How do you create a configurable Ruby on Rails plugin? - ruby-on-rails

Question

i am trying to create my first rails plugin, and i want it to be configurable, that is to say, i want to be able to set a variable in the environment.rb file or something.
UPDATE: i'm trying to do something like what's done here: http://soakedandsoaped.com/articles/read/exception-notifier-ruby-on-rails-plugin. i have tried mimicking their code, but i can't get it working.
i have the plugin working with the value hard-coded, but everything i have tried so far for making it configurable hasn't worked.
Here's some of the code:
#vendor/plugin/markup/lib/markup_helper.rb
module MarkupHelper
def stylesheet_cache_link_tag(*sources)
cache = assests_cache_dir ? assests_cache_dir : ""
options = sources.extract_options!.stringify_keys
cached_name = options.delete("cached_name")
stylesheet_link_tag(sources, :cache=> File.join(cache, cached_name))
end
def javascript_cache_include_tag(*sources)
cache = assests_cache_dir ? assests_cache_dir : ""
options = sources.extract_options!.stringify_keys
cached_name = options.delete("cached_name")
javascript_include_tag(sources, :cache=> File.join(cache, cached_name))
end
end
#something like the following in config/environment.rb or probably config/environments/production.rb
MarkupConfig.assests_cache_dir = "cache"
i want assests_cache_dir to default to "cache" but be able to set in an environment config file. i have googled a long time on this, and can't find anything discussing this. How can i accomplish this?

Answer 1

module MarkupHelper
mattr_accessor :assets_cache_dir
self.assets_cache_dir = "cache"
def assets_cache_dir
MarkupHelper.assets_cache_dir
end
end
Then in environment.rb (or development.rb/test.rb/production.rb if you want different values for each environment):
MarkupHelper.assets_cache_dir = "my-value"

Answer 2

Although the approach used by tomafro is quite easy to use, another approach is to use a database.yml-style configuration file that can be split according to environments:
module MyPlugin
class Configuration
# == Constants ==========================================================
CONFIG_FILES = [
"#{RAILS_ROOT}/config/myplugin.yml",
"#{RAILS_ROOT}/config/myplugin.yaml"
].freeze
DEFAULT_CONFIGURATION = {
:url => DEFAULT_HOSTNAME
}.freeze
# == Class Methods ======================================================
# :nodoc:
def self.config_file_found
CONFIG_FILES.find do |path|
File.exist?(path)
end
end
# Returns the default path to the configuration file
def self.default_path
config_file_found or CONFIG_FILES.first
end
# == Instance Methods ===================================================
# Creates a new MyPlugin::Configuration instance by reading from the
# configuration file.
# +env+ The Rails environment to load
def initialize(env)
config_file = self.class.config_file_found
#env_config = DEFAULT_CONFIGURATION
if (#config = (config_file and YAML.load(File.open(config_file))))
[ #config['defaults'], #config[env] ].each do |options|
if (options)
#env_config = #env_config.merge(options.symbolize_keys)
end
end
end
end
# Will return +true+ if a configuration file was found and loaded, or
# +false+ otherwise.
def exists?
#env_config != DEFAULT_CONFIGURATION
end
# Returns a particular configuration option.
def [](key)
#env_config[key.to_sym]
end
end
def self.config
#config ||= Configuration.new(Rails.env)
end
end
You would use this as:
settting = MyPlugin.config[:param_name]
You can also write utility methods to fetch particular values, or use OpenStruct instead of a configuration Hash. This is posted merely as an example of another design pattern.