActsAsNetwork::UnionCollection - the basis for the "union" capability that allows acts_as_network
+#   to expose both inbound and outbound relationships in a single collection
+#
+module ActsAsNetwork
+   # = UnionCollection
+   # UnionCollection provides useful application-space functionality
+   # for emulating set unions acrosss ActiveRecord collections. 
+   #
+   # A UnionCollection can be initialized with zero or more sets, 
+   # although generally it must contain at least two to do anything 
+   # useful. Once initialized, the UnionCollection itself will 
+   # act as an array containing all of the records from each of its 
+   # member sets. The following will create a union object containing
+   # the unique results of each individual find
+   #
+   #   union = ActsAsNetwork::UnionCollection.new(
+   #     Person.find(:all, :conditions => "id <= 1"),                # set 0
+   #     Person.find(:all, :conditions => "id >= 10 AND id <= 15"),  # set 1
+   #     Person.find(:all, :conditions => "id >= 20")                # set 2
+   #   )
+   #
+   # UnionCollection's more interesting feature is how it will 
+   # intelligently forward ActiveRecord method calls to its member 
+   # sets. This allows you to execute find operations directly on a 
+   # UnionCollection, that will be executed on one or more 
+   # of the member sets. Given the prior definition calling
+   #
+   #   union.find(:all, :conditions => "id <= 1 OR id >= 20")
+   #
+   # would return an array containing all the records from set 0
+   # and set 2 (set 1 would be implicity excluded by the <tt>:conditions</tt>),
+   #
+   #   union.find_by_name('george')
+   #
+   # would return a single entry fetched from set 2 if george's id was >= 20,
+   # 
+   #   union.find(30)
+   # 
+   # would retrieve the record from set 2 with id == 30, and
+   # 
+   #   union.find(9)
+   # 
+   # would throw an #ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound exception because that id 
+   # is specifically excluded from the union's member sets.
+   # 
+   # UnionCollection operates according to the following rules:
+   #
+   # * <tt>find :first</tt> - will search the sets in order and return the 
+   #   first record that matches the find criteria.
+   # * <tt>find :all</tt> - will search the sets, returning a 
+   #   UnionCollection containing the all matching results. This UnionCollection
+   #   can, of course, be searched further
+   # * <tt>find(ids)</tt> - will look through all member sets in search
+   #   of records with the given ids. #ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound will 
+   #   be raised unless all the IDs are located.
+   # * <tt>find_by_*</tt> - works as expected, behaving like <tt>find :first</tt>
+   # * <tt>find_all_by_*</tt> - works as expected like <tt>find :all</tt>
+   #
+   class UnionCollection
+
+     # UnionCollection should be initialized with a list of ActiveRecord collections
+     #
+     #   union = ActsAsNetwork::UnionCollection.new(
+     #     Person.find(:all, :conditions => "id <= 1"),      # dynamic find set
+     #     Person.managers                                   # an model association 
+     #   )
+     #
+     def initialize(*sets)
+       @sets = sets || []
+       @sets.compact!     # remove nil elements
+     end
+
+     # Emulates the ActiveRecord::base.find method. 
+     # Accepts all the same arguments and options
+     #
+     #   union.find(:first, :conditions => ["name = ?", "George"])
+     #
+     def find(*args)
+       case args.first
+         when :first then find_initial(:find, *args)
+         when :all   then find_all(:find, *args)
+         else             find_from_ids(:find, *args)
+       end
+     end
+
+     def to_a
+       load_sets
+       @arr
+     end
+
+     private
+
+     def load_sets
+       @arr = []
+       @sets.each{|set| @arr.concat set unless set.nil?} unless @sets.nil?
+       @arr.uniq!
+     end
+
+     # start by passing the find to set 0. If no results are returned
+     # pass the find on to set 1, and so on.
+     def find_initial(method_id, *args)
+       # conditions get ANDed together on subequent runs in this scope
+       # by ActiveRecord. We'lls separate the conditions out, save a copy 
+       # of the initial state, and pass it to subsequent runs
+       conditions = args[1][:conditions] if args.size > 1 and args[1].kind_of?(Hash)
+
+       # this iteration is a great opportunity for future optimization -
+       # with find initial there is no need to continue processing once we
+       # find a match
+       results = @sets.collect { |set| 
+         args[1][:conditions] = conditions unless conditions.nil?
