README.md
ActiveRecord Tablefree
======================
| Project | ActiveRecord Tablefree |
|------------------------ | ----------------------- |
| gem name | activerecord-tablefree |
| license | MIT |
| download rank | [](https://rubygems.org/gems/activerecord-tablefree) |
| version | [](http://badge.fury.io/rb/activerecord-tablefree) |
| dependencies | [](https://gemnasium.com/github.com/boltthreads/activerecord-tablefree) |
| code quality | [](https://codeclimate.com/github/boltthreads/activerecord-tablefree) |
| continuous integration | [](https://travis-ci.org/boltthreads/activerecord-tablefree) |
| test coverage | [](https://coveralls.io/github/boltthreads/activerecord-tablefree?branch=master) |
| triage helpers | [](https://www.codetriage.com/boltthreads/activerecord-tablefree) |
| homepage | [https://github.com/boltthreads/activerecord-tablefree](https://github.com/boltthreads/activerecord-tablefree) |
| documentation | [http://rdoc.info/github/boltthreads/activerecord-tablefree/frames](http://rdoc.info/github/boltthreads/activerecord-tablefree/frames) |
A simple 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.
ActiveModel::Model does not support relations and nested attributes.
Installation
------------
ActiveRecord Tablefree is distributed as a gem, which is how it should
be used in your app.
Include the gem in your Gemfile:
gem "activerecord-tablefree", "~> 3.0"
Supported Versions
------------------
Supported ruby version are
* **2.2.x** series higher than 2.2.2 (a Rails 5 requirement)
* **2.3.x** series
* **2.4.x** series
Supported ActiveRecord versions are
* **5.0.x** series
* **5.1.x** series
If you are using an older ActiveRecord version you can use the gem [`activerecord-tableless`](https://github.com/softace/activerecord-tableless)
This gem tries to maintain the same API as the older `activerecord-tableless` gem.
Usage
-----
Define a model like this:
class ContactMessage < ActiveRecord::Base
has_no_table
column :name, :string
column :email, :string
column :message, :string
validates_presence_of :name, :email, :message
end
You can now use the model in a view like this:
<%= form_for :contact_message, @contact_message do |f| %>
Your name: <%= f.text_field :name %>
Your email: <%= f.text_field :email %>
Your message: <%= f.text_field :message %>
<% end %>
And in the controller:
def contact_message
@contact_message = ContactMessage.new
if request.post?
@contact_message.attributes = params[:contact_message]
if @contact_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
Associations
------------
Some model as before, but with an association to a real DB-backed model.
```
class ContactMessage < ActiveRecord::Base
has_no_table
column :message, :string
column :email, :string
validates_presence_of :name, :email
belongs_to :contact, foreign_key: :email, primary_key: :email
end
class Contact < ActiveRecord::Base
validates_presence_of :name, :email
has_one :contact_message, foreign_key: :email, primary_key: :email, dependent: nil
end
```
Obviously the association is not full-fledged, as some traversals just won't make sense with one side not being loadable from the database. From the `ContactMessage` you can get to the `Contact`, but not vice versa.
```
>> contact = Contact.new(name: 'Boo', email: 'boo@example.com')
>> contact_message = ContactMessage.new(contact: contact)
>> contact_message.email
=> 'boo@example.com'
```
Development
-----------
To start developing, please download the source code
git clone git://github.com/boltthreads/activerecord-tablefree.git
Install development libraries
sudo apt-get install -y libsqlite3-dev libxml2-dev libxslt-dev
When downloaded, you can start issuing the commands like
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-tablefree.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.
Rails 3 and 4 support is provided in the [activerecord-tableless gem](https://github.com/softace/activerecord-tableless), by [Jarl Friis](https://github.com/jarl-dk).
This gem is a Rails 5 compatible update, and renaming of that gem.
For a history of technical implementation details feel free to take a
look in the git log :-)
Copyright
---------
Copyright (c) Jarl Friis.
Copyright (c) Peter Boling, Bolt Threads.
The license is MIT. See LICENSE.txt for further details.