Ruby on Rails 4.1 Release Notes =============================== Highlights in Rails 4.1: * Action View extracted from Action Pack These release notes cover only the major changes. To know about various bug fixes and changes, please refer to the change logs or check out the [list of commits](https://github.com/rails/rails/commits/master) in the main Rails repository on GitHub. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upgrading to Rails 4.1 ---------------------- If you're upgrading an existing application, it's a great idea to have good test coverage before going in. You should also first upgrade to Rails 4.0 in case you haven't and make sure your application still runs as expected before attempting an update to Rails 4.1. A list of things to watch out for when upgrading is available in the [Upgrading to Rails](upgrading_ruby_on_rails.html#upgrading-from-rails-4-0-to-rails-4-1) guide. Major Features -------------- Documentation ------------- Railties -------- Please refer to the [Changelog](https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/4-1-stable/railties/CHANGELOG.md) for detailed changes. ### Removals * Removed `update:application_controller` rake task. * Removed deprecated `Rails.application.railties.engines`. * Removed deprecated `threadsafe!` from Rails Config. * Removed deprecated `ActiveRecord::Generators::ActiveModel#update_attributes` in favor of `ActiveRecord::Generators::ActiveModel#update` * Removed deprecated `config.whiny_nils` option * Removed deprecated rake tasks for running tests: `rake test:uncommitted` and `rake test:recent`. ### Notable changes * `BACKTRACE` environment variable to show unfiltered backtraces for test failures. ([Commit](https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/84eac5dab8b0fe9ee20b51250e52ad7bfea36553)) * Exposed `MiddlewareStack#unshift` to environment configuration. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/12479)) Action Mailer ------------- Please refer to the [Changelog](https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/4-1-stable/actionmailer/CHANGELOG.md) for detailed changes. ### Notable changes * Instrument the generation of Action Mailer messages. The time it takes to generate a message is written to the log. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/12556)) Active Model ------------ Please refer to the [Changelog](https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/4-1-stable/activemodel/CHANGELOG.md) for detailed changes. ### Deprecations * Deprecate `Validator#setup`. This should be done manually now in the validator's constructor. ([Commit](https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/7d84c3a2f7ede0e8d04540e9c0640de7378e9b3a)) ### Notable changes * Added new API methods `reset_changes` and `changes_applied` to `ActiveModel::Dirty` that control changes state. Active Support -------------- Please refer to the [Changelog](https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/4-1-stable/activesupport/CHANGELOG.md) for detailed changes. ### Removals * Removed deprecated `String#encoding_aware?` core extensions (`core_ext/string/encoding`). * Removed deprecated `Module#local_constant_names` in favor of `Module#local_constants`. * Removed deprecated `DateTime.local_offset` in favor of `DateTime.civil_from_fromat`. * Removed deprecated `Logger` core extensions (`core_ext/logger.rb`). * Removed deprecated `Time#time_with_datetime_fallback`, `Time#utc_time` and `Time#local_time` in favor of `Time#utc` and `Time#local`. * Removed deprecated `Hash#diff` with no replacement. * Removed deprecated `Date#to_time_in_current_zone` in favor of `Date#in_time_zone`. * Removed deprecated `Proc#bind` with no replacement. * Removed deprecated `Array#uniq_by` and `Array#uniq_by!`, use native `Array#uniq` and `Array#uniq!` instead. * Removed deprecated `ActiveSupport::BasicObject`, use `ActiveSupport::ProxyObject` instead. * Removed deprecated `BufferedLogger`, use `ActiveSupport::Logger` instead. * Removed deprecated `assert_present` and `assert_blank` methods, use `assert object.blank?` and `assert object.present?` instead. ### Deprecations * Deprecated `Numeric#{ago,until,since,from_now}`, the user is expected to explicitly convert the value into an AS::Duration, i.e. `5.ago` => `5.seconds.ago` ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/12389)) ### Notable changes * Added `ActiveSupport::Testing::TimeHelpers#travel` and `#travel_to`. These methods change current time to the given time or time difference by stubbing `Time.now` and `Date.today`. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/12824)) * Added `Numeric#in_milliseconds`, like `1.hour.in_milliseconds`, so we can feed them to JavaScript functions like `getTime()`. ([Commit](https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/423249504a2b468d7a273cbe6accf4f21cb0e643)) * Added `Date#middle_of_day`, `DateTime#middle_of_day` and `Time#middle_of_day` methods. Also added `midday`, `noon`, `at_midday`, `at_noon` and `at_middle_of_day` as aliases. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/10879)) * Added `String#remove(pattern)` as a short-hand for the common pattern of `String#gsub(pattern,'')`. ([Commit](https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/5da23a3f921f0a4a3139495d2779ab0d3bd4cb5f)) * Removed 'cow' => 'kine' irregular inflection from default inflections. ([Commit](https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/c300dca9963bda78b8f358dbcb59cabcdc5e1dc9)) Action Pack ----------- Please refer to the [Changelog](https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/4-1-stable/actionpack/CHANGELOG.md) for detailed changes. ### Removals * Removed deprecated Rails application fallback for integration testing, set `ActionDispatch.test_app` instead. * Removed deprecated `page_cache_extension` config. * Removed deprecated constants from Action Controller: ActionController::AbstractRequest => ActionDispatch::Request ActionController::Request => ActionDispatch::Request ActionController::AbstractResponse => ActionDispatch::Response ActionController::Response => ActionDispatch::Response ActionController::Routing => ActionDispatch::Routing ActionController::Integration => ActionDispatch::Integration ActionController::IntegrationTest => ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest ### Notable changes * Take a hash with options inside array in `#url_for`. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/9599)) * Added `session#fetch` method fetch behaves similarly to [Hash#fetch](http://www.ruby-doc.org/core-1.9.3/Hash.html#method-i-fetch), with the exception that the returned value is always saved into the session. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/12692)) * Separated Action View completely from Action Pack. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/11032)) Active Record ------------- Please refer to the [Changelog](https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/4-1-stable/activerecord/CHANGELOG.md) for detailed changes. ### Removals * Removed deprecated nil-passing to the following `SchemaCache` methods: `primary_keys`, `tables`, `columns` and `columns_hash`. * Removed deprecated block filter from `ActiveRecord::Migrator#migrate`. * Removed deprecated String constructor from `ActiveRecord::Migrator`. * Removed deprecated `scope` use without passing a callable object. * Removed deprecated `transaction_joinable=` in favor of `begin_transaction` with `d:joinable` option. * Removed deprecated `decrement_open_transactions`. * Removed deprecated `increment_open_transactions`. * Removed deprecated `PostgreSQLAdapter#outside_transaction?` methodd. You can use `#transaction_open?` instead. * Removed deprecated `ActiveRecord::Fixtures.find_table_name` in favor of `ActiveRecord::Fixtures.default_fixture_model_name`. * Removed deprecated `columns_for_remove` from `SchemaStatements`. * Removed deprecated `SchemaStatements#distinct`. * Moved deprecated `ActiveRecord::TestCase` into the rails test suite. The class is no longer public and is only used for internal Rails tests. * Removed support for deprecated option `:restrict` for `:dependent` in associations. * Removed support for deprecated `delete_sql` in associations. * Removed support for deprecated `insert_sql` in associations. * Removed support for deprecated `finder_sql` in associations. * Removed support for deprecated `counter_sql` in associations. * Removed deprecated method `type_cast_code` from Column. * Removed deprecated options `delete_sql` and `insert_sql` from HABTM association. * Removed deprecated options `finder_sql` and `counter_sql` from collection association. * Removed deprecated `ActiveRecord::Base#connection` method. Make sure to access it via the class. * Removed deprecation warning for `auto_explain_threshold_in_seconds`. * Removed deprecated `:distinct` option from `Relation#count`. * Removed deprecated methods `partial_updates`, `partial_updates?` and `partial_updates=`. * Removed deprecated method `scoped` * Removed deprecated method `default_scopes?` * Remove implicit join references that were deprecated in 4.0. * Removed `activerecord-deprecated_finders` as a dependency * Usage of `implicit_readonly` is being removed. Please use `readonly` method explicitly to mark records as `readonly. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/10769)) ### Deprecations * Deprecated `quoted_locking_column` method, which isn't used anywhere. * Deprecated the delegation of Array bang methods for associations. To use them, instead first call `#to_a` on the association to access the array to be acted on. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/12129)) * Deprecated `ConnectionAdapters::SchemaStatements#distinct`, as it is no longer used by internals. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/10556)) ### Notable changes * Added `ActiveRecord::Base.to_param` for convenient "pretty" URLs derived from a model's attribute or method. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/12891)) * Added `ActiveRecord::Base.no_touching`, which allows ignoring touch on models. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/12772)) * Unify boolean type casting for `MysqlAdapter` and `Mysql2Adapter`. `type_cast` will return `1` for `true` and `0` for `false`. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/12425)) * `.unscope` now removes conditions specified in `default_scope`. ([Commit](https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/94924dc32baf78f13e289172534c2e71c9c8cade)) * Added `ActiveRecord::QueryMethods#rewhere` which will overwrite an existing, named where condition. ([Commit](https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/f950b2699f97749ef706c6939a84dfc85f0b05f2)) * Extended `ActiveRecord::Base#cache_key` to take an optional list of timestamp attributes of which the highest will be used. ([Commit](https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/e94e97ca796c0759d8fcb8f946a3bbc60252d329)) * Added `ActiveRecord::Base#enum` for declaring enum attributes where the values map to integers in the database, but can be queried by name. ([Commit](https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/db41eb8a6ea88b854bf5cd11070ea4245e1639c5)) * Type cast json values on write, so that the value is consistent with reading from the database. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/12643)) * Type cast hstore values on write, so that the value is consistent with reading from the database. ([Commit](https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/5ac2341fab689344991b2a4817bd2bc8b3edac9d)) * Make `next_migration_number` accessible for third party generators. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/12407)) * Calling `update_attributes` will now throw an `ArgumentError` whenever it gets a `nil` argument. More specifically, it will throw an error if the argument that it gets passed does not respond to to `stringify_keys`. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/9860)) * `CollectionAssociation#first`/`#last` (e.g. `has_many`) use a `LIMIT`ed query to fetch results rather than loading the entire collection. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/12137)) * `inspect` on Active Record model classes does not initiate a new connection. This means that calling `inspect`, when the database is missing, will no longer raise an exception. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/11014)) * Removed column restrictions for `count`, let the database raise if the SQL is invalid. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/10710)) * Rails now automatically detects inverse associations. If you do not set the `:inverse_of` option on the association, then Active Record will guess the inverse association based on heuristics. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/10886)) * Handle aliased attributes in ActiveRecord::Relation. When using symbol keys, ActiveRecord will now translate aliased attribute names to the actual column name used in the database. ([Pull Request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/7839)) Credits ------- See the [full list of contributors to Rails](http://contributors.rubyonrails.org/) for the many people who spent many hours making Rails, the stable and robust framework it is. Kudos to all of them.