asc_desc

This gem adds two new methods to ActiveRecord (and ActiveRecord::Relation) that allows to sort SQL queries without using the "ASC" and "DESC" SQL keywords.

Installation

Add to your Gemfile and run the bundle command to install it.

gem 'asc_desc'

Requirements

Ruby 1.8.7 or later
Ruby on Rails 3.0 or later

Usage

asc

Call asc on an ActiveRecord object or on an ActiveRecord::Relation object to sort the column(s) in an ascending way.

# using a symbol for the name of the column
Candy.where(:sugar => true).asc(:name)

# using a string for the name of the column
Candy.where(:sugar => true).asc('name')

# using multiple parameters to specify more than one column for the sort clause
Candy.where(:sugar => true).asc(:classification, :name)

# using an array to pass mutliple arguments
Candy.where(:sugar => true).asc([:classification, :name])

# using a string to specify more than one column for the sort clause
Candy.where(:sugar => true).asc('classification, name')

# without argument, the method generates a sort by id (custom primary key supported)
# SELECT "candies".* FROM "candies" ORDER BY id ASC
Candy.where(:sugar => true).asc

# the method is chainable
Candy.where(:sugar => true).asc(:classification).asc(:name)

ascending and ascending_order are aliases of asc.

desc

Call desc on an ActiveRecord object or on an ActiveRecord::Relation object to sort the column(s) in a descending way.

# using a symbol for the name of the column
Candy.where(:sugar => true).desc(:name)

# using a string for the name of the column
Candy.where(:sugar => true).desc('name')

# using multiple parameters to specify more than one column for the sort clause
Candy.where(:sugar => true).desc(:classification, :name)

# using an array to pass mutliple arguments
Candy.where(:sugar => true).desc([:classification, :name])

# using a string to specify more than one column for the sort clause
Candy.where(:sugar => true).desc('classification, name')

# without argument, the method generates a sort by id (custom primary key supported)
# SELECT "candies".* FROM "candies" ORDER BY id DESC
Candy.where(:sugar => true).desc

# the method is chainable
Candy.where(:sugar => true).desc(:classification).desc(:name)

descending and descending_order are aliases of desc.

dynamic order_by

The dynamic order_by mechanism is built the same way as the dynamic finders present from the beginning of Ruby On Rails and allows to easely write the order clause for ActiveRecord queries.

````ruby
# a call to order_by just acts like the standard built-in "order" method (alias)
Candy.where(:sugar => true).order_by('classification ASC, name ASC')

# using a column as part of the method name
Candy.where(:sugar => true).order_by_name

# using a column and a sort direction (asc|desc) as part of the method name
Candy.where(:sugar => true).order_by_name_asc
Candy.where(:sugar => true).order_by_name_desc

# using multiple columns as part of the method name
Candy.where(:sugar => true).order_by_classification_and_name
Candy.where(:sugar => true).order_by_classification_and_name_and_sugar

# using multiple columns and sort directions (asc|desc) as part of the method name
Candy.where(:sugar => true).order_by_classification_asc_and_name_desc
Candy.where(:sugar => true).order_by_classification_desc_and_name_asc
Candy.where(:sugar => true).order_by_classification_asc_and_name_desc_and_sugar_asc

# using multiple columns with or without sort direction (asc|desc) as part of the method name
Candy.where(:sugar => true).order_by_classification_and_name_desc
Candy.where(:sugar => true).order_by_classification_desc_and_name
```

Development

Questions or problems? Please post them on the issue tracker. You can contribute changes by forking the project and submitting a pull request. You can ensure the tests passing by running bundle and rake.

This gem is created by David Werlen and is under the MIT License.

Remark

asc_desc was developed in order to experiment the creation of a ruby gem. It was conducted on the basis of the excellent tutorials from Ryan Bates, namely: