CouchRest::ExtendedDocument: CouchDB, not too close to the metal

CouchRest::ExtendedDocument adds additional functionality to the standard CouchRest Document class such as setting properties, callbacks, typecasting, and validations.

Note: CouchRest::ExtendedDocument only supports CouchDB 0.10.0 or newer.

CouchRest::ExtendedDocument has largely been replaced by CouchRest::Model. ExtendedDocument won't be seeing any new features, but we'll do bugfix releases as needed.

Please check out CouchRest::Model for all your syntactic sugar needs!

$ sudo gem install couchrest_extended_document

require 'couchrest_extended_document'

class Cat < CouchRest::ExtendedDocument

  property :name,      String
  property :lives,     Integer, :default => 9

  property :nicknames, [String]

  timestamps!

  view_by :name

end

@cat = Cat.new(:name => 'Felix', :nicknames => ['so cute', 'sweet kitty'])

@cat.new?   # true
@cat.save

@cat['name']   # "Felix"

@cat.nicknames << 'getoffdamntable'

@cat = Cat.new
@cat.update_attributes(:name => 'Felix', :random_text => 'feline')
@cat.new? # false
@cat.random_text  # Raises error!

Only attributes with a property definition will be stored be ExtendedDocument (as opposed to a normal CouchRest Document which will store everything). To help prevent confusion, a property should be considered as the definition of an attribute. An attribute must be associated with a property, but a property may not have any attributes associated if none have been set.

In its simplest form, a property will only create a getter and setter passing all attribute data directly to the database. Assuming the attribute provided responds to +to_json+, there will not be any problems saving it, but when loading the data back it will either be a string, number, array, or hash:

class Cat < CouchRest::ExtendedDocument
  property :name
  property :birthday
end

@cat = Cat.new(:name => 'Felix', :birthday => 2.years.ago)
@cat.name        # 'Felix'
@cat.birthday.is_a?(Time)  # True!
@cat.save
@cat = Cat.find(@cat.id)
@cat.name        # 'Felix'
@cat.birthday.is_a?(Time)  # False!

Properties create getters and setters similar to the following:

def name
  read_attribute('name')
end

def name=(value)
  write_attribute('name', value)
end

Properties can also have a type which will be used for casting data retrieved from CouchDB when the attribute is set:

class Cat < CouchRest::ExtendedDocument
  property :name, String
  property :last_fed_at, Time
end

@cat = Cat.new(:name => 'Felix', :last_fed_at => 10.minutes.ago)
@cat.last_fed_at.is_a?(Time)   # True!
@cat.save
@cat = Cat.find(@cat.id)
@cat.last_fed_at < 20.minutes.ago   # True!

Booleans or TrueClass will also create a getter with question mark at the end:

class Cat < CouchRest::ExtendedDocument
  property :awake, TrueClass, :default => true
end

@cat.awake?   # true

Adding the +:default+ option will ensure the attribute always has a value.

Defining a property as read-only will mean that its value is set only when read from the database and that it will not have a setter method. You can however update a read-only attribute using the +write_attribute+ method:

class Cat < CouchRest::ExtendedDocument
  property :name, String
  property :lives, Integer, :default => 9, :readonly => true  

  def fall_off_balcony!
    write_attribute(:lives, lives - 1)
    save
  end
end

@cat = Cat.new(:name => "Felix")
@cat.fall_off_balcony!
@cat.lives    # Now 8!

An attribute may also contain an array of data. ExtendedDocument handles this, along with casting, by defining the class of the child attributes inside an Array:

class Cat < CouchRest::ExtendedDocument
  property :name, String
  property :nicknames, [String]
end

By default, the array will be ready to use from the moment the object as been instantiated:

@cat = Cat.new(:name => 'Fluffy')
@cat.nicknames << 'Buffy'

@cat.nicknames == ['Buffy']

When anything other than a string is set as the class of a property, the array will be converted into special wrapper called a CastedArray. If the child objects respond to the 'casted_by' method (such as those created with CastedModel, below) it will contain a reference to the parent.

ExtendedDocument allows you to take full advantage of CouchDB's ability to store complex documents and retrieve them using the CastedModel module. Simply include the module in a Hash (or other model that responds to the [] and []= methods) and set any properties you'd like to use. For example:

class CatToy << Hash
  include CouchRest::CastedModel

  property :name, String
  property :purchased, Date
end

class Cat << CouchRest::ExtendedDocument
  property :name, String
  property :toys, [CatToy]
end

@cat = Cat.new(:name => 'Felix', :toys => [{:name => 'mouse', :purchases => 1.month.ago}])
@cat.toys.first.class == CatToy
@cat.toys.first.name == 'mouse'

Additionally, any hashes sent to the property will automatically be converted:

@cat.toys << {:name => 'catnip ball'}
@cat.toys.last.is_a?(CatToy) # True!

Of course, to use your own classes they must be defined before the parent uses them otherwise Ruby will bring up a missing constant error. To avoid this, or if you have a really simple array of data you'd like to model, the latest version of ExtendedDocument (> 1.0.0) supports creating anonymous classes:

class Cat << CouchRest::ExtendedDocument
  property :name, String

  property :toys do |toy|
    toy.property :name, String
    toy.property :rating, Integer
  end
end

@cat = Cat.new(:name => 'Felix', :toys => [{:name => 'mouse', :rating => 3}, {:name => 'catnip ball', :rating => 5}])
@cat.toys.last.rating == 5
@cat.toys.last.name == 'catnip ball'

Using this method of anonymous classes will only create arrays of objects.

ExtendedDocument uses active_support for some of its internals. Ensure you have a stable active support gem installed or at least 3.0.0.beta4.

JSON gem versions 1.4.X are kown to cause problems with stack overflows and general badness. Version 1.2.4 appears to work fine.

CouchRest::ExtendedDocument is compatible with rails and provides some ActiveRecord-like methods. You might also be interested in the CouchRest companion rails project: http://github.com/hpoydar/couchrest-rails

In your environment.rb file require the gem as follows:

Rails::Initializer.run do |config|
  ....
  config.gem "couchrest_extended_document"
  ....
end

The most complete documentation is the spec/ directory. To validate your CouchRest install, from the project root directory run rake, or autotest (requires RSpec and optionally ZenTest for autotest support).

API: http://rdoc.info/projects/couchrest/couchrest_extended_document

Check the wiki for documentation and examples http://wiki.github.com/couchrest/couchrest_extended_document

Please post bugs, suggestions and patches to the bug tracker at http://github.com/couchrest/couchrest_extended_document/issues.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/couchrest

Also, check http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23couchrest