cast_attribute 1.0

data/lib/cast_attribute.rb

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+# CastAttribute is an extension to ActiveRecord for casting attributes to
+# different types. For example, let's say you have a model called Product, and
+# some of your products have Japanese characters in their names, so you want to
+# use your UnicodeString class with your Product model. You can do this with
+# CastAttribute like so:
+# 
+#   class Product < ActiveRecord::Base
+#     cast_attribute :name, :as => UnicodeString
+#   end
+# 
+# Now the +name+ attribute on your Product model will be an instance of
+# UnicodeString:
+# 
+#   >> Product.first.name.class
+#   => UnicodeString
+# 
+# == Caveats
+# 
+# CastAttribute will not install itself into ActiveRecord::Base unless
+# explicitly instructed to:
+# 
+#   CastAttribute.install!
+# 
+# CastAttribute defines accessor methods for the attributes you want to cast.
+# (I.e., in the example above, cast_attribute defines two instance methods in
+# Product: +name+ and <tt>name=</tt>.) If you want to add any functionality to
+# a cast attribute's accessors, you must use method chaining. Sorry.
+#
+module CastAttribute
+  # Installs CastAttribute into ActiveRecord::Base.
+  def self.install!
+    ActiveRecord::Base.class_eval do
+      include CastAttribute
+    end
+  end
+  
+  def self.included(base) # :nodoc:
+    base.extend(self)
+  end
+  
+  # Causes the values of the attribute specified by +name+ to be instances of
+  # the class specified in the <tt>:as</tt> key of +options+. For example, to
+  # make the +title+ attribute of a Book model use UnicodeString instead of the
+  # regular String:
+  # 
+  #   class Book < ActiveRecord::Base
+  #     cast_attribute :title, :as => UnicodeString
+  #   end
+  #
+  # You can cast more than one attribute at a time like so:
+  #
+  #   class Book < ActiveRecord::Base
+  #     cast_attribute :title, :summary, :as => UnicodeString
+  #   end
+  #
+  def cast_attribute(name, *options)
+    # Extract and check arguments.
+    names = [name] + options
+    options = names.pop
+    
+    unless options.is_a?(Hash)
+      raise TypeError, 'last argument must be a Hash'
+    end
+    if names.empty?
+      raise ArgumentError, 'no attribute names specified'
+    end
+    
+    klass = options.delete(:as)
+    
+    unless options.empty?
+      raise ArgumentError, "unknown key(s): `#{options.keys.join("', `")}'"
+    end
+    unless klass.is_a?(Class)
+      raise TypeError, 'value of :as option must be a Class'
+    end
+    
+    # Create attribute reader and writer methods.
+    names.each do |name|
+      unless columns_hash[name.to_s]
+        raise ArgumentError, "#{self} has no `#{name}' attribute"
+      end
+      
+      class_eval <<-EOS
+        def #{name}
+          @cast_attribute_#{name} ||= #{klass}.new(read_attribute(:#{name}))
+        end
+        
+        def #{name}=(value)
+          @cast_attribute_#{name} = nil
+          super
+        end
+      EOS
+    end
+  end
+end

metadata

@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+--- !ruby/object:Gem::Specification 
+name: cast_attribute
+version: !ruby/object:Gem::Version 
+  prerelease: false
+  segments: 
+  - 1
+  - 0
+  version: "1.0"
+platform: ruby
+authors: 
+- Dana Contreras
+autorequire: 
+bindir: bin
+cert_chain: []
+
+date: 2010-03-27 00:00:00 -04:00
+default_executable: 
+dependencies: 
+- !ruby/object:Gem::Dependency 
+  name: activerecord
+  prerelease: false
+  requirement: &id001 !ruby/object:Gem::Requirement 
+    requirements: 
+    - - ">="
+      - !ruby/object:Gem::Version 
+        segments: 
+        - 0
+        version: "0"
+  type: :runtime
+  version_requirements: *id001
+description: 
+email: 
+executables: []
+
+extensions: []
+
+extra_rdoc_files: []
+
+files: 
+- lib/cast_attribute.rb
+has_rdoc: true
+homepage: http://github.com/DanaDanger/cast_attribute
+licenses: []
+
+post_install_message: 
+rdoc_options: []
+
+require_paths: 
+- lib
+required_ruby_version: !ruby/object:Gem::Requirement 
+  requirements: 
+  - - ">="
+    - !ruby/object:Gem::Version 
+      segments: 
+      - 0
+      version: "0"
+required_rubygems_version: !ruby/object:Gem::Requirement 
+  requirements: 
+  - - ">="
+    - !ruby/object:Gem::Version 
+      segments: 
+      - 0
+      version: "0"
+requirements: []
+
+rubyforge_project: 
+rubygems_version: 1.3.6
+signing_key: 
+specification_version: 3
+summary: Extension to ActiveRecord for casting attributes as different types.
+test_files: []
+