KVC¶ ↑

github.com/stephencelis/kvc

KVC (Key-Value Configuration) provides a powerful, transparent way to maintain mutable app settings in the database.

• Transparent: no generators or migrations to run.

• Powerful: quick access; automatic updates; scales quickly.

For more rigidity/safety: github.com/stephencelis/acts_as_singleton

Need a mutable setting in the database? Just add it, KVC-style:

KVC.key = "value"

You’re set.

Any value will do:

KVC.last_import = Time.zone.now

However you do:

KVC.site_messages.unshift("Downtime expected at 0800.").pop

Store related settings together in a hash to reduce queries:

KVC.homepage_settings = { ... }.with_indifferent_access
KVC.homepage_settings # => { ... }

If need be, validate specific key values in an initializer:

# config/initializers/kvc_config.rb
KVC::Settings.config do
  validates("password") { |value| value =~ /\d+/ }
end

• Rails 2.3.2 or greater.

Install:

% gem install kvc

And configure:

config.gem "kvc"

Install:

% script/plugin install git://github.com/stephencelis/kvc.git

Or submodule:

% git submodule add git://github.com/stephencelis/kvc.git vendor/plugins/kvc

Just restart your server, and you should be good to go. The key-value table will migrate transparently when the model first loads.

If you uninstall the plugin, you will be prompted to drop the table (to drop the table at any time, execute the “kvc:drop_table” Rake task).

(The MIT License)

© 2009-* Stephen Celis, stephen@stephencelis.com.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.