require 'active_support/core_ext/hash/indifferent_access' module ActiveRecord # Store gives you a thin wrapper around serialize for the purpose of storing hashes in a single column. # It's like a simple key/value store backed into your record when you don't care about being able to # query that store outside the context of a single record. # # You can then declare accessors to this store that are then accessible just like any other attribute # of the model. This is very helpful for easily exposing store keys to a form or elsewhere that's # already built around just accessing attributes on the model. # # Make sure that you declare the database column used for the serialized store as a text, so there's # plenty of room. # # You can set custom coder to encode/decode your serialized attributes to/from different formats. # JSON, YAML, Marshal are supported out of the box. Generally it can be any wrapper that provides +load+ and +dump+. # # Examples: # # class User < ActiveRecord::Base # store :settings, accessors: [ :color, :homepage ], coder: JSON # end # # u = User.new(color: 'black', homepage: '37signals.com') # u.color # Accessor stored attribute # u.settings[:country] = 'Denmark' # Any attribute, even if not specified with an accessor # # # There is no difference between strings and symbols for accessing custom attributes # u.settings[:country] # => 'Denmark' # u.settings['country'] # => 'Denmark' # # # Add additional accessors to an existing store through store_accessor # class SuperUser < User # store_accessor :settings, :privileges, :servants # end module Store extend ActiveSupport::Concern module ClassMethods def store(store_attribute, options = {}) serialize store_attribute, options.fetch(:coder, ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess) store_accessor(store_attribute, options[:accessors]) if options.has_key? :accessors end def store_accessor(store_attribute, *keys) keys.flatten.each do |key| define_method("#{key}=") do |value| initialize_store_attribute(store_attribute) send(store_attribute)[key] = value send("#{store_attribute}_will_change!") end define_method(key) do initialize_store_attribute(store_attribute) send(store_attribute)[key] end end end end private def initialize_store_attribute(store_attribute) case attribute = send(store_attribute) when ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess # Already initialized. Do nothing. when Hash # Initialized as a Hash. Convert to indifferent access. send :"#{store_attribute}=", attribute.with_indifferent_access else # Uninitialized. Set to an indifferent hash. send :"#{store_attribute}=", ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess.new end end end end