patrick-gleeson/thinginess

An ActiveRecord-style API for filtering and updating collections of non-persisted objects

#Thinginess Thinginess does two things. First, it provides some ActiveRecord-style methods for filtering and updating collections of objects according to attributes. Second, it provides a mechanism for keeping track of sets of things according to their class hierarchy.

class Tree < Thinginess::Thing
end

class Pine < Tree
end

class Birch < Tree
end

Pine.create(size: :small)
Pine.create(size: :medium)
Birch.create(size: :medium)
Tree.create(size: :massive)

Pine.count
# => 2
Birch.count
# => 1
Tree.count
# => 4

Tree.where(size: :medium).count
# => 2

Pine.update_all(size: :massive)

Tree.where(size: :medium).count
# => 1

The Manipulable API

Thing classes, and Collection objects, are both Manipulable. This means they have the methods #where(attributes), #update_all(attributes), and #all. They also implement Enumerable. Also they have a #changed method that returns things that have undergone an update, and a #reset_change_tracking method that does what you'd expect on all their things.

The Thingish API

Calling .create(attributes) on a Thing class or any subclass will add an instance of that class to a global thing register. The attributes will be available via the #attributes method, or via direct #[] and #[]= methods on the instance. Each instance also has a #types method that returns an array of all the Thingish classes that the instance inherits. It also has an #update(attributes) method for setting attributes, a #changed? property, and a #reset_change_tracking method.

The root object

Thinginess::Thing will be the root ancestor in the thing hierarchy by default. If you want to create a different object you can simply include Thinginess::Thingish, e.g.

class BaseObject < Some::Third::Party::Thing
  include Thinginess::Thingish
end

Resetting the thing register

You can clear out the global thing register at any time by calling Thinginess::Thing.clear_thing_register