has_metadata 1.0.0

data/.document

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+README.rdoc
+lib/**/*.rb
+bin/*
+features/**/*.feature
+LICENSE

data/.gitignore

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+## MAC OS
+.DS_Store
+
+## TEXTMATE
+*.tmproj
+tmtags
+
+## EMACS
+*~
+\#*
+.\#*
+
+## VIM
+*.swp
+
+## PROJECT::GENERAL
+coverage
+rdoc
+pkg
+.bundle
+.rvmrc
+test.sqlite
+
+## PROJECT::DOCUMENTATION
+.yardoc
+doc

data/.rspec

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+-cfs

data/Gemfile

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+source :rubygems
+
+# DEPENDENCIES
+gem 'rails', '>= 3.0'
+
+# DEVELOPMENT
+gem 'jeweler'
+gem 'yard'
+gem 'RedCloth', require: 'redcloth'
+gem 'sqlite3'
+
+# TEST
+gem 'rspec'
+

data/Gemfile.lock

@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+GEM
+  remote: http://rubygems.org/
+  specs:
+    RedCloth (4.2.3)
+    abstract (1.0.0)
+    actionmailer (3.0.1)
+      actionpack (= 3.0.1)
+      mail (~> 2.2.5)
+    actionpack (3.0.1)
+      activemodel (= 3.0.1)
+      activesupport (= 3.0.1)
+      builder (~> 2.1.2)
+      erubis (~> 2.6.6)
+      i18n (~> 0.4.1)
+      rack (~> 1.2.1)
+      rack-mount (~> 0.6.12)
+      rack-test (~> 0.5.4)
+      tzinfo (~> 0.3.23)
+    activemodel (3.0.1)
+      activesupport (= 3.0.1)
+      builder (~> 2.1.2)
+      i18n (~> 0.4.1)
+    activerecord (3.0.1)
+      activemodel (= 3.0.1)
+      activesupport (= 3.0.1)
+      arel (~> 1.0.0)
+      tzinfo (~> 0.3.23)
+    activeresource (3.0.1)
+      activemodel (= 3.0.1)
+      activesupport (= 3.0.1)
+    activesupport (3.0.1)
+    arel (1.0.1)
+      activesupport (~> 3.0.0)
+    builder (2.1.2)
+    diff-lcs (1.1.2)
+    erubis (2.6.6)
+      abstract (>= 1.0.0)
+    ffi (0.6.3)
+      rake (>= 0.8.7)
+    gemcutter (0.6.1)
+    git (1.2.5)
+    i18n (0.4.2)
+    jeweler (1.4.0)
+      gemcutter (>= 0.1.0)
+      git (>= 1.2.5)
+      rubyforge (>= 2.0.0)
+    json_pure (1.4.6)
+    mail (2.2.9)
+      activesupport (>= 2.3.6)
+      i18n (~> 0.4.1)
+      mime-types (~> 1.16)
+      treetop (~> 1.4.8)
+    mime-types (1.16)
+    polyglot (0.3.1)
+    rack (1.2.1)
+    rack-mount (0.6.13)
+      rack (>= 1.0.0)
+    rack-test (0.5.6)
+      rack (>= 1.0)
+    rails (3.0.1)
+      actionmailer (= 3.0.1)
+      actionpack (= 3.0.1)
+      activerecord (= 3.0.1)
+      activeresource (= 3.0.1)
+      activesupport (= 3.0.1)
+      bundler (~> 1.0.0)
+      railties (= 3.0.1)
+    railties (3.0.1)
+      actionpack (= 3.0.1)
+      activesupport (= 3.0.1)
+      rake (>= 0.8.4)
+      thor (~> 0.14.0)
+    rake (0.8.7)
+    rspec (2.0.1)
+      rspec-core (~> 2.0.1)
+      rspec-expectations (~> 2.0.1)
+      rspec-mocks (~> 2.0.1)
+    rspec-core (2.0.1)
+    rspec-expectations (2.0.1)
+      diff-lcs (>= 1.1.2)
+    rspec-mocks (2.0.1)
+      rspec-core (~> 2.0.1)
+      rspec-expectations (~> 2.0.1)
+    rubyforge (2.0.4)
+      json_pure (>= 1.1.7)
+    sqlite3 (0.1.1)
+      ffi (>= 0.6.3)
+    thor (0.14.3)
+    treetop (1.4.8)
+      polyglot (>= 0.3.1)
+    tzinfo (0.3.23)
+    yard (0.6.1)
+
+PLATFORMS
+  ruby
+
+DEPENDENCIES
+  RedCloth
+  jeweler
+  rails (>= 3.0)
+  rspec
+  sqlite3
+  yard

