active_record-updated_at

Touch updated_at by default with calls to update_column(s) and update_all

Installation

Add this gem to the project Gemfile.

gem "active_record-updated_at"

Usage

The default ActiveRecord behavior does not touch updated_at when the following are called:

ActiveRecord::Base#update_column
ActiveRecord::Base#update_columns
ActiveRecord::Relation#update_all

We rarely ever have a case to modify data WITHOUT touching updated_at so this gem enables the touching behavior by default. For those rare occassions that we don't want the touching we can call these alternative methods to explicitly disable it:

ActiveRecord::Base#update_column_without_updated_at
ActiveRecord::Base#update_columns_without_updated_at
ActiveRecord::Relation#update_all_without_updated_at

If updated_at is explicitly specified then the UPDATE query is not modified.

# This touches `updated_at` with `Time.current`
User.update_all(role: "member")

# This sets `updated_at` to `1.day.ago`
User.update_all(role: "member", updated_at: 1.day.ago)

# This sets `updated_at` to `NULL`
User.update_all(role: "member", updated_at: nil)

# This doesn't touch `updated_at`
User.update_all_without_updated_at(role: "member")

Testing

bundle exec rspec

Contributing

Fork the project.
Make your feature addition or bug fix.
Add tests for it. This is important so we don't break it in a future version unintentionally.
Commit, do not mess with the version or history.
Open a pull request. Bonus points for topic branches.

Authors