+         set.empty? ? nil : set.send(method_id, *args)
+       }.compact
+       results.size > 0 ? results[0] : nil
+     end
+
+     def find_all(method_id, *args)
+       # create a new UnionCollection with new member sets containing the 
+       # results of the find accross the current member sets
+       UnionCollection.new(*@sets.collect{|set| set.empty? ? nil : set.send(method_id, *Marshal::load(Marshal.dump(args))) })
+     end
+
+     # Invokes method against set1, catching ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound.
+     # if exception is raised try the method execution against set2
+     def find_from_ids(method_id, *args)
+       res = []
+
+       # another good target for future optimization - if only
+       # one id is presented for the search there is no need to proxy
+       # the call out to ever set - we can stop when we hit a match
+       args.each do |id|
+         @sets.each do |set|
+           begin
+             res << set.send(method_id, id) unless set.empty?
+           rescue ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound
+             # rethrow later
+           end
+         end
+       end 
+
+       res.uniq!
+       if args.uniq.size != res.size
+         #FIXME
+         raise ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound.new "Couldn't find all records with IDs (#{args.join ','})"
+       end
+       args.size == 1 ? res[0] : res
+     end
+
+     # Handle find_by convenience methods
+     def method_missing(method_id, *args, &block)
+       if method_id.to_s =~ /^find_all_by/
+         find_all method_id, *args, &block
+       elsif method_id.to_s =~ /^find_by/
+         find_initial method_id, *args, &block
+       else
+         load_sets
+         @arr.send method_id, *args, &block
+       end
+     end
+   end
+
+   module Network #:nodoc:
+     def self.included(base)
+       base.extend ClassMethods
+     end
+
+     module ClassMethods
+       # = acts_as_network
+       #
+       # ActsAsNetwork expects a few things to be present before it is
+       # called. Namely, you need to establish the existance of either
+       # 1. a HABTM join table; or
+       # 2. an intermediate Join model
+       # 
+       # == HABTM
+       #
+       # In the first case, +acts_as_network+ will assume that your HABTM table is named
+       # in a self-referential manner based on the model name. i.e. if your model is called
+       # +Person+ it will assume the HABTM join table is called +people_people+.
+       # It will also default the +foreign_key+ column to be named after the model: +person_id+. 
+       # The default +association_foreign_key+ column will be the +foreign_key+ name with +_target+
+       # appended.
+       #
+       #   acts_as_network :friends
+       #
+       # You can override any of these options in your call to +acts_as_network+. The
+       # following will use a join table named +friends+ with a foreign key of +person_id+
+       # and an association foreign key of +friend_id+
+       #
+       #   acts_as_network :friends, :join_table => :friends, :foreign_key => 'person_id', :association_foreign_key => 'friend_id'
+       #
+       # == Join Model
+       #
+       # In the second case +acts_as_network+ will need to be told which model to use to perform the join - this is 
+       # accomplished by passing a symbol for the join model to the <tt>:through</tt> option. So, with a join model called invites
+       # use:
+       #
+       #   acts_as_network :friends, :through => :invites
+       #
+       # The same assumptions are made relative to the foreign_key and association_foreign_key columns, which can be overriden using
+       # the same options. It may be useful to include <tt>:conditions</tt> as well depending on the specific requirements of the 
+       # join model. The following will create a network relation using a join model named +Invite+ with a foreign_key of 
+       # +person_id+, an association_foreign_key of +friend_id+, where the Invite's +is_accepted+ field
+       # is true.
+       #
+       #   acts_as_network :friends, :through => :invites, :foreign_key => 'person_id', 
+       #                   :association_foreign_key => 'friend_id', [:conditions => "is_accepted = ?", true]
+       #
+       # The valid configuration options that can be passed to +acts_as_network+ follow:
+       #
+       # * <tt>:through</tt> - class to use for has_many :through relationship. If omitted acts_as_network 
+       #   will fall back on a HABTM relation
+       # * <tt>:join_table</tt> - when using a simple HABTM relation, this allows you to override the 
+       #   name of the join table. Defaults to <tt>model_model</tt> format, i.e. people_people
+       # * <tt>:foreign_key</tt> - name of the foreign key for the origin side of relation - 
+       #   i.e. person_id.
