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Enumerated attributes with I18n and ActiveRecord/Mongoid/MongoMapper support
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Enumerize Ruby

Enumerated attributes with I18n and ActiveRecord/Mongoid/MongoMapper/Sequel support

Table of Contents

  • Installation
  • Supported Versions
  • Usage
  • Database support
    • ActiveRecord
    • Mongoid
    • MongoMapper
  • I18n Support
    • I18n Helper Methods
  • Boolean Helper Methods
    • Basic
    • Predicate Methods
  • Optimzations and Tips
    • Extendable Module
    • Customizing Enumerize Value
    • ActiveRecord scopes
    • Array-like Attributes
  • Forms
    • SimpleForm
    • Formtastic
  • Testing
    • RSpec
    • Minitest with Shoulda
    • Other Integrations
  • Contributing

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'enumerize'

And then execute:

$ bundle

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install enumerize

Supported Versions

  • Ruby 3.0+
  • Rails 6.1+

Usage

Basic:

class User
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :role, in: [:user, :admin]
end

Note that enumerized values are just identifiers so if you want to use multi-word, etc. values then you should use I18n feature.


Database support

ActiveRecord

class CreateUsers < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def change
    create_table :users do |t|
      t.string :status
      t.string :role

      t.timestamps
    end
  end
end

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :status, in: [:student, :employed, :retired], default: lambda { |user| StatusIdentifier.status_for_age(user.age).to_sym }

  enumerize :role, in: [:user, :admin], default: :user
end

⚠️ By default, enumerize adds inclusion validation to the model. You can skip validations by passing skip_validations option. ⚠️

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :status, in: [:student, :employed, :retired], skip_validations: lambda { |user| user.new_record? }

  enumerize :role, in: [:user, :admin], skip_validations: true
end

Mongoid

class User
  include Mongoid::Document
  extend Enumerize

  field :role
  enumerize :role, in: [:user, :admin], default: :user
end

MongoMapper

class User
  include MongoMapper::Document
  extend Enumerize

  key :role
  enumerize :role, in: [:user, :admin], default: :user
end

I18n Support

en:
  enumerize:
    user:
      status:
        student: "Student"
        employed: "Employed"
        retired: "Retiree"

or if you use status attribute across several models you can use defaults scope:

en:
  enumerize:
    defaults:
      status:
        student: "Student"
        employed: "Employed"
        retired: "Retiree"

You can also pass i18n_scope option to specify scope (or array of scopes) storing the translations.

class Person
  extend Enumerize
  extend ActiveModel::Naming

  enumerize :status, in: %w[student employed retired], i18n_scope: "status"
  enumerize :roles, in: %w[user admin], i18n_scope: ["user.roles", "roles"]
  enumerize :color, in: %w[green blue], i18n_scope: proc { |value| "color" }
end

# localization file
en:
  status:
    student: "Student"
    employed: "Employed"
    retired: "Retiree"
  user:
    roles:
      user: "User"
  roles:
    admin: "Admin"

Note that if you want to use I18n feature with plain Ruby object don't forget to extend it with ActiveModel::Naming:

class User
  extend Enumerize
  extend ActiveModel::Naming
end

I18n Helper Methods

*_text / .text

Attribute's I18n text value:

@user.status_text # or @user.status.text

values

List of possible values for an enumerized attribute:

User.status.values # or User.enumerized_attributes[:status].values
# => ['student', 'employed', 'retired']

I18n text values

List of possible I18n text values for an enumerized attribute:

User.status.values.collect(&:text)
# => ['Student', 'Employed', 'Retiree']

Form example

Use it with forms (it supports :only and :except options):

<%= form_for @user do |f| %>
  <%= f.select :status, User.status.options %>
<% end %>

Boolean Helper Methods

Basic

user.status = :student
user.status.student? #=> true
user.status.retired? #=> false

Predicate Methods

class User
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :status, in: %w(student employed retired), predicates: true
end

user = User.new

user.student?  # => false
user.employed? # => false

user.status = :student

user.student?  # => true
user.employed? # => false

⚠️ If enumerize is used with Mongoid, it's not recommended to use "writer" as a field value since writer? is defined by Mongoid. See more. ⚠️

Predicate Prefixes

class User
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :status, in: %w(student employed retired), predicates: { prefix: true }
end

user = User.new
user.status = 'student'
user.status_student? # => true

Use :only and :except options to specify what values create predicate methods for.