data/LICENSE

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+Copyright (c) 2009 Tim Morgan
+
+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.textile

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+h1. has_metadata -- Keep your tables narrow
+
+| *Author* | Tim Morgan |
+| *Version* | 1.0 (Oct 29, 2010) |
+| *License* | Released under the MIT License. |
+
+h2. About
+
+Wide tables are a problem for big databases. If your @ActiveRecord@ models have
+10, maybe 15 columns, some of which are @VARCHARs@ or maybe even @TEXTs@, it's
+going to slow your queries down when you start to scale up.
+
+The easy solution to this problem is to limit your projections; in other words,
+to only @SELECT@ the columns that you actually need. If you've got a @users@
+table with a giant @about_me@ text column, and you're only trying to look up the
+user's login, then just select the @login@ column.
+
+In the long run, though, a superior solution is to just move those
+@about_me@-type columns to a completely different table. This table has just one
+JSON-serialized field, making it schemaless, so it doesn't waste space. Each row
+in this table is associated with a record in another table (@Metadata@ @has_one@
+of your models).
+
+This way, when your website gets huge, all of your giant, freeform data is in
+one table that you can shard, or move off to an alternate database, or even a
+NoSQL-type document store, or otherwise manage as you please. Your relational
+tables remain slim and efficient, containing only columns that a) are indexed,
+or b) you need frequent access to.
+
+This gem includes a generator that creates the @Metadata@ model, and a module
+that you can include in your models to define which fields have been spun off to
+the metadata record.
+
+h2. Installation
+
+*Important Note:* This gem is only compatible with Ruby 1.9 and Rails 3.0.
+
+Firstly, add the gem to your Rails project's @Gemfile@:
+
+<pre><code>
+gem 'has_metadata'
+</code></pre>
+
+Next, run the generator, which will add the @Metadata@ model and its migration
+to your application.
+
+<pre><code>
+rails generate metadata
+</code></pre>
+
+h2. Usage
+
+The first thing to think about is what columns to keep in your model. You will
+need to keep any indexed columns, or any columns you perform lookups or other
+SQL queries with. You should also keep any frequently accessed columns,
+especially if they are small (integers or booleans). Good candidates for the
+metadata table are the @TEXT@- and @VARCHAR@-type columns that you only need to
+render a page or two in your app.
+
+You'll need to change your model's schema so that it has a @metadata_id@ column
+that will associate the model with its @Metadata@ instance:
+
+<pre><code>
+t.belongs_to :metadata
+</code></pre>
+
+Next, include the @HasMetadata@ module in your model, and call the
+@has_metadata@ method to define the schema of your metadata. You can get more
+information in the @has_metadata@ documentation, but for starters, here's a
+basic example:
+
+<pre><code>
+class User < ActiveRecord::Base
+  include HasMetadata
+  has_metadata({
+    about_me: { type: String, length: { maximum: 512 } },
+    birthdate: { type: Date, presence: true },
+    zipcode: { type: Number, numericality: { greater_than: 9999, less_than: 10_000_} }
+  })
+end
+</code></pre>
+
+As you can see, you pass field names mapped to a hash. The hash describes the
+validation that will be performed, and is in the same format as a call to
+@validates@. In addition to the @EachValidator@ keys shown above, you can also
+pass a @type@ key, to constrain the Ruby type that can be assigned to the field.
+
+Each of these fields (in this case, @about_me@, @birthdate@, and @zipcode@) can
+be accessed and set as first_level methods on an instance of your model:
+
+<pre><code>
+user.about_me #=> "I was born in 1982 in Aberdeen. My father was a carpenter from..."
+</code></pre>
+
+... and thus, used as part of @form_for@ fields:
+
+<pre><code>
+form_for user do |f|
+  f.text_area :about_me, rows: 5, cols: 80
+end
+</code></pre>
+
+The only thing you _can't_ do is use these fields in a query, obviously. You
+can't do something like @User.where(zipcode: 90210)@, because that column
+doesn't exist on the @users@ table.

