Rails namespacing concerns based on model name - ruby-on-rails

I am looking to separate concerns for some subset of function specific to a model.
I have referenced here and followed this pattern
module ModelName::ConcernName
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
included do
# class macros
end
# instance methods
def some_instance_method
end
module ClassMethods
# class methods here, self included
end
end
However, when I try to start the server it would result in the following error
Circular dependency detected while autoloading constant ModelName::ConcernName
I am wondering what is the best way to do concerns for some subset functions of a model.
Edit
Providing the model code:
path: app/models/rent.rb
Now I have a lot of checking logic in my model
class Rent < ActiveRecord::Base
def pricing_ready?
# check if pricing is ready
end
def photos_ready?
# check if photo is ready
end
def availability_ready?
# check if availability setting is ready
end
def features_ready?
# check if features are set
end
end
I want to separate it in concern
class Rent < ActiveRecord::Base
include Rent::Readiness
end
And organise the concern by namespace
path: app/models/concerns/rent/readiness.rb
module Rent::Readiness
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
included do
# class macros
end
# instance methods
def pricing_ready?
# check if pricing is ready
end
...
module ClassMethods
# class methods here, self included
end
end
Now I got it working if I just do class RentReadiness with the path in app/models/concerns/rent_readiness.rb

You can scope it to Rents and place to concerns/rents/readiness.rb:
module Rents
module Readiness
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
included do
# class macros
end
end
end
And in model:
class Rent < ActiveRecord::Base
include Rents::Readiness
end

You can make it work by just moving the folder with model-specific concerns from concerns to models. So, you would have:
models/
rent.rb
rent/
readiness.rb
I like this convention of using the model as the namespace for its concerns because it lets you remove some redundancy from code:
Since you are defining the concern within the model class, in the model you can write include Readiness instead of include Rent::Readiness
When defining the concern, you can use module Rent::Readiness instead of
class Rent < ApplicationRecord
module Readiness
...
Which would be another way of fixing the circular dependency problem you mentioned in your question.

Rails uses activesupport to load classes and modules as they are defined by inferring the file path based on the class or module name, this is done as the Ruby parser loads your files and come across a new constant that has not been loaded yet. In your case, the Rent model is parsed up to the Rent::Readlines reference, at which point activesupport goes off to look for the rent/readlines.rb code file that matches the name. This file is then then parsed by ruby, but on the first line, The still unloaded Rent class is referenced, which triggers activesupport to go off and look for the code file that matches the name.

Related

Modularizing class-level method calls by evaluating them in `included` methods

I'm working with a Rails project that uses the flip gem for feature flags. We have a Feature class in which you can declare the various feature flags you want to use,
# app/models/feature.rb
class Feature < ActiveRecord::Base
extend Flip::Declarable
strategy Flip::DeclarationStrategy
feature :ivans_feature_A
feature :ivans_feature_B
feature :ivans_feature_C
feature :kramers_feature_X
feature :kramers_feature_X
end
As the project grows, so does the number of feature-flags we've got declared in this file. A coworker suggested we break related feature-declarations into separate modules to organize things.
I've found a way to do this, but it's not a pattern I've seen used before so I wonder if there's a more standard way. I'm defining namespaced modules for each bunch of features I want to group together:
app/models/features/ivans_features.rb
module Features::IvansFeatures
def self.included(base)
base.feature :ivans_feature_A
base.feature :ivans_feature_B
base.feature :ivans_feature_C
end
end
app/models/features/kramers_features.rb
module Features::KramersFeatures
def self.included(base)
base.feature :kramers_feature_X
base.feature :kramers_feature_Y
end
end
...and including them in the feature model:
# app/models/feature.rb
class Feature < ActiveRecord::Base
extend Flip::Declarable
strategy Flip::DeclarationStrategy
include Features::IvansFeatures
include Features::KramersFeatures
end
Is it strange to mix a module into a class for the sole purpose of usingthe included callback to run some method calls on the class?
In your Feature class you can extend ActiveSupport::Concern and then do something like
included do
feature :kramers_feature_X
end

How to dynamically generate association names?

