module Sequel::Plugins::SingleTableInheritance

  1. lib/sequel/plugins/single_table_inheritance.rb
Parent: Plugins

The single_table_inheritance plugin allows storing all objects in the same class hierarchy in the same table. It makes it so subclasses of this model only load rows related to the subclass, and when you retrieve rows from the main class, you get instances of the subclasses (if the rows should use the subclasses’s class).

By default, the plugin assumes that the sti_key column (the first argument to the plugin) holds the class name as a string. However, you can override this by using the :model_map option and/or the :key_map option.

You should only load this plugin in the parent class, not in the subclasses.

You shouldn’t call set_dataset in the model after applying this plugin, otherwise subclasses might use the wrong dataset. You should make sure this plugin is loaded before the subclasses. Note that since you need to load the plugin before the subclasses are created, you can’t use direct class references in the plugin class. You should specify subclasses in the plugin call using class name strings or symbols, see usage below.

Usage:

# Use the default of storing the class name in the sti_key
# column (:kind in this case)
Employee.plugin :single_table_inheritance, :kind

# Using integers to store the class type, with a :model_map hash
# and an sti_key of :type
Employee.plugin :single_table_inheritance, :type,
  :model_map=>{1=>:Staff, 2=>:Manager}

# Using non-class name strings
Employee.plugin :single_table_inheritance, :type,
  :model_map=>{'line staff'=>:Staff, 'supervisor'=>:Manager}

# By default the plugin sets the respective column value
# when a new instance is created.
Staff.create.type == 'line staff'
Manager.create.type == 'supervisor'

# You can customize this behavior with the :key_chooser option.
# This is most useful when using a non-bijective mapping.
Employee.plugin :single_table_inheritance, :type,
  :model_map=>{'line staff'=>:Staff, 'supervisor'=>:Manager},
  :key_chooser=>proc{|instance| instance.model.sti_key_map[instance.model.to_s].first || 'stranger' }

# Using custom procs, with :model_map taking column values
# and yielding either a class, string, symbol, or nil, 
# and :key_map taking a class object and returning the column
# value to use
Employee.plugin :single_table_inheritance, :type,
  :model_map=>proc{|v| v.reverse},
  :key_map=>proc{|klass| klass.name.reverse}

# You can use the same class for multiple values.
# This is mainly useful when the sti_key column contains multiple values
# which are different but do not require different code.
Employee.plugin :single_table_inheritance, :type,
  :model_map=>{'staff' => "Staff",
               'manager' => "Manager",
               'overpayed staff' => "Staff",
               'underpayed staff' => "Staff"}

One minor issue to note is that if you specify the :key_map option as a hash, instead of having it inferred from the :model_map, you should only use class name strings as keys, you should not use symbols as keys.

Methods

Public Class

  1. configure

Public Class methods

configure (model, key, opts=OPTS)

Setup the necessary STI variables, see the module RDoc for SingleTableInheritance

[show source] 
# File lib/sequel/plugins/single_table_inheritance.rb, line 72
def self.configure(model, key, opts=OPTS)
  model.instance_eval do
    @sti_key_array = nil
    @sti_key = key 
    @sti_dataset = dataset
    @sti_model_map = opts[:model_map] || lambda{|v| v if v && v != ''}
    @sti_key_map = if km = opts[:key_map]
      if km.is_a?(Hash)
        h = Hash.new do |h1,k| 
          unless k.is_a?(String)
            h1[k.to_s]
          else
            []
          end
        end
        km.each do |k,v|
          h[k.to_s] = [ ] unless h.key?(k.to_s)
          h[k.to_s].push( *Array(v) )
        end
        h
      else
        km
      end
    elsif sti_model_map.is_a?(Hash)
      h = Hash.new do |h1,k| 
        unless k.is_a?(String)
          h1[k.to_s]
        else
          []
        end
      end
      sti_model_map.each do |k,v|
        h[v.to_s] = [ ] unless h.key?(v.to_s)
        h[v.to_s] << k
      end
      h
    else
      lambda{|klass| klass.name.to_s}
    end
    @sti_key_chooser = opts[:key_chooser] || lambda{|inst| Array(inst.model.sti_key_map[inst.model]).last }
    dataset.row_proc = lambda{|r| model.sti_load(r)}
  end
end