data/Rakefile

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+require 'rake'
+begin
+  require 'bundler'
+rescue LoadError
+  puts "Bundler is not installed; install with `gem install bundler`."
+  exit 1
+end
+
+Bundler.require :default
+
+Jeweler::Tasks.new do |gem|
+  gem.name = "has_metadata"
+  gem.summary = %Q{Reduce your table width by moving non-indexed columns to a separate metadata table}
+  gem.description = %Q{has_metadata lets you move non-indexed and weighty columns off of your big tables by creating a separate metadata table to store all this extra information. Works with Ruby 1.9. and Rails 3.0.}
+  gem.email = "git@timothymorgan.info"
+  gem.homepage = "http://github.com/riscfuture/has_metadata"
+  gem.authors = [ "Tim Morgan" ]
+  gem.required_ruby_version = '>= 1.9'
+  gem.add_dependency "rails", ">= 3.0"
+end
+Jeweler::GemcutterTasks.new
+
+require 'rspec/core/rake_task'
+RSpec::Core::RakeTask.new
+
+YARD::Rake::YardocTask.new('doc') do |doc|
+  doc.options << "-m" << "textile"
+  doc.options << "--protected"
+  doc.options << "-r" << "README.textile"
+  doc.options << "-o" << "doc"
+  doc.options << "--title" << "has_metadata Documentation".inspect
+  
+  doc.files = [ 'lib/**/*', 'README.textile', 'templates/metadata.rb' ]
+end
+
+task(default: :spec)

data/VERSION

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+1.0.0

data/has_metadata.gemspec

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+# Generated by jeweler
+# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE DIRECTLY
+# Instead, edit Jeweler::Tasks in Rakefile, and run the gemspec command
+# -*- encoding: utf-8 -*-
+
+Gem::Specification.new do |s|
+  s.name = %q{has_metadata}
+  s.version = "1.0.0"
+
+  s.required_rubygems_version = Gem::Requirement.new(">= 0") if s.respond_to? :required_rubygems_version=
+  s.authors = ["Tim Morgan"]
+  s.date = %q{2010-10-30}
+  s.description = %q{has_metadata lets you move non-indexed and weighty columns off of your big tables by creating a separate metadata table to store all this extra information. Works with Ruby 1.9. and Rails 3.0.}
+  s.email = %q{git@timothymorgan.info}
+  s.extra_rdoc_files = [
+    "LICENSE",
+     "README.textile"
+  ]
+  s.files = [
+    ".document",
+     ".gitignore",
+     ".rspec",
+     "Gemfile",
+     "Gemfile.lock",
+     "LICENSE",
+     "README.textile",
+     "Rakefile",
+     "VERSION",
+     "has_metadata.gemspec",
+     "lib/has_metadata.rb",
+     "lib/metadata_generator.rb",
+     "spec/has_metadata_spec.rb",
+     "spec/metadata_spec.rb",
+     "spec/spec_helper.rb",
+     "templates/create_metadata.rb",
+     "templates/metadata.rb"
+  ]
+  s.homepage = %q{http://github.com/riscfuture/has_metadata}
+  s.rdoc_options = ["--charset=UTF-8"]
+  s.require_paths = ["lib"]
+  s.required_ruby_version = Gem::Requirement.new(">= 1.9")
+  s.rubygems_version = %q{1.3.7}
+  s.summary = %q{Reduce your table width by moving non-indexed columns to a separate metadata table}
+  s.test_files = [
+    "spec/has_metadata_spec.rb",
+     "spec/metadata_spec.rb",
+     "spec/spec_helper.rb"
+  ]
+
+  if s.respond_to? :specification_version then
+    current_version = Gem::Specification::CURRENT_SPECIFICATION_VERSION
+    s.specification_version = 3
+
+    if Gem::Version.new(Gem::VERSION) >= Gem::Version.new('1.2.0') then
+      s.add_runtime_dependency(%q<rails>, [">= 3.0"])
+    else
+      s.add_dependency(%q<rails>, [">= 3.0"])
+    end
+  else
+    s.add_dependency(%q<rails>, [">= 3.0"])
+  end
+end
+

data/lib/has_metadata.rb

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+require 'metadata_generator'
+
+# @private
+class Object
+
+  # Creates a deep copy of this object.
+  #
+  # @raise [TypeError] If the object cannot be deep-copied. All objects that can
+  # be marshalled can be deep-copied.
+
+  def deep_clone
+    Marshal.load Marshal.dump(self)
+  end
+end
+
+
+# Provides the {ClassMethods#has_metadata} method to subclasses of @ActiveRecord::Base@.
+
+module HasMetadata
+  extend ActiveSupport::Concern
+  
+  # Class methods that are added to your model.
+  
+  module ClassMethods
+
+    # Defines a set of fields whose values exist in the associated {Metadata}
+    # record. Each key in the @fields@ hash is the name of a metadata field, and
+    # the value is a set of options to pass to the @validates@ method. If you do
+    # not want to perform any validation on a field, simply pass @true@ as its
+    # key value.
+    #
+    # In addition to the normal @validates@ keys, you can also include a @:type@
+    # key to restrict values to certain classes.
+    #
+    # @param [Hash<Symbol, Hash>] fields A mapping of field names to their validation options (and/or the @:type@ key).
+    #
+    # @example Three metadata fields, one basic, one validated, and one type-checked.
+    #   has_metadata(optional: true, required: { presence: true }, number: { type: Fixnum })
+
+    def has_metadata(fields)
+      belongs_to :metadata, dependent: :destroy
+      accepts_nested_attributes_for :metadata
+      #after_save :save_metadata, if: :metadata_changed?
+      class_inheritable_hash :metadata_fields
+      self.metadata_fields = fields.deep_clone
+
+      #define_method(:save_metadata) { metadata.save! }
+      #define_method(:metadata_changed?) { metadata and metadata.changed? }
+
+      fields.each do |name, options|
+        delegate name, to: :metadata!
+        delegate :"#{name}=", to: :metadata!
+
+        if options.kind_of?(Hash) then
+          type = options.delete(:type)
+          validate do |obj|
+            errors.add(name, :incorrect_type) unless
+              metadata_typecast(obj.send(name), type).kind_of?(type) or
+                ((options[:allow_nil] and obj.send(name).nil?) or (options[:allow_blank] and obj.send(name).blank?))
+          end if type
+          validates(name, options) unless options.empty? or (options.keys - [ :allow_nil, :allow_blank ]).empty?
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
+  # Instance methods that are added to your model.
+
+  module InstanceMethods
+
+    # @private
+    def metadata_typecast(value, type)
+      if value.kind_of?(String) then
+        if type == Integer or type == Fixnum then return value.to_i
+        elsif type == Float then return value.to_f end
+      end
+      return value
+    end
+
+    # @private
+    def assign_multiparameter_attributes(pairs)
+      fake_attributes = pairs.select { |(field, _)| self.class.metadata_fields.include? field[0, field.index('(')].to_sym }
+
+      fake_attributes.group_by { |(field, _)| field[0, field.index('(')] }.each do |field_name, parts|
+        options = self.class.metadata_fields[field_name.to_sym]
+        if options[:type] then
+          args = parts.each_with_object([]) do |(part_name, value), ary|
+            part_ann = part_name[part_name.index('(') + 1, part_name.length]
+            index = part_ann.to_i - 1
+            raise "Out-of-bounds multiparameter argument index" unless index >= 0
+            ary[index] = if value.blank? then nil
+              elsif part_ann.ends_with?('i)') then value.to_i
+              elsif part_ann.ends_with?('f)') then value.to_f
+              else value end
+          end
+          args.compact!
+          send :"#{field_name}=", options[:type].new(*args) unless args.empty?
+        else
+          raise "#{field_name} has no type and cannot be used for multiparameter assignment"
+        end
+      end
+
+      super(pairs - fake_attributes)
+    end
+
+    # @return [Metadata] An existing associated {Metadata} instance, or new, saved one if none was found.
+
+    def metadata!
+      if instance_variables.include?(:@metadata) then
+        metadata.set_fields self.class.metadata_fields
+      else
+        Metadata.transaction do
+          (metadata || create_metadata).set_fields self.class.metadata_fields
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end