I am using Ruby on Rails 3.2.2 and the Squeel gem. I have following statements and I am trying to refactoring the my_squeel_query method in a Mixin module (since it is used by many of my models):
# Note: 'article_comment_associations' and 'model_as_like_article_comment_associations'
# refer to database table names.
class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
def my_squeel_query
commenters.
.where{
article_comment_associations.article_id.eq(my{self.id}) & ...
}
end
end
class ModelAsLikeArticle < ActiveRecord::Base
def my_squeel_query
commenters.
.where{
model_as_like_article_comment_associations.article_id.eq(my{self.id}) & ...
}
end
end
My problem is that I can not refactoring article_comment_associations and model_as_like_article_comment_associations statements by generating a dynamic name in the Mixin module. That is, if that was a String I could dynamically generate the related name by using something like "#{self.class.to_s.singularize}_comment_associations" as the following:
class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
include MyModule
end
class ModelAsLikeArticle < ActiveRecord::Base
include MyModule
end
module MyModule
def my_squeel_query
commenters.
.where{
# Note: This code doesn't work. It is just an sample.
"#{self.class.to_s.singularize}_comment_associations".article_id.eq(my{self.id}) & ...
}
end
end
But, since it is not my case, I cannot "build" the name and make the my_squeel_query to be "shared" across models.
How can I dynamically generate association names related to the Squeel gem? Should I think to refactoring in another way? What do you advice about?
Since the DSL is instance_evaled, you can actually say something like:
def my_squeel_query
base = self
commenters.
.where{
# Note: This code does work. Because it's awesome.
__send__("#{base.class.to_s.singularize}_comment_associations").
article_id.eq(my{self.id})
}
end
You can do this if you generate the methods dynamically. The Module.included method is provided for this purpose:
module ModuleAsLikeArticle
def self.included(base)
base.send(:define_method, "#{base.to_s.singularize}_comment_associations") do
# ...
end
end
end
This gets triggered when the module is imported with include and allows you to create methods specifically tailored for that.
As a note you might want to use base.name.underscore.singularize for a more readable method name. By convention, method names should not have upper-case in them, especially not as the first character.
Conventional Rails type applications use a different approach, though, instead defining a class method that can be used to create these on-demand:
module ModuleAsLikeArticle
def has_comments
base.send(:define_method, "#{base.to_s.singularize}_comment_associations") do
# ...
end
end
end
This would be used like this:
class ModelAsLikeArticle < ActiveRecord::Base
extend MyModule
has_comments
end
Since the method is not created until has_comments is called, you can safely extend ActiveRecord::Base and then insert the appropriate call in all the classes which require that functionality.
I think you might find what you need in the Rails Reflection class (http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/Reflection/ClassMethods.html), which, as the page says, allows you to interrogate ActiveRecord classes about their associations and aggregations.

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.

inject/access methods from a parent module inside a model

In Rails I have the following structure
#.../models/A.rb
module A
def m
end
end
#.../models/a/B.rb
class A::B < ActiveRecord::Base
end
This automatically places A as a parent of B. Is there a way to do something like B.m without modifying B? I know that I could do something like B.parent.m and from there create aliases, but then i would have to change B.
I'm looking to somehow inject a code present in A into B, but I don't know where this automatic association is done behind the scenes.
Something like
module A
module C
def mc
end
end
def placed_as_parent (child) # supposing this is the method called to put this module as a parent
super child
child.include(C) #this is what I would like to do
end
end
The question behind it is that I have a module which is already being shared among several models of that folder and I would like to put some common stuff for the models in there without have to manually include/extend a module in each of my models
[[EDITED]]
I'm not being clear with my question. In rails 3 if you do
rails generate active_record:model A::B
it will generate the files
#.../models/A.rb
module A
def self.table_name_prefix
'a_'
end
end
#.../models/a/B.rb
class A::B < ActiveRecord::Base
end
So if I open a console and type
A::B.table_name # -> 'a_b'
A::B.table_name_prefix # -> ''
A::B.parent # -> A
A.table_name_prefix # 'a_'
This happens automatically without any include/extend in the model B. What I want is to include more stuff in A and access it from B, without changing anything on B as i described earlier.
To be honest I'm not sure I fully understand your question but I'll give it a shot anyway.
There is a hook in the Module class that allows you to get a reference to the class the module is being included into. Thus, you could then do virtually anything with it.
An example:
module A
# you can change the class' behavior here
def self.included(klass)
puts "included in #{klass}"
end
end
And then to use it:
class B
include A #this causes the included hook in the module to be called
end
Is this what you're after?
The OP wrote:
The question behind it is that I have a module which is already being shared among several models of that folder and I would like to put some common stuff for the models in there without have to manually include/extend a module in each of my models
Here's what I would do:
module Stuff1
...
end
module Stuff2
...
end
module StuffIWantInSeveralModels
include Stuff1, Stuff2
end
class X < ActiveRecord::Base
include StuffIWantInSeveralModels
end
class Y < ActiveRecord::Base
include StuffIWantInSeveralModels
end
Then when you want to add a new module to several of your models, you only have to write an "include" statement in one place (in the StuffIWantInSeveralModels module).
Each module should be in its own file in the lib directory, with the file name matching the name of the module so Rails auto-loading will work (e.g. stuff_i_want_in_several_models.rb).
Does this achieve what you wanted?

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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