Rails - Jun 2006 - how to add plugin to ActiveRecord

I''m trying to set a date field''s day to the last day of the
month before
I save it.  I can do this successfully now using this code:

class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
  def before_save
    self.exp_date = last_day_of_month(self.exp_date)
  end

  # Returns a Date object set to the last day of the current month
  def last_day_of_month(date = Date.today)
      next_month_str = date.year.to_s + ''-'' + (date.month +
1).to_s +
''-01''
      Date.parse(next_month_str) - 1
  end
end

However, this is Ruby on Rails, and I''m trying to break all my old 
programming habits like making ugly code, and this looks ugly.  Is there 
a way to make this into some kind of plugin so that all I have to do is 
say:


class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
  acts_as_expiration_date :exp_date
end

and it will automatically do what I want behind the scenes?

Thanks!
Mike

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Mike Haggerty wrote:
> class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
>   acts_as_expiration_date :exp_date
> end
Try looking at other acts_as_* plugins and see how they work.

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

if you are onyl using this for account models, a plugin is going to be
overkill...why not just do:

class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
  before_create :set_expiry_date

  # other methods

  private
  # set the expiry date
  def set_expiry_date
    self.exp_date =  Time.now.end_of_month.to_date.to_s
  end
end

ex:
>> Time.now.end_of_month.to_date.to_s
=> "2006-06-30"

note: if you use before_save, every time you save the record, whether
it''s a
new record or an update, the expiry date will be updated to reflect the last
day of the current month...in my example, I used before_create to indicate i
only want the expiry date set when a new record is created.

Chris

On 6/8/06, Alex Wayne <rubyonrails@beautifulpixel.com>
wrote:
>
> Mike Haggerty wrote:
> > class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
> >   acts_as_expiration_date :exp_date
> > end
>
> Try looking at other acts_as_* plugins and see how they work.
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
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