File: README — Documentation for activerecord

Activerecord-cloneable

This is a quick tool to help clone active records.

Let’s say you have a great rails app, and you want to quickly add clone functionality to an object. Use this.

INSTALL

Bundler:

Into your Gemfile put: gem ‘activerecord_cloneable’, :git => “git://github.com/apalmblad/activerecord_cloneable.git”,

:require => 'active_record/cloneable'

In initialize code, do:

ActiveRecord::Base.send( :include, ActiveRecord::Cloneable )

In each of the models that you want to clone, add in: class Record < ActiveRecord::Base

cloneable

end

Example

Basic:

cloned_record = record.clone_record

By default, we’ll look at belongs to relations, and clone those to. Often, that’s not desirable. We might want to share some of the parents with our clone.

Then, cloned_record = record.clone_record( :shared_parents => [:belongs_to_association_name]

We might want to set up some attributes on our cloned record.

cloned_record = record.clone_record( :attributes => { :name => “Ima Clone” } )

Sometimes there is child data that you might want to ignore. Lets say logs of activity, or other things that are not desired to be attached to the clone.

cloned_record = record.clone_record( :skipped_child_relations => [:logs] )

Gotta go deep? Want to clone something from a parent but not it’s children?

cloned_record = record.clone_record( :skipped_child_relations => [{ :child_1 => :logs} ]] )

Finally, everyone knows that clones you cannot tell apart are a plot device for a formulaic scifi movie. Therefore, by default, if a name or title attribute is present, it’s marked to indicate that the cloned object is a copy. If you have another string field that you want to indicate as such, pass them in:

cloned_record = record.clone_record( :name_fields => [ :name_title] )

Disclaimer

This scratches an itch for me. I don’t know if it will scratch an itch for you. It might ruin your day – or worse. I haven’t tested this nearly as well as I should. If you send in problem reports, I’ll try and fix them. No warranties.