Inherit from this class to create tableless models that are backed by a query. Behaves a little like a classic SQL view.
For example
class Award < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :award_type_view
end
class AwardTypeView < ActiveRecord::Illusion
column :award_type, :string
column :award_id, :integer
belongs_to :award
view do
Award.select{
[awards.type.as(award_type), awards.id.as(award_id)]
}
end
end
The cool thing is, is that the relations work on both directions
a = AwardTypeView.first
SELECT "award_type_views".* FROM
(SELECT "awards"."type" AS award_type, "awards"."id" AS award_id FROM awards )
award_type_views LIMIT 1
a.award
SELECT "awards".* FROM "awards" WHERE "awards"."id" = 1 LIMIT 1
b = Award.first
SELECT "awards".* FROM "awards" LIMIT 1
b.award_type_views
SELECT "award_type_views".* FROM
(SELECT "awards"."type" AS award_type, "awards"."id" AS award_id FROM awards )
award_type_views
WHERE "award_type_views"."award_id" = 1
Currently this gem depends on the SQUEEL SQL gem
For a more detailed example see: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6900508/how-to-create-read-only-models-in-rails-with-no-backing-table