domains have some common fields,extends domain or embedded? - grails

Question

when i design database.I use embedded to embed common fields.but it's can't init dateCreated and createdBy,what'd i do?extends domain or embedded is right way to handle common fields?
code to say?
class Created {
Date dateCreated
Long createdBy
def beforeInsert()
{
dateCreated= new Date()
createdBy=0
}
}
class Updated {
Date lastUpdated
Long updatedBy
//it works?
def beforeUpdate(){
lastUpdated=new Date()
updatedBy=0
}
//it works?
def beforeInsert(){
lastUpdated=new Date()
updatedBy=0
}
}
class CreatedUpdated {
Created created
Updated updated
//Must use the embedded option, or the type of exception, can not find CreatedUpdated
static embedded = ['created','updated']
}
class Term {
String name
CreatedUpdated createdUpdated
static embedded = ['createdUpdated']
Term parent
static hasMany =[terms:Term]
static mapping = {
version false
}
String toString()
{
name
}
static constraints = {
name unique:true,size: 1..20
parent nullable: true
createdUpdated display:false,nullable:true
terms display:false
url url: true
}
}
or use extends?
class Term extends CreatedUpdated{
String name
Term parent
static hasMany =[terms:Term]
static mapping = {
version false
}
String toString()
{
name
}
static constraints = {
name unique:true,size: 1..20
parent nullable: true
terms display:false
url url: true
}
}
`
what is right to me?

Answer 1

I'd definitely make this example embedded rather than inherited. I don't think you should make this call based solely on the fact that objects contain common fields. Instead, you should use inheritance if it makes sense for your model using standard OO design techniques. For example, if "myClass is a myBaseClass" doesn't hold true, inheritance is probably the wrong solution.
In general, I'd stay away from classes like CreatedUpdated that are just a collection of properties and not an actual object from your domain. Java/Groovy has only single inheritance, so this only works if you have one base class like this.
Also, for that particular case, created and updated timestamps can automatically be applied by GORM. If you're using spring security, check out the audit-trail plugin for automatically creating createdBy and updatedBy columns.

Answer 2

In this particular case audit-trail plugin should suffice the requirements. However if you have such requirement for other fields wherein no plugin is available, then one of the possible solution could be to inject such common fields at compile time via AST Transformation. Internally audit-trail plugin uses this concept to inject those fields. Depending upon your requirement you can either use Global AST Transformations or Local AST Transformations.