Mover

Move ActiveRecord records across tables like it ain't no thang.

Requirements

sudo gem install mover

Create the movable table

Migration:

class CreateArchivedArticles < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def self.up
    Article.create_movable_table(
      :archived,
      :columns => %w(id title body created_at),
      :indexes => %w(id created_at)
    )
    add_column :archived_articles, :move_id, :string
    add_column :archived_articles, :moved_at, :datetime
  end

  def self.down
    Article.drop_movable_table(:archived)
  end
end

The first parameter names your movable table. In this example, the table is named archived_articles.

Options:

• :columns - Only use certain columns from the original table. Defaults to all.
• :indexes - Only create certain indexes. Defaults to all.

We also added two columns, move_id and moved_at. These are magic columns.

Define the model

class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
  is_movable :archived
end

The is_movable method takes any number of parameters for multiple movable tables.

Moving records

Article.last.move_to(:archived)
Article.move_to(:archived, [ "created_at > ?", Date.today ])

Associations move if they are movable and if all movable tables have a move_id column (see magic columns).

Restoring records

Article.move_from(:archived, [ "created_at > ?", Date.today ])
ArchivedArticle.last.move_from

You can access the movable table by prepending its name to the original class name. In this example, you would use ArchivedArticle.

Magic columns

move_id

By default, restoring a record will only restore itself and not its movable relationships.

To restore the relationships automatically, add the move_id column to all movable tables involved.

moved_at

If you need to know when the record was moved, add the moved_at column to your movable table.

See the create the movable table section for an example of how to add the magic columns.