data/lib/metadata_generator.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+require 'rails/generators'
+require 'rails/generators'
+require 'rails/generators/migration'
+
+# @private
+class MetadataGenerator < Rails::Generators::Base
+  include Rails::Generators::Migration
+  
+  source_root "#{File.dirname __FILE__}/../templates"
+  
+  def self.next_migration_number(dirname)
+    if ActiveRecord::Base.timestamped_migrations then
+      Time.now.utc.strftime "%Y%m%d%H%M%S"
+    else
+      "%.3d" % (current_migration_number(dirname) + 1)
+    end
+  end
+  
+  def copy_files
+    copy_file "metadata.rb", "app/models/metadata.rb"
+    migration_template "create_metadata.rb", "db/migrate/create_metadata.rb"
+  end
+end

data/spec/has_metadata_spec.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+require File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/spec_helper')
+
+module SpecSupport
+  class ConstructorTester
+    attr_reader :args
+    def initialize(*args) @args = args end
+  end
+  
+  class HasMetadataTester < ActiveRecord::Base
+    include HasMetadata
+    set_table_name 'users'
+    has_metadata({
+      untyped: {},
+      can_be_nil: { type: Date, allow_nil: true },
+      can_be_blank: { type: Date, allow_blank: true },
+      number: { numericality: true },
+      multiparam: { type: SpecSupport::ConstructorTester }
+    })
+  end
+end
+
+describe HasMetadata do
+  describe "#has_metadata" do
+    it "should add a :metadata association" do
+      SpecSupport::HasMetadataTester.reflect_on_association(:metadata).macro.should eql(:belongs_to)
+    end
+
+    it "should set the model to accept nested attributes for :metadata" do
+      SpecSupport::HasMetadataTester.nested_attributes_options[:metadata].should_not be_nil
+    end
+    
+    it "should make a getter for each field" do
+      SpecSupport::HasMetadataTester.new.should respond_to(:untyped)
+      SpecSupport::HasMetadataTester.new.should respond_to(:multiparam)
+      SpecSupport::HasMetadataTester.new.should respond_to(:number)
+    end
+
+    context "getters" do
+      before :each do
+        @object = SpecSupport::HasMetadataTester.new
+        @metadata = @object.metadata!
+      end
+
+      it "should return a field in the metadata object" do
+        @metadata.data[:untyped] = 'bar'
+        @object.untyped.should eql('bar')
+      end
+
+      it "should return nil if there is no associated metadata" do
+        @object.stub!(:metadata).and_return(nil)
+        ivars = @object.instance_variables - [ :@metadata ]
+        @object.stub!(:instance_variables).and_return(ivars)
+
+        @object.untyped.should be_nil
+      end
+    end
+    
+    it "should make a setter for each field" do
+      SpecSupport::HasMetadataTester.new.should respond_to(:untyped=)
+      SpecSupport::HasMetadataTester.new.should respond_to(:multiparam=)
+      SpecSupport::HasMetadataTester.new.should respond_to(:number=)
+    end
+
+    context "setters" do
+      before :each do
+        @object = SpecSupport::HasMetadataTester.new
+        @metadata = @object.metadata!
+      end
+
+      it "should set the value in the metadata object" do
+        @object.untyped = 'foo'
+        @metadata.data[:untyped].should eql('foo')
+      end
+
+      it "should create the metadata object if it doesn't exist" do
+        @object.stub!(:metadata).and_return(nil)
+        ivars = @object.instance_variables - [ :@metadata ]
+        @object.stub!(:instance_variables).and_return(ivars)
+        Metadata.should_receive(:new).once.and_return(@metadata)
+        
+        @object.untyped = 'foo'
+        @metadata.data[:untyped].should eql('foo')
+      end
+
+      it "should enforce a type if given" do
+        @object.multiparam = 'not correct'
+        @object.should_not be_valid
+        @object.errors[:multiparam].should_not be_empty
+      end
+
+      it "should not enforce a type if :allow_nil is given" do
+        @object.can_be_nil = nil
+        @object.valid? #@object.should be_valid
+        @object.errors[:can_be_nil].should be_empty
+      end
+
+      it "should not enforce a type if :allow_blank is given" do
+        @object.can_be_blank = ""
+        @object.valid? #@object.should be_valid
+        @object.errors[:can_be_blank].should be_empty
+      end
+
+      it "should enforce other validations as given" do
+        @object.number = 'not number'
+        @object.should_not be_valid
+        @object.errors[:number].should_not be_empty
+      end
+
+      it "should mass-assign a multiparameter attribute" do
+        @object.attributes = { 'multiparam(1)' => 'foo', 'multiparam(2)' => '1' }
+        @object.multiparam.args.should eql([ 'foo', '1' ])
+      end
+
+      it "should compact blank multiparameter parts" do
+        @object.attributes = { 'multiparam(1)' => '', 'multiparam(2)' => 'foo' }
+        @object.multiparam.args.should eql([ 'foo' ])
+      end
+
+      it "should typecast multiparameter parts" do
+        @object.attributes = { 'multiparam(1i)' => '1982', 'multiparam(2f)' => '10.5' }
+        @object.multiparam.args.should eql([ 1982, 10.5 ])
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end

data/spec/metadata_spec.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+require File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/spec_helper')
+
+describe Metadata do
+  describe ".new" do
+    it "should initialize data to an empty hash" do
+      Metadata.new.data.should eql({})
+    end
+
+    it "should initialize data to the value given in the initializer" do
+      Metadata.new(data: { foo: 'bar' }).data.should eql(foo: 'bar')
+    end
+  end
+end

data/spec/spec_helper.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+Bundler.require :default, :test
+require 'active_support'
+require 'active_record'
+
+$LOAD_PATH.unshift(File.dirname(__FILE__))
+$LOAD_PATH.unshift(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '..', 'lib'))
+
+require 'has_metadata'
+
+ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(
+  adapter: 'sqlite3',
+  database: 'test.sqlite'
+)
+require "#{File.dirname __FILE__}/../templates/metadata"
+
+RSpec.configure do |config|
+  config.before(:each) do
+    Metadata.connection.execute "DROP TABLE IF EXISTS metadata"
+    Metadata.connection.execute "CREATE TABLE metadata (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY ASC, data TEXT)"
+    Metadata.connection.execute "DROP TABLE IF EXISTS users"
+    Metadata.connection.execute "CREATE TABLE users (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY ASC)"
+  end
+end

data/templates/create_metadata.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+class CreateMetadatas < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def self.up
+    create_table :metadata do |t|
+      t.text :data, null: false
+    end
+  end
+
+  def self.down
+    drop_table :metadatas
+  end
+end

