Hello all,
I''ve recently been working with a model with a lot of boolean
attributes and I decided that it''s worth trying to implement a
attr_boolean function to cut down on the work. Something like
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_boolean :contact_by_email, :display_real_name, :administrator
end
which would replace the hand written
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
def contact_by_email?
self.contact_by_email == 1
end
def display_real_name?
self.contact_by_email == 1
end
def administrator?
self.contact_by_email == 1
end
end
My questions are :
1. Does this facility already exist and I''ve just missed it?
2. Is it a good idea\worth the effort?
3. What''s the preferred way of representing a boolean in a database
agnostic way? I usually just use a not null int field where !0 is true.
Many thanks,
Gavin
Oops, in the hand-written example it should not, of course, read [ self.contact_by_email ==1 ] inside every definition. G On 22 Jun 2006, at 11:38, Gavin Montague wrote:> Hello all, > > I''ve recently been working with a model with a lot of boolean > attributes and I decided that it''s worth trying to implement a > attr_boolean function to cut down on the work. Something like > > class User < ActiveRecord::Base > attr_boolean :contact_by_email, :display_real_name, :administrator > end > > which would replace the hand written > > class User < ActiveRecord::Base > > def contact_by_email? > self.contact_by_email == 1 > end > > def display_real_name? > self.contact_by_email == 1 > end > > def administrator? > self.contact_by_email == 1 > end > > end > > My questions are : > > 1. Does this facility already exist and I''ve just missed it? > 2. Is it a good idea\worth the effort? > 3. What''s the preferred way of representing a boolean in a > database agnostic way? I usually just use a not null int field > where !0 is true. > > Many thanks, > Gavin > > _______________________________________________ > Rails mailing list > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
On 6/22/06, Gavin Montague <lists@gmontague.co.uk> wrote:> 1. Does this facility already exist and I''ve just missed it?Yes. You can use model.attribute? to query an attribute. That functionality is built in and should do what you want.> 2. Is it a good idea\worth the effort?Unlikely, since Rails can already do this.> 3. What''s the preferred way of representing a boolean in a database > agnostic way? I usually just use a not null int field where !0 is true.I think that''s pretty standard. When you define your tables in a migration you simply define them as :boolean and it will map to the appropriate data type, usually just a integer. -Jonathan.
Ah, I thought it seemed a bit to obvious to not have been implemented! I''m not sure how I missed it. Many thanks, Gavin On 22 Jun 2006, at 11:56, Jonathan Viney wrote:> On 6/22/06, Gavin Montague <lists@gmontague.co.uk> wrote: >> 1. Does this facility already exist and I''ve just missed it? > > Yes. You can use model.attribute? to query an attribute. That > functionality is built in and should do what you want. > >> 2. Is it a good idea\worth the effort? > > Unlikely, since Rails can already do this. > >> 3. What''s the preferred way of representing a boolean in a database >> agnostic way? I usually just use a not null int field where !0 is >> true. > > I think that''s pretty standard. When you define your tables in a > migration you simply define them as :boolean and it will map to the > appropriate data type, usually just a integer. > > -Jonathan. > _______________________________________________ > Rails mailing list > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails