After using this gem in a few projects, I realized that all projects have different needs concerning the configuration of notifications (whether or not the user should received a notification or an email). We have apps which doesn't have the need for configuration so we are having a lots of Wupee::NotificationTypeConfiguration created and fetched from db for nothing. I really feel that the app should be responsible for addressing this. Also, in some apps, I had to reopen classes to override default behaviour of the gem or skip callbacks and adding others and I was feeling that something was wrong. See this issue for another example. Therefore, this branch removes all Wupee::NotificationTypeConfiguration but leaves a door open to customization, see Wupee initializer.

Wupee is a simple gem which tries to fill the gap of lacking gems to manage notifications in Rails app. Wupee is an opinionated solution which assumes that users needs to:

• be able to receive notifications in the app
• be able to receive notifications by email

The main object of the solution is the Wupee::Notification which stores:

• receiver (polymorphic): the recipient of the message
• attached_object (polymorphic): the subject of the notification
• notification_type_id: a reference to a Wupee::NotificationType object
• is_read: boolean

To use it, add it to your Gemfile:

gem 'wupee'

and bundle:

$ bundle

Run the generator, install migrations and migrate:

$ rails g wupee:install
$ rake wupee:install:migrations
$ rake db:migrate

Running the generator will do a few things:

1. create wupee initializer:

# config/initializers/wupee.rb
Wupee.mailer = NotificationsMailer # the class of the mailer you will use to send the emails
Wupee.deliver_when = :now # use :later if you already configured a queuing system

# uncomment and implement your logic here to avoid/permit email sending to your users
# leave it commented if you always want your users received emails
# Wupee.email_sending_rule = Proc.new do |receiver, notification_type| 
#   # logic goes here, returning a boolean
# end

# uncomment and implement your logic here to avoid/permit email sending to your users
# leave it commented if you always want your users received notifications
# Wupee.notification_sending_rule = Proc.new do |receiver, notification_type| 
#   # logic goes here, returning a boolean
# end

2. create a mailer NotificationsMailer which inheritates from Wupee::NotificationsMailer

# app/mailers/notifications_mailer.rb
class NotificationsMailer < Wupee::NotificationsMailer
  default from: 'contact@sleede.com'
  layout false
end

3. adds wupee to your locale yml file (for email subjects)

# config/locales/en.yml
en:
  wupee:
    email_subjects:

rails g wupee:notification_type user_has_been_created

Will execute a few things:

1. add an entry to your locale yml file :

en:
  wupee:
    email_subjects:
      user_has_been_created: "user_has_been_created"

Feel free to edit the subject, you can put variables, example

 ...
     user_has_been_created: "New user created: %{user_full_name}"

2. create a json template for the notification:

json.subject ""
json.body ""
json.url ""
# none of this json attribute are mandatory!

In this template, you have access to the notification variable. You can customize it to fit your need, this is just an example.

3. create an empty html template for the notification:

<!-- app/views/wupee/notifications/_user_has_been_created.html.erb -->

4. You will have to create your email template as the generator doesn't create it. For example, if your mailer is named NotificationsMailer, your template will take place in app/views/notifications_mailer/user_has_been_created.html.erb

Including the concern Wupee::Receiver in your receiver class (probably the User class) permits a few things:

• get notifications of a user: @user.notifications
• destroy Wupee::Notification associated to the receiver from db if it is destroyed

Including the concern Wupee::AttachedObject in your attached object classe(s) permits a few things:

• get notifications associated to an attached object: @attached_object.notifications_as_attached_object
• destroy Wupee::Notification associated to the attached object if it is destroyed

Imagine that you want to notify all admin that a new user signed up in your app and that you have a scope admin in your User class.

 Wupee.notify do |n|
   n.attached_object @the_new_user
   n.notif_type :user_has_been_created # you can also pass an instance of a Wupee::NotificationType class to this method
   n.subject_vars user_full_name: Proc.new { |notification| notification.attached_object.full_name } # variables to be interpolated the fill in the subject of the email (obviously optional)
   n.locals extra_data: "something" # extra_data will be accessible in template as @locals[:extra_data]
   n.receivers User.admin # you can use the method receiver instead of receivers for clarity if you pass only one instance of a receiver
   n.deliver :now # you can overwrite global configuration here, optional
 end

You can also use the method notify this way:

 Wupee.notify attached_object: @the_new_user, notif_type: :user_has_been_created, subject_vars: { user_full_name: Proc.new { |notification| notification.attached_object.full_name } }, locals: { extra_data: "Yeahhhhh" }, receivers: User.admin

The controller have various actions all scoped for the current user:

• wupee/api/notifications#index : fetch notifications, takes an optional get parameter scopes (example: scopes=read,ordered)
• wupee/api/notifications#show : fetch a notification
• wupee/api/notifications#mark_as_read : mark a notification as read
• wupee/api/notifications#mark_all_as_read : mark all notifications as read

To use this controller, define a controller inheriting from Wupee::Api::NotificationsController, set the routes in your config/routes.rb and define a method current_user which returns the user signed in.

Example:

  # config/routes.rb
  namespace :api, defaults: { format: :json } do
    resources :notifications, only: [:index, :show] do
      patch :mark_as_read, on: :member
      patch :mark_all_as_read, on: :collection
    end
  end

  # app/controllers/api/notifications_controller.rb
  class Api::NotificationsController < Wupee::Api::NotificationsController 
    before_action :authenticate_user! # if you are using devise
  end

What's UP SlEEde

This project rocks and uses MIT-LICENSE.