hattr_accessor

Allows you to define attr_accessors that reference members of a hash

Installation

gem install hattr_accessor

Usage

The hattr_accessor method requires an option named :attribute which should be name of an attribute which will store the hash. For example:

class DataSource
  hattr_accessor :adapter, :username, :password, :attribute => :credentials
end

The reader and writer methods for :attribute (:credentials in the example above) would be automatically created unless they exist already. You can then use those attributes like normal ones:

@data_source = DataSource.new
@data_source.adapter = 'mysql'
@data_source.username = 'root'
@data_source.credentials # { :adapter => 'mysql', :username => 'root' }

@data_source.credentials = {}
@data_source.adapter # nil

The reader method for :attribute is overwritten with logic to ensure that it returns a hash by default.

@data_source = DataSource.new
@data_source.credentials # {}

You may optionally pass a :type option which will type cast the values when calling their getter methods. This is useful if you're using this gem with rails which will pass values as strings if submitted from a form. For example:

class CustomField::Date < CustomField
  hattr_accessor :offset, :type => :integer, :attribute => :configuration
  hattr_accessor :unit, :reference, :type => :string, :attribute => :configuration
  
  def default_value
    self.offset.send(self.unit.to_sym).send(self.reference.to_sym)
  end
end

@custom_field = CustomField::Date.new(:offset => '5', :unit => 'days', :reference => 'from_now')
@custom_field.offset # 5 (notice it's an integer, not a string)
@custom_field.default_value # evaluates 5.days.from_now 

The current options (email me for suggestions for others) for :type are:

:string
:integer
:float
:boolean
:decimal
:array

To specify a default value for a member use the :default option. For example:

class DataSource
  hattr_accessor :adapter, :default => 'mysql', :attribute => :credentials
  hattr_accessor :username, :default => 'root', :attribute => :credentials
  hattr_accessor :password, :attribute => :credentials
end

@data_source = DataSource.new
@data_source.adapter # 'mysql'

You can also specify a proc for the default value. For example:

class DataSource
  hattr_accessor :adapter, :default => 'mysql', :attribute => :credentials
  hattr_accessor :username, :attribute => :credentials,
                 :default => lambda { |datasource| Etc.getpwuid(Process.uid).name }
  hattr_accessor :password, :attribute => :credentials
end

@data_source = DataSource.new
@data_source.username # 'process_username'

If you want to take advantage of type casting but also want to return nil if a value has not been set then use the :allow_nil option. By default :allow_nil is false for typed members but true for non-typed members. For example:

class DataSource
  hattr_accessor :adapter, :type => :string, :allow_nil => true, :attribute => :credentials
  hattr_accessor :username, :type => :string, :attribute => :credentials
  hattr_accessor :password, :attribute => :credentials
end

@data_source = DataSource.new
@data_source.adapter # nil
@data_source.username # ''
@data_source.password # nil

NOTE: Make sure your call define_attribute_methods before calling hattr_accessor when you're using ActiveRecord and your :attribute is a database field. The call to define_attribute_methods must be after the serialize call so that define_attribute_methods knows about the serialized field.

class CustomField < ActiveRecord::Base	  
  serialize :configuration, Hash
  define_attribute_methods
  
  hattr_accessor :testing, :attribute => :configuration
end

Contact

Problems, comments, and suggestions all welcome: [email protected]