Custom Attributes

This plugin allows custom attributes to be added to any model in a Rails application. The main work is done in a generator which generates the relevant code (models, views, concerns etc) for a model passed as the first argument. It supports multi-tenant applications; the --tenant (optional) argument can be passed to the generator to define the column to use as tenant.

Installation

To use it in your project, add it to your Gemfile.

gem 'custom_attributes', :git => 'git@github.com:7Vals/custom_attributes.git'

This is needed since the plugin is in a private repository for now. Then run bundle.

bundle

Post Installation

First we need to use the generator to install the code for the relevant model. So assuming the model you want to allow custom attributes for is called Order, then use the following command.

rails generate custom_attributes:initialize Order

If you have a multi-tenant application with say the Company model acting as the tenant run the following instead.

rails generate custom_attributes:initialize Order --tenant=company

Now review the generated migrations and then run the migration.

rake db:migrate

Usage

Custom attributes can be rendered using the has_many relation that is added to the model. E.g. in the app/views/orders/_form.html.erb file include

<% form_for(@order) do |f| %>
...
<%= render @orders.custom_attributes %>
...
<% end %>

To render the custom attributes as editable pass the editable: true option. E.g.

<% form_for(@order) do |f| %>
...
<%= render @orders.custom_attributes, {form: f, editable: true} %>
...
<% end %>

The fields that are rendered can be parsed using the custom_attributes=(...) method in the generated OrderCustomAttributes concern. If you are using params.require(...) to whitelist certain parameters, you will need to whitelist the custom_attributes in the appropriate controller. E.g. in order_controller.rb

Note: With the inline editing feature this should not be needed.

def order_params
    params.require(:asset).permit(:name, :location).tap do |w|
        w[:custom_attributes] = params[:asset][:custom_attributes]
    end
end