This plugin introduces an easy way to use symbols for values of attributes. Symbolized attributes return a ruby symbol (or nil) as their value and can be set using :symbols or “strings”.

gem install symbolize

gem "symbolize", :require => "symbolize/mongoid"

gem "symbolize", :require => "symbolize/active_record"

Just use “symbolize :attribute” in your model, and the specified attribute will return symbol values and can be set using symbols (setting string values works, which is important when using forms).

On schema DBs, the attribute should be a string (varchar) column.

ActiveRecord:

class Contact < ActiveRecord::Base

  symbolize :kind, :in => [:im, :mobile, :email], :scopes => true

Mongoid:

class Contact
  include Mongoid::Symbolize

  symbolize :kind, :in => [:im, :mobile, :email], :scopes => true

Other examples:

symbolize :so, :in => {
    :linux   => "Linux",
    :mac     => "Mac OS X"
}, :scopes => true

# Allow blank
symbolize :gui,  :in => [:gnome, :kde, :xfce], :allow_blank => true

# Don`t i18n
symbolize :browser, :in => [:firefox, :opera], :i18n => false, :methods => true

# Scopes
symbolize :angry, :in => [true, false], :scopes => true # AR
symbolize :angry, :type => Boolean, :scopes => true # Mongoid

# Don`t validate
symbolize :lang, :in => [:ruby, :js, :c, :erlang], :validate => false

# Default
symbolize :kind, :in => [:admin, :manager, :user], :default => :user

The values allowed on the enum field, you can provide a hash like {:value => “Human text”} or an array of keys to run i18n on. Booleans are also supported. See below.

allow_(blank|nil): What you expect.

Set to false to avoid the validation of the input. Useful for a dropdown with an “other” option textfield.

If you provide the method option, some fancy boolean methods will be added: In our User example, browser has this option, so you can do:

@user.firefox?
@user.opera?

Its possible to use boolean fields also. Looks better in Mongoid.

# ActiveRecord
symbolize :switch, :in => [true, false]

# Mongoid
symbolize :switch, :type => Boolean

...
  switch:
    "true": On
    "false": Off
    "nil": Unknown

If you don`t provide a hash with values, it will try i18n:

activerecord:
or
mongoid:
  symbolizes:
    user:
      gui:
        gnome: Gnome Desktop Enviroment
        kde: K Desktop Enviroment
        xfce: XFCE4
      gender:
        female: Girl
        male: Boy

You can skip i18n lookup with :i18n => false

symbolize :style, :in => [:rock, :punk, :funk, :jazz], :i18n => false

If you provide the scopes option, some fancy named scopes will be added: In our User example, gender has male/female options, so you can do:

# AR
User.male    # => User.all(:conditions => { :gender => :male })

# Mongoid
User.female  # => User.where({ :gender => :female })

You can chain named scopes as well:

User.female.mac => User.all :conditions => { :gender => :female, :so => :mac }

For boolean colums you can use

User.angry     => User.find(:all, :conditions => { :angry => true })
User.not_angry => User.find(:all, :conditions => { :angry => false })

( or with_[attribute] and without_[attribute] )

As the name suggest, the symbol you choose as default will be set in new objects automatically. Mongoid only for now.

symbolize :mood, :in => [:happy, :sad, :euphoric], :default => (MarvinDay ? :sad : :happy)

User.new.mood # It may print :happy

You may call ‘Class.get_<attribute>_values` anywhere to get a nice array. Works nice with dropdowns. Examples:

class Coffee
  symbolize :genetic, :in => [:arabica, :robusta, :blend]
end

- form_for(@coffee) do |f|
  = f.label :genetic
  = f.select :genetic, Coffee.get_genetic_values

Somewhere on a view:

= select_tag :kind, Coffee.get_genetic_values

<% form_for @user do |f| %>
  <%= f.radio_sym "gender" %>
  <!-- Alphabetic order -->
  <%= f.select_sym "so" %>
  <!-- Fixed order -->
  <%= f.select_sym "office" %>
<%end>

Run the adapter independently:

$ rspec spec/symbolize/mongoid_spec.rb
$ rspec spec/symbolize/active_record_spec.rb

This fork: github.com/nofxx/symbolize