LogBook

LogBook is a gem that tracks changes on your records. Created for the purpuse of auditing and showing activity log. For comparison with paper___trail and audited see

Supported ORMs

Currently only supports ActiveRecord.

Instalation

Add to your Gemfile:

gem 'rails_log_book'

Then run:

rails generate log_book:install
rake db:migrate

Usage

Add to models you want to keep track of:

  class User < ActiveRecord::Base
    include LogBook::Recorder

    has_log_book_records
  end

Add to controlers and actions you want the tracker to be active:

  class UsersController < ApplicationController
    include LogBook::ControllerRecord
  end

By default, whenever a user record is created, updated or deleted in any actions of users_controller a new log_book record will be created.

ActiveRecord Options

fields

  class User < ActiveRecord::Base
    include LogBook::Recorder

    # all fields
    # has_log_book_records

    # Only fields
    # has_log_book_records only: [:email, :name]

    # Ignored fields
    # has_log_book_records except: [:password]

    # Default ignored fields
    # primary_key (id), LogBook.config.ignored_attributes (:created_at, :updated_at)
  end

callbacks

  class User < ActiveRecord::Base
    include LogBook::Recorder

    # all events
    # has_log_book_records

    # Only record on create and destroy (not update)
    # has_log_book_records on: [:create, :destroy]
  end

parent

Define who is a parent of this object. Will be recorded in a parent polymorphic columns

  class User < ActiveRecord::Base
    include LogBook::Recorder
    belongs_to :company

    # Parent is Company and will be recorded with each user change
    # has_log_book_records parent: :company
  end

meta

Arbitrary column. This is a jsonb field which can have all kinds of information. Useful when you want to cache fields at the exact point of record creation

  class User < ActiveRecord::Base
    include LogBook::Recorder

    # runs `log_book_meta(record)` method to assign to `:meta` field
    # has_log_book_records meta: true

    # runs `meta_method` method to assing to `:meta` field
    # has_log_book_records meta: :meta_method

    # runs passed proc to assing to `:meta` field
    # has_log_book_records meta: -> { { slug: email.split('@').first } }
  end

squash

Enables/disables suashing on this model

  class User < ActiveRecord::Base
    include LogBook::Recorder

    # Enables squashing (defaults to false)
    # has_log_book_records squash: true

ActionController options

current_author

Defines what method is run when looking for the author for recording

  class Admin::UsersController < ActionController::Base
    inlcude LogBook::ControllerRecord

    # defaults to `current_user`
    def current_author
      current_admin
    end

Configuration

# config/initializers/log_book.rb
LogBook.configure do |config|
  config.records_table_name = 'records'
  config.ignored_attributes = [:updated_at, :created_at]
  config.author_method = :current_user
  config.record_squashing = false
  config.recording_enabled = false
  config.skip_if_empty_actions = [:update]
end

Additional methods

LogBook.with_recording {}         #=> Enables recording within block
LogBook.without_recording {}      #=> Disables recording within block
LogBook.record_as(author) {}      #=> Records as a different author within block
LogBook.with_record_squashing {}  #=> Squashes records within block
LogBook.enable_recording          #=> Enables recording from this point
LogBook.disable_recording         #=> Disables recording from this point
LogBook.record_squashing_enabled  #=> Enables record squashing from this point
LogBook.recording_enabled         #=> Returns true if recording is enabled
LogBook.recording_enabled=(val)   #=> Enables/Disables recording
LogBook.squash_records            #=> Squash records with current :request_uuid

Squashing

The idea of squashing came when we needed to show an activity page where all changes made in the single request as one change.

Each request has its own unique request_uuid and it is recorded with each record. If squashing is enabled, after_action method with squashing is called. All records with the same request_uuid are "squashed" into one record.

INSERT INTO "users" ("name", "email") VALUES ("test", "test@test.com")

Development

After checking out the repo, run bin/setup to install dependencies. Then, run rake spec to run the tests. You can also run bin/console for an interactive prompt that will allow you to experiment.

To install this gem onto your local machine, run bundle exec rake install. To release a new version, update the version number in version.rb, and then run bundle exec rake release, which will create a git tag for the version, push git commits and tags, and push the .gem file to rubygems.org.

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/infinum/log_book. This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the Contributor Covenant code of conduct.

License

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.