ActiveRecord Tableless ====================== [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/softace/activerecord-tableless.png)](http://travis-ci.org/softace/activerecord-tableless) [![Dependency Status](https://gemnasium.com/softace/activerecord-tableless.png)](https://gemnasium.com/softace/activerecord-tableless) [![Code Climate](https://codeclimate.com/github/softace/activerecord-tableless.png)](https://codeclimate.com/github/softace/activerecord-tableless) A single implementation of the ActiveRecord Tableless pattern for any Rails project or other Ruby project that uses ActiveRecord. Why, why, why ------------- Why would you ever consider this gem as opposed to ActiveModel. It all started in Rails 2 (see History section). In rails 2 ActiveModel did not exists. Nowadays rails 2.x series is no longer supported. In Rails 3 there is an Active Model API, where you can use some features of Active Record in other classes. Yehuda Katz has written [a nice introduction about this](http://yehudakatz.com/2010/01/10/activemodel-make-any-ruby-object-feel-like-activerecord/). In Rails 4 basic features of the Active Model API can be activated by including [ActiveModel:Model](http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveModel/Model.html) in the model. Carlos Antônio has written [a nice tutorial about this](http://blog.plataformatec.com.br/2012/03/barebone-models-to-use-with-actionpack-in-rails-4-0/). However neither the Active Model API (Rails 3) nor the ActiveModel::Model (Rails 4) supports relations and nested attributes. Installation ------------ ActiveRecord Tableless is distributed as a gem, which is how it should be used in your app. Include the gem in your Gemfile: gem "activerecord-tableless", "~> 1.0" Supported Versions ------------------ Supported ruby version are * **2.2.x** series higher than 2.2.2 * **2.3.x** series If you are using Ruby version < 2.2.2 you can use the gem version < 2.0 like this gem "activerecord-tableless", "~> 1.0.0" Supported ActiveRecord versions are * **3.0.x** series * **3.2.x** series * **4.1.x** series * **4.2.x** series If you are using ActiveRecord 2.3.x series you can use the gem version < 2.0 like this gem "activerecord-tableless", "~> 1.0.0" You may be able to make it work with 3.1.x, but you should expect to put some time in it. TODO ---- * Support Rails 5.x series Usage ----- Define a model like this: class ContactMessage < ActiveRecord::Base has_no_table column :name, :string column :email, :string validates_presence_of :name, :email end You can now use the model in a view like this: <%= form_for :message, @message do |f| %> Your name: <%= f.text_field :name %> Your email: <%= f.text_field :email %> <% end %> And in the controller: def message @message = ContactMessage.new if request.post? @message.attributes = params[:message] if @message.valid? # Process the message... end end end If you wish (this is not recommended), you can pretend you have a succeeding database by using has_no_table :database => :pretend_success Development ----------- To start develop, please download the source code git clone git://github.com/softace/activerecord-tableless.git Install development libraries sudo apt-get install -y libsqlite3-dev libxml2-dev libxslt-dev When downloaded, you can start issuing the commands like gem install bundler -v '~> 1.12.0' bundle install bundle update bundle exec appraisal generate bundle exec appraisal install bundle exec appraisal rake all Or you can see what other options are there: bundle exec rake -T Publishing gem -------------- ``` gem bump -v pre ``` Verify everything is OK. ``` gem build activerecord-tableless.gemspec ``` Verify everything is OK. ``` gem release -t ``` History ------- Originally this code was implemented for Rails 2 by Kenneth Kalmer. For Rails 3 the need for this functionality was reduced dramatically due to the introduction of ActiveModel. But because the ActiveModel does not support relations and nested attributes the existence of this gem is still justified. For a history of technical implementation details feel free to take a look in the git log :-) Copyright --------- Copyright (c) Jarl Friis. See LICENSE.txt for further details.