ActsAsHasMany

ActsAsHasMany mimics a has_many association within an array stored in your ActiveRecord models. It provides a flexible way to define and manage custom associations using array attributes, without relying solely on standard ActiveRecord associations. Additionally, it supports nested forms by mimicking accepts_nested_attributes_for.

Install the gem and add to the application's Gemfile by executing:

$ bundle add acts_as_has_many

If bundler is not being used to manage dependencies, install the gem by executing:

$ gem install acts_as_has_many

Use the acts_as_has_many method to define custom array associations within your model:

class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
  acts_as_has_many :some_attribute
end

some_attribute is an attrubute with in your model, and is expected to return an Array. It could be of any type jsonb, text, etc.

The gem will look for a class with the same name as the attribute, eg. RelatedObject

You can also specify custom class names for your associations.

class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
  acts_as_has_many :some_attribute, class_name: 'OtherClass'
end

If you prefer not to create a new class, you can use OpenStruct.

class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
  acts_as_has_many :some_attribute, class_name: 'OpenStruct'
end

By default, ActsAsHasMany overrides the attribute getter and setter methods. If you prefer to use different attribute, you can specify a custom attribute using the :attribute option:

class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
  acts_as_has_many :some_attribute, attribute: :some_other_attribute
end

ActsAsHasMany supports nested forms by mimicking accepts_nested_attributes_for, allowing you to work with nested attributes and create more complex forms with ease:

class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
  acts_as_has_many :some_attributes
  acts_as_accepts_nested_attributes_for :some_attributes
end

= f.fields_for :some_attributes, @model.some_attributes |ff|
  = ff.text_field :name

This combination enables you to use nested forms for some_attribute.

If you have any questions, issues, or feedback, please open an issue on the GitHub repository.

After checking out the repo, run bin/setup to install dependencies. 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 the created tag, and push the .gem file to rubygems.org.

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

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

Everyone interacting in the ActsAsHasMany project's codebases, issue trackers, chat rooms and mailing lists is expected to follow the code of conduct.