Reusing code across multiple migrations: helper modules and helper methods - ruby-on-rails

I need to reuse the same method across many migrations. My goal is to avoid code duplication. I tried to do it as shown below, by putting the shared method into file lib/migration_helper.rb and using include MigrationHelper in the migrations that use the shared method.
Is there a more standard way of sharing code in different migrations?
In particular, I put the helper file into lib directory - is this the correct place?
## lib/migration_helper.rb
# Methods shared across migrations.
module MigrationHelper
def my_shared_method
# some shared code
end
end
## db/migrate/do_something.rb
class DoSomething < ActiveRecord::Migration[5.2]
include MigrationHelper
# rubocop:disable Metrics/MethodLength
def up
# some code
my_shared_method
end
# rubocop:enable Metrics/MethodLength
def down
# more code
my_shared_method
end
SEE ALSO:
I got a few ideas from these questions, but they do not fully answer my question:
Custom helper methods for Rails 3.2 Migrations
Rails share code between migrations (aka concerns)
Accessing custom helper methods in rails 3 migrations
This repo has examples of a much more complex version of what I want, with a whole hierarchy of helpers. I need a simpler solution:
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/blob/master/lib/gitlab/database/migration_helpers.rb
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/blob/master/db/migrate/20220808133824_add_timestamps_to_project_statistics.rb

just tested, works in rails 7 (and probably earlier version)
What you could do is:
1 - create your file/class kinda wherever
app/lib/migration/something.rb
db/concerns/something.rb
...
# db/concerns/create_column_alias.rb
module CreateColumnAlias
def create_column_alias(*args)
add_column(*args)
end
end
2 - create an initializer to inject your new helper in the migrations classes (per this gist)
# initializers/extend_migration_with_custom_helpers.rb
require_relative "../../db/concerns/create_column_alias"
ActiveRecord::ConnectionAdapters::AbstractAdapter.send(:include, CreateColumnAlias)
3 - profit.
>$ bin/rails g my_migration
# db/migrate/123345456_my_migration.rb
class MyMigration < ActiveRecord::Migration[7.0]
def change
create_column_alias :tasks, :done, :boolean
end
end
edit
In case you don't want them to be included everywhere, you can skip the serializer and do
require_relative "../concerns/create_column_alias"
# db/migrate/123345456_my_migration.rb
class MyMigration < ActiveRecord::Migration[7.0]
include CreateColumnAlias
def change
create_column_alias :tasks, :done, :boolean
end
end
Though I suggest you not to do that and save you the trouble.
It's ok to have all your helpers available at any time even if you don't use them, especially given this has 0 impacts on production rapidity (only the deployment part, and it's super minimal like if you have 100 helpers you will lose only a few seconds)

Related

Rails - proper way to create admin section (`module` or `Admin::`)?

I'm new in Ruby and RoR and I'd like to create an admin section for a demo app.
From a little research I've done I've found two different options for creating an admin section. Example:
# config/routes.rb
namespace :admin do
resources :users
end
# app/controllers/admin_controller.rb
class AdminController < ApplicationController
before_filter :authorized?
...
end
Which of the two options is the most proper way to define controllers for the admin section, or they are both equally same?
# app/controllers/admin/users_controller.rb
# I think this is what rails generates if I run the "rails g controller admin::users" command
class Admin::UsersController < AdminController
...
end
# or instead
module Admin
class UsersController < AdminController
....
end
end
Both approaches yield to the same result, which is an UsersController which inherits from AdminController and is found in the Admin module (namespace).
Admin::MyClass is just a shortcut for module Admin ... class MyClass, but...
I would however prefer the explicit nested code (with module Admin on its own line), because it does make a different if the Admin-module has never been defined before. This probably won't happen to you when hacking with standard rails, but can happen when you write ruby code outside of rails.
See these examples:
class I::Am::AClass
end
i = I::Am::AClass.new
puts i.inspect
will lead to
i.rb:1:in `<main>': uninitialized constant I (NameError)
if you never declared the I and nested Am modules before in your code.
Whereas
module I
module Am
class AClass
end
end
end
i = I::Am::AClass.new
puts i.inspect
will work:
#<I::Am::AClass:0x00000001d79898>
because the modules are created along the path to AClass (at least this is how I think about it).
If you ever run in that problem and want to save whitespaces (because you will usually indent stuff in a module definition), there are some idioms to use. The one that solves the problem in the most obvious way (again, to me) is the following:
# Predefine modules
module I ; module Am ; end ; end
# Just a shortcut for:
# module I
# module Am
# end
# end
class I::Am::AClass
end
i = I::Am::AClass.new
puts i.inspect
#<I::Am::AClass:0x000000024194a0>
Just found that the nature of your question (it is not about an Admin-Interface, more about Module-Syntax) is also nicely discussed here Ruby (and Rails) nested module syntax . And I would love to see a ruby-bug report/feature-request on this :)
You can also use the administration framework for Ruby on Rails applications like
ActiveAdmin https://github.com/activeadmin/activeadmin
OR
Railsadmin
https://github.com/sferik/rails_admin

Why do functions from my Rails plugin not work without specifically requiring?