data/templates/metadata.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# Stores information about a model that doesn't need to be in that model's
+# table. Each row in the @metadata@ table stores a schemaless, serialized hash
+# of data associated with a model instance. Any model can have an associated row
+# in the @metadata@ table by using the {HasMetadata} module.
+#
+# h2. Properties
+#
+# | @data@ | A hash of this metadata's contents (YAML serialized in the database). |
+
+class Metadata < ActiveRecord::Base
+  set_table_name 'metadata'
+  serialize :data, Hash
+
+  after_initialize :initialize_data
+  before_save :nullify_empty_fields
+
+  validates :data,
+            presence: true
+
+  # @private
+  def set_fields(fields)
+    return self if @fields_set
+    @fields_set = true
+    
+    fields.each do |name, _|
+      singleton_class.send(:define_method, name) { data[name] }
+      singleton_class.send(:define_method, :"#{name}=") { |value| data[name] = value }
+    end
+    
+    self
+  end
+
+  private
+
+  def initialize_data
+    self.data ||= Hash.new
+  end
+
+  def nullify_empty_fields
+    data.each { |key, value| data[key] = nil if data[key].blank? }
+  end
+end

metadata

@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+--- !ruby/object:Gem::Specification 
+name: has_metadata
+version: !ruby/object:Gem::Version 
+  prerelease: false
+  segments: 
+  - 1
+  - 0
+  - 0
+  version: 1.0.0
+platform: ruby
+authors: 
+- Tim Morgan
+autorequire: 
+bindir: bin
+cert_chain: []
+
+date: 2010-10-30 00:00:00 -07:00
+default_executable: 
+dependencies: 
+- !ruby/object:Gem::Dependency 
+  name: rails
+  requirement: &id001 !ruby/object:Gem::Requirement 
+    none: false
+    requirements: 
+    - - ">="
+      - !ruby/object:Gem::Version 
+        segments: 
+        - 3
+        - 0
+        version: "3.0"
+  type: :runtime
+  prerelease: false
+  version_requirements: *id001
+description: has_metadata lets you move non-indexed and weighty columns off of your big tables by creating a separate metadata table to store all this extra information. Works with Ruby 1.9. and Rails 3.0.
+email: git@timothymorgan.info
+executables: []
+
+extensions: []
+
+extra_rdoc_files: 
+- LICENSE
+- README.textile
+files: 
+- .document
+- .gitignore
+- .rspec
+- Gemfile
+- Gemfile.lock
+- LICENSE
+- README.textile
+- Rakefile
+- VERSION
+- has_metadata.gemspec
+- lib/has_metadata.rb
+- lib/metadata_generator.rb
+- spec/has_metadata_spec.rb
+- spec/metadata_spec.rb
+- spec/spec_helper.rb
+- templates/create_metadata.rb
+- templates/metadata.rb
+has_rdoc: true
+homepage: http://github.com/riscfuture/has_metadata
+licenses: []
+
+post_install_message: 
+rdoc_options: 
+- --charset=UTF-8
+require_paths: 
+- lib
+required_ruby_version: !ruby/object:Gem::Requirement 
+  none: false
+  requirements: 
+  - - ">="
+    - !ruby/object:Gem::Version 
+      segments: 
+      - 1
+      - 9
+      version: "1.9"
+required_rubygems_version: !ruby/object:Gem::Requirement 
+  none: false
+  requirements: 
+  - - ">="
+    - !ruby/object:Gem::Version 
+      segments: 
+      - 0
+      version: "0"
+requirements: []
+
+rubyforge_project: 
+rubygems_version: 1.3.7
+signing_key: 
+specification_version: 3
+summary: Reduce your table width by moving non-indexed columns to a separate metadata table
+test_files: 
+- spec/has_metadata_spec.rb
+- spec/metadata_spec.rb
+- spec/spec_helper.rb