+       # * <tt>:association_foreign_key</tt> - name of the foreign key for the target side, 
+       #   i.e. person_id_target. Defaults to the same value as +foreign_key+ with a <tt>_target</tt> suffix
+       # * <tt>:conditions</tt> - optional, standard ActiveRecord SQL contition clause
+       #
+       def acts_as_network(relationship, options = {})
+         configuration = { 
+           :foreign_key => name.foreign_key, 
+           :association_foreign_key => "#{name.foreign_key}_target", 
+           :join_table => "#{name.tableize}_#{name.tableize}"
+         }
+         configuration.update(options) if options.is_a?(Hash)
+
+         if configuration[:through].nil?
+           has_and_belongs_to_many "#{relationship}_out".to_sym, :class_name => name,  
+             :foreign_key => configuration[:foreign_key], :association_foreign_key => configuration[:association_foreign_key],
+             :join_table => configuration[:join_table], :conditions => configuration[:conditions]
+
+           has_and_belongs_to_many "#{relationship}_in".to_sym, :class_name => name,  
+             :foreign_key => configuration[:association_foreign_key], :association_foreign_key => configuration[:foreign_key],
+             :join_table => configuration[:join_table], :conditions => configuration[:conditions]
+
+         else
+
+           through_class = configuration[:through].to_s.classify
+           through_sym = configuration[:through]
+
+           # a node has many outbound relationships
+           has_many "#{through_sym}_out".to_sym, :class_name => through_class, 
+             :foreign_key => configuration[:foreign_key]
+           has_many "#{relationship}_out".to_sym, :through => "#{through_sym}_out".to_sym, 
+             :source => "#{name.tableize.singularize}_target",  :foreign_key => configuration[:foreign_key],
+             :conditions => configuration[:conditions]
+
+           # a node has many inbound relationships
+           has_many "#{through_sym}_in".to_sym, :class_name => through_class, 
+             :foreign_key => configuration[:association_foreign_key]
+           has_many "#{relationship}_in".to_sym, :through => "#{through_sym}_in".to_sym, 
+             :source => name.tableize.singularize, :foreign_key => configuration[:association_foreign_key],
+             :conditions => configuration[:conditions]
+
+           # when using a join model, define a method providing a unioned view of all the join
+           # records. i.e. if People acts_as_network :contacts :through => :invites, this method
+           # is defined as def invites
+           class_eval <<-EOV
+             acts_as_union :#{through_sym}, [ :#{through_sym}_in, :#{through_sym}_out ]
+           EOV
+
+         end
+
+         # define the accessor method for the reciprocal network relationship view itself. 
+         # i.e. if People acts_as_network :contacts, this method is defind as def contacts
+         class_eval <<-EOV
+           acts_as_union :#{relationship}, [ :#{relationship}_in, :#{relationship}_out ]
+         EOV
+       end
+     end
+   end
+
+   module Union
+     def self.included(base)
+       base.extend ClassMethods
+     end
+
+     module ClassMethods
+       # = acts_as_union
+       # acts_as_union simply presents a union'ed view of one or more ActiveRecord 
+       # relationships (has_many or has_and_belongs_to_many, acts_as_network, etc).
+       # 
+       #   class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
+       #     acts_as_network :friends
+       #     acts_as_network :colleagues, :through => :invites, :foreign_key => 'person_id', 
+       #                     :conditions => ["is_accepted = ?", true]
+       #     acts_as_union   :aquantainces, [:friends, :colleagues]
+       #   end
+       #
+       # In this case a call to the +aquantainces+ method will return a UnionCollection on both 
+       # a person's +friends+ and their +colleagues+. Likewise, finder operations will work accross 
+       # the two distinct sets as if they were one. Thus, for the following code
+       # 
+       #   stephen = Person.find_by_name('Stephen')
+       #   # search for user by login
+       #   billy = stephen.aquantainces.find_by_name('Billy')
+       #
+       # both Stephen's +friends+ and +colleagues+ collections would be searched for someone named Billy.
+       # 
+       # +acts_as_union+ doesn't accept any options.
+       #
+       def acts_as_union(relationship, methods)
+         # define the accessor method for the union.
+         # i.e. if People acts_as_union :jobs, this method is defined as def jobs
+         class_eval <<-EOV
+           def #{relationship}
+             UnionCollection.new(#{methods.collect{|m| "self.#{m.to_s}"}.join(',')})
+           end
+         EOV
+       end
+    end
+  end
+end
+
+ActiveRecord::Base.send :include, ActsAsNetwork::Network
+ActiveRecord::Base.send :include, ActsAsNetwork::Union