I need some help with my plugin. I want to extend ActiveRecord::Base with a method that initializes another method that can be called in the controller.
It will look like this:
class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
robot_catch :title, :text
...
end
My attempt at extending the ActiveRecord::Base class with robot_catch method looks like following. The function will initialize the specified attributes (in this case :title and :text) in a variable and use class_eval to make the robot? function available for the user to call it in the controller:
module Plugin
module Base
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
module ClassMethods
def robot_catch(*attr)
##robot_params = attr
self.class_eval do
def robot?(params_hash)
# Input is the params hash, and this function
# will check if the some hashed attributes in this hash
# correspond to the attribute values as expected,
# and return true or false.
end
end
end
end
end
end
ActiveRecord::Base.send :include, Plugin::Base
So, in the controller, this could be done:
class ArticlesController < ApplicationController
...
def create
#article = Article.new(params[:article])
if #article.robot? params
# Do not save this in database, but render
# the page as if it would have succeeded
...
end
end
end
My question is whether if I am right that robot_catch is class method. This function is to be called inside a model, as shown above. I wonder if I am extending the ActiveRecord::Base the right way. The robot? function is an instance method without any doubt.
I am using Rails 3.2.22 and I installed this plugin as a gem in another project where I want to use this functionality.
Right now, it only works if I specifically require the gem in the model. However, I want it the functionality to be included as a part of ActiveRecord::Base without requiring it, otherwise I'd have to require it in every model I want to use it, not particularly DRY. Shouldn't the gem be automatically loaded into the project on Rails start-up?
EDIT: Maybe callbacks (http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveSupport/Callbacks/ClassMethods.html) would be a solution to this problem, but I do not know how to use it. It seems a bit obscure.
First, I would suggest you make sure that none of the many many built in Rails validators meet your needs.
Then if that's the case, what you actually want is a custom validator.
Building a custom validator is not as simple as it might seem, the basic class you'll build will have this structure:
class SpecialValidator < ActiveModel::EachValidator
def validate_each(record, attribute, value)
# Fill this with your validation logic
# Add to record.errors if validation fails
end
end
Then in your model:
class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
validates :title, :text, special: true
end
I would strongly suggest making sure what you want is not already built, chances are it is. Then use resources like this or ruby guides resources to continue going down the custom validator route.
Answer
I found out the solution myself. Bundler will not autoload dependencies from a gemspec that my project uses, so I had to require all third party gems in an engine.rb file in the lib/ directory of my app in order to load the gems. Now everything is working as it should.
Second: the robot_catch method is a class method.

How to place a bunch of plain old Ruby objects into a models subdirectory?

In my Rails 3.2 app I have a bunch of plain old ruby objects in the /app/models/ directory. I'd like to move some of these into a separate folder, say /app/models/data_presenter/. For one of the objects,
# /app/models/data_presenter.rb
class DataPresenter
# ...
end
I've tried the following
# /app/models/data_presenter/data_presenter.rb
class DataPresenter::DataPresenter
# ...
end
however, I got the TypeError (wrong argument type Module (expected Class)) error. Any suggestions to overcome this (with or without namespaces)? Do I also need to change the corresponding models' tests names and locations?
As #BroiSatse pointed out, the problem was that I had a bunch of subclasses that were inheriting from the base class DataPresenter. For those subclasses I forgot about the namespacing, i.e.
# /app/models/data_presenter/color_data_presenter.rb
class ColorDataPresenter < DataPresenter
# ...
end
should have been
# /app/models/data_presenter/color_data_presenter.rb
class DataPresenter::ColorDataPresenter < DataPresenter::DataPresenter
# ...
end
or similarly
module DataPresenter
class ColorDataPresenter < DataPresenter
# ...
end
end
For the tests, I couldn't find a magick solution so I just wrote
# /test/unit/answers_presenter/color_data_presenter_test.rb
require 'test_helper'
class ColorDataPresenterTest < ActiveSupport:TestCase
should 'do something cool' do
presenter = DataPresenter::ColorDataPresenter.new
assert presenter.do_something_cool
end
end

How to refactor "shared" methods?

