Norman

Norman is a database and ORM replacement for small, mostly static models. Use it to replace database-persisted seed data and ad-hoc structures in your app or library with plain old Ruby objects that are searchable via a fast, simple database-like API.

It implements Active Model and has generators to integrate nicely with Rails. You can store your data in a file, a signed string suitable for storage in a cookie, or easily write your own IO adapter.

For more info, take a peek at the Norman Guide, or read on for some quick samples.

A quick tour

# Create a model.
class Country
  # Turn any Ruby object into a Norman model by extending this module.
  extend Norman::Model

  # The first field listed here will be the "primary key."
  field :tld, :name

  # Chainable filters, sort of like Active Record scopes.
  filters do
    def big
      find {|c| c.population > 100_000_000}
    end

    def in_region(region)
      find {|c| c.region == region)
    end
  end

  # Root filter, can be used to setup relations.
  def regions
    Region.find {|r| r.id == region}
  end

end

# create some contries
Country.create :tld => "AR", :name => "Argentina", :region => :america, :population => 40_000_000
Country.create :tld => "CA", :name => "Canada",    :region => :america, :population => 34_000_000
Country.create :tld => "JP", :name => "Japan",     :region => :asia,    :population => 127_000_000
Country.create :tld => "CN", :name => "China",     :region => :asia,    :population => 1_300_000_000
# etc.

# Do some searches
big_asian_countries         = Country.big.in_region(:asia)
countries_that_start_with_c = Country.find {|c| c.name =~ /^C/}

Installation

gem install norman

Compatibility

Norman has been tested against these current Rubies, and is likely compatible with others. Note that 1.8.6 is not supported.

  • Ruby 1.8.7 - 1.9.2
  • Rubinius 1.2.3
  • JRuby 1.5.6+

Author

Norman Clarke

Contributors

Many thanks to Adrián Mugnolo for code review, feedback and the inspiration for the name.

The name

Why "Norman?" Because for some models, before you try SQL, you should try this. Also, because Sequel is a fantastic library, and it inspired this library's use of Enumerable.

License

Copyright (c) 2011 Norman Clarke

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.