Storext

ActiveRecord::Store allows you to put data, like a hash, in a single column. The problem is that when you retrieve these values, they are strings. Storext aims to solve that. This is a layer on top of ActiveRecord::Store that uses Virtus to typecast the values and add other options like:

default values
type (String, Integer)

Currently this gem uses virtus so you can pass options that are accepted by Virtus::Extensions#attribute

Dependencies

Rails 4.x, 5.x, 6.x
Virtus

Installation

Add gem 'storext' to your Gemfile and bundle install.

Usage

With jsonb (postgresql 9.4+)

Add a jsonb column. e.g.:

add_column :books, :data, :jsonb, null: false, default: {}
add_index :books, :data, using: :gin

"Using PostgreSQL and JSONB with Ruby on Rails" is a good tutorial for jsonb and Rails.

With hstore (postgresql 9.2+)

enable_extension 'hstore'
add_column :books, :data, :hstore, null: false, default: {}
add_index :books, :data, using: :gin

"Using HStore with Rails 4" is a good tutorial for hstore and Rails.

With Rails standard methods

With Rails and the text format there is no need for postgresql or any nosql db. You can use every db.

add_column :books, :data, :text

ActiveRecord::Store is the Documentation for Rails Store.

Define the attributes:

class Book < ActiveRecord::Base

  include Storext.model

  # You can define attributes on the :data hstore column like this:
  store_attributes :data do
    author String
    title String, default: "Great Voyage"
    available Boolean, default: true
    copies Integer, default: 0
  end

  # Or you can define attributes like this:
  store_attribute :data, :hardcover, Boolean
  store_attribute :data, :alt_name

end

You can also set defaults (useful when you want to default a serialized column to be an empty hash ({})):

class Book < ActiveRecord::Base
  include Storext.model(data: {})
end

You can get a hash that lists the defined storext attributes by doing

Book.storext_definitions
# => { author: { column: :data, type: 'String' }, ..., }

Not using hstore? You can still have serialized columns using ActiveRecord::Store.

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  include Storext.model
  store :settings, coder: JSON

  store_attributes :settings do
    number_of_strikes Integer, default: 0
  end
end

Check spec/storext_spec.rb for more details.

How to run the test suite

Copy spec/dummy/config/database.yml.sample to spec/dummy/config/database.yml
Setup your PG database, and fill in the correct credentials in spec/dummy/config/database.yml. If you're familiar with Docker, you use the docker-compose up db to start the db. It will be accessible via your host's 5432 port.
bundle exec rake --rakefile spec/dummy/Rakefile db:create db:schema:load
bundle install
appraisal install
From the root dir of the gem, appraisal rspec spec

License

MIT License

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

renuo/storext