I am using Ruby on Rails 3.2.2 and I would like to "extract" some methods from my models / classes. That is, in more than one class / model I have some methods (note: methods are related to user authorizations and are named the "CRUD way") that are and work practically the same; so I thought that a DRY approach is to put those methods in a "shared" module or something like that.
What is a common and right way to accomplish that? For example, where (in which directories and files) should I put the "shared" code? how can I include mentioned methods in my classes / models? what do you advice about?
Note: I am looking for a "Ruby on Rails Way to make things".
One popular approach is to use ActiveSupport concerns. You would then place the common logic typically under app/concerns/ or app/models/concerns/ directory (based on your preference). An illustrative example:
# app/concerns/mooable.rb
module Mooable
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
included do
before_create :say_moo
self.mooables
where(can_moo: true)
end
end
private
def say_moo
puts "Moo!"
end
end
And in the model:
# app/models/cow.rb
class Cow < ActiveRecord::Base
include Mooable
end
In order to make it work this way you have to add the following line to config/application.rb
config.autoload_paths += %W(#{config.root}/app/concerns)
More information:
http://chris-schmitz.com/extending-activemodel-via-activesupportconcern/
http://blog.waxman.me/extending-your-models-in-rails-3
http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveSupport/Concern.html
My answer has nothing to do with RoR directly but more with Ruby.
Shraing common code may be done in various ways in Ruby. In my opinion the most obvious way is to create Ruby Modules that contain the code and then include them inside your class/model. Those shared modules are frequently under the lib directory of your app root. For example:
# lib/authorizable.rb
module Authorizable
def method1
#some logic here
end
def method2
#some more logic here
end
end
# app/models/user.rb
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
include Authorizable
end
The User class may now invoke method1 and method2 which belong to the Authorizable module. You can include this module in any other Ruby class you'd like, this way you DRY your code.

Include Railtie initialization in seeds.rb in Rails 3.1

I have created a simple railtie, adding a bunch of stuff to ActiveRecord:
0 module Searchable
1 class Railtie < Rails::Railtie
2 initializer 'searchable.model_additions' do
3 ActiveSupport.on_load :active_record do
4 extend ModelAdditions
5 end
6 end
7 end
8 end
I require this file (in /lib) by adding the following line to config/environment.rb before the application is called:
require 'searchable'
This works great with my application and there are no major problems.
I have however encountered a problem with rake db:seed.
In my seeds.rb file, I read data in from a csv and populate the database. The problem I am having is that the additions I made to ActiveRecord don't get loaded, and seeds fails with a method_missing error. I am not calling these methods, but I assume that since seeds.rb loads the models, it tries to call some of the methods and that's why it fails.
Can anyone tell me a better place to put the require so that it will be included every time ActiveRecord is loaded (not just when the full application is loaded)? I would prefer to keep the code outside of my models, as it is code shared between most of my models and I want to keep them clean and DRY.
Putting the extend there just adds it to ActiveRecord::Base.
When a model class is referenced, via Rails 3.1 autoloading/constant lookup, it will load the class. At that point, it is pure Ruby (nothing magic) as to what happens, basically. So I think you have at least a few options. The "bad" option that kind of does what you want it to hook into dependency loading. Maybe something like:
module ActiveSupport
module Dependencies
alias_method(:load_missing_constant_renamed_my_app_name_here, :load_missing_constant)
undef_method(:load_missing_constant)
def load_missing_constant(from_mod, const_name)
# your include here if const_name = 'ModelName'
# perhaps you could list the app/models directory, put that in an Array, and do some_array.include?(const_name)
load_missing_constant_renamed_my_app_name_here(from_mod, const_name)
end
end
end
Another way to do it would be to use a Railtie like you were doing and add a class method to ActiveRecord::Base that then includes stuff, like:
module MyModule
class Railtie < Rails::Railtie
initializer "my_name.active_record" do
ActiveSupport.on_load(:active_record) do
# ActiveRecord::Base gets new behavior
include ::MyModule::Something # where you add behavior. consider using an ActiveSupport::Concern
end
end
end
end
If using an ActiveSupport::Concern:
module MyModule
module Something
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
included do
# this area is basically for anything other than class and instance methods
# add class_attribute's, etc.
end
module ClassMethods
# class method definitions go here
def include_some_goodness_in_the_model
# include or extend a module
end
end
# instance method definitions go here
end
end
Then in each model:
class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
include_some_goodness_in_the_model
#...
end
However, that isn't much better than just doing an include in each model, which is what I'd recommend.

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