freeze-ray 0.0.1

data/History.txt

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+=== 0.4.0 :: 2009-05-29
+
+* Initial release.

data/README.markdown

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+Freeze Ray
+==========
+
+> "With my freeze ray I will stop the pain."  --Dr. Horrible
+
+The problem
+-----------
+
+ActiveRecord's dirty tracking feature is broken.  Awesome, but broken.  Let me demonstrate.
+
+    >> p = Post.last
+    => #<Post id: 261, ... >
+    >> p.title
+    => "A quick update"
+    >> p.changes
+    => {}
+    >> p.title << " about my pet frogs"
+    => "A quick update about my pet frogs"
+    >> p.changes
+    => {}
+
+Hang on, now!  We changed the title!  Why didn't we see this?
+
+    => {"title"=>["A quick update", "A quick update about my pet frogs"]}
+
+Because ActiveRecord doesn't have any way of knowing that we changed the attribute.  That's because we **mutated it in place**.  Rather than replace the string with a new one, *we changed the one it already had*.  That doesn't involve calling `#title=` on the Post, so the Post doesn't realize that the actual value changed.
+
+ActiveRecord provides one solution: call `#title_will_change!` first.  That tells the Post to remember the current value of the title to compare to the old one.  Observe:
+
+    >> p.title << " whom I love dearly"
+    => "A quick update about my pet frogs whom I love dearly"
+    >> p.changes
+    => {"title"=>["A quick update about my pet frogs", "A quick update about my pet frogs whom I love dearly"]}
+
+Well, sure, that works.  But you have to be careful.  What if you forget to that at some point?
+
+
+Another Solution
+----------------
+
+Freeze Ray offers another solution.  Just mark the attributes you want to track as `attr_frozen`:
+
+    class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
+      attr_frozen :title
+    end
+
+Now try to mess up dirty tracking:
+
+    >> p = Post.last
+    => #<Post id: 261, ... >
+    >> p.title
+    => "A quick update"
+    >> p.title << " about my pet frogs"
+    TypeError: can't modify frozen string
+            from (irb):36:in `<<'
+            from (irb):36
+    >> p.title
+    => "A quick update"
+    >> p.title.frozen?
+    => true
+
+You can't do it!
+
+Obviously, this isn't very useful in a case where you need to change attribute objects in place.  On the other hand, I can't think of a reason you'd *want* to change them in place.  Now, if you try, you'll know.
+

data/VERSION.yml

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+--- 
+:minor: 0
+:patch: 1
+:major: 0

data/lib/freeze_ray.rb

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+module FreezeRay
+  def attr_frozen(*attrs)
+    attrs.each do |attr|
+      define_method(attr) do
+        super.freeze
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end

data/spec/freeze_ray_spec.rb

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+$LOAD_PATH << File.dirname(__FILE__) + "/../lib"
+
+require 'rubygems'
+require 'acts_as_fu'
+require 'spec'
+
+Spec::Runner.configure do |config|
+  config.include ActsAsFu
+end
+
+require File.dirname(__FILE__) + "/../rails/init"
+
+
+describe "attr_frozen" do
+  before(:each) do
+    build_model :things do
+      string :string_attribute, :default => "foobar"
+      string :serialized_attribute
+      serialize :serialized_attribute
+      
+      # Turn off acts_as_foo's method_missing extension for schema
+      # definition.  For some reason, it delegates #define_method to
+      # the table definition.
+      class << self
+        alias_method :method_missing, :method_missing_without_columns
+      end
+      
+      attr_frozen :string_attribute, :serialized_attribute
+    end
+  end
+  
+  describe "freezes attributes which are" do
+    before do
+      @thing = Thing.new(:string_attribute => "foobar",
+                         :serialized_attribute => [:a, :b, :c])
+    end
+    
+    specify("strings") { @thing.string_attribute.should be_frozen }
+    specify("serialized") { @thing.serialized_attribute.should be_frozen }
+  end
+end

metadata

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+--- !ruby/object:Gem::Specification 
+name: freeze-ray
+version: !ruby/object:Gem::Version 
+  version: 0.0.1
+platform: ruby
+authors: 
+- Peter Jaros
+autorequire: 
+bindir: bin
+cert_chain: []
+
+date: 2009-05-29 00:00:00 -04:00
+default_executable: 
+dependencies: []
+
+description: Fixes ActiveRecord's dirty tracking.  Provides an attr_frozen macro which causes an attribute to be returned frozen.
+email: peter.a.jaros@gmail.com
+executables: []
+
+extensions: []
+
+extra_rdoc_files: []
+
+files: 
+- History.txt
+- README.markdown
+- VERSION.yml
+- lib/freeze_ray.rb
+- spec/freeze_ray_spec.rb
+has_rdoc: true
+homepage: 
+post_install_message: 
+rdoc_options: 
+- --inline-source
+- --charset=UTF-8
+require_paths: 
+- lib
+required_ruby_version: !ruby/object:Gem::Requirement 
+  requirements: 
+  - - ">="
+    - !ruby/object:Gem::Version 
+      version: "0"
+  version: 
+required_rubygems_version: !ruby/object:Gem::Requirement 
+  requirements: 
+  - - ">="
+    - !ruby/object:Gem::Version 
+      version: "0"
+  version: 
+requirements: []
+
+rubyforge_project: freeze-ray
+rubygems_version: 1.3.1
+signing_key: 
+specification_version: 2
+summary: Fixes ActiveRecord's dirty tracking.
+test_files: []
+