Optimzations and Tips

Extendable Module

To make some attributes shared across different classes it's possible to define them in a separate module and then include it into classes:

module RoleEnumerations
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :roles, in: %w[user admin]
end

class Buyer
  include RoleEnumerations
end

class Seller
  include RoleEnumerations
end

Customizing Enumerize Value

It's also possible to store enumerized attribute value using custom values (e.g. integers). You can pass a hash as :in option to achieve this:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :role, in: {:user => 1, :admin => 2}
end

user = User.new
user.role = :user
user.role #=> 'user'
user.role_value #=> 1

User.role.find_value(:user).value #=> 1
User.role.find_value(:admin).value #=> 2

ActiveRecord scopes:

Basic

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  extend Enumerize
  enumerize :role, :in => [:user, :admin], scope: true
  enumerize :status, :in => { student: 1, employed: 2, retired: 3 }, scope: :having_status
end

User.with_role(:admin)
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."role" IN ('admin')

User.without_role(:admin)
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."role" NOT IN ('admin')

User.having_status(:employed).with_role(:user, :admin)
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."status" IN (2) AND "users"."role" IN ('user', 'admin')

Shallow Scopes

Adds named scopes to the class directly.

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  extend Enumerize
  enumerize :status, :in => [:student, :employed, :retired], scope: :shallow
  enumerize :role, :in => { user: 1, admin: 2 }, scope: :shallow
end

User.student
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."status" = 'student'

User.admin
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."role" = 2

⚠️ It is not possible to define a scope when using the :multiple option. ⚠️

Array-like Attributes

Array-like attributes with plain ruby objects:

class User
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :interests, in: [:music, :sports], multiple: true
end

user = User.new
user.interests << :music
user.interests << :sports

and with ActiveRecord:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  extend Enumerize

  serialize :interests, Array
  enumerize :interests, in: [:music, :sports], multiple: true
end

get an array of all text values:

@user.interests.texts # shortcut for @user.interests.map(&:text)

Also, the reader method can be overridden, referencing the enumerized attribute value using super:

def status
  if current_user.admin?
    "Super #{super}"
  else
    super
  end
end

Forms

SimpleForm

If you are using SimpleForm gem you don't need to specify input type (:select by default) and collection:

<%= simple_form_for @user do |f| %>
  <%= f.input :status %>
<% end %>

and if you want it as radio buttons:

<%= simple_form_for @user do |f| %>
  <%= f.input :status, :as => :radio_buttons %>
<% end %>

Please note that Enumerize overwrites the I18n keys of SimpleForm collections. The enumerized keys are used instead of the SimpleForm ones for inputs concerning enumerized attributes. If you don't want this just pass :collection option to the input call.

Formtastic

If you are using Formtastic gem you also don't need to specify input type (:select by default) and collection:

<%= semantic_form_for @user do |f| %>
  <%= f.input :status %>
<% end %>

and if you want it as radio buttons:

<%= semantic_form_for @user do |f| %>
  <%= f.input :status, :as => :radio %>
<% end %>

Testing

RSpec

Also you can use builtin RSpec matcher:

class User
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :status, in: [:student, :employed, :retired]
end

describe User do
  it { should enumerize(:status) }

  # or with RSpec 3 expect syntax
  it { is_expected.to enumerize(:status) }
end

Qualifiers

in

Use in to test usage of the :in option.

class User
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :status, in: [:student, :employed, :retired]
end

describe User do
  it { should enumerize(:status).in(:student, :employed, :retired) }
end

You can test enumerized attribute value using custom values with the in qualifier.

class User
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :role, in: { user: 0, admin: 1 }
end

describe User do
  it { should enumerize(:role).in(user: 0, admin: 1) }
end
with_default

Use with_default to test usage of the :default option.

class User
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :role, in: [:user, :admin], default: :user
end

describe User do
  it { should enumerize(:user).in(:user, :admin).with_default(:user) }
end
with_i18n_scope

Use with_i18n_scope to test usage of the :i18n_scope option.

class User
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :status, in: [:student, :employed, :retired], i18n_scope: 'status'
end

describe User do
  it { should enumerize(:status).in(:student, :employed, :retired).with_i18n_scope('status') }
end
with_predicates

Use with_predicates to test usage of the :predicates option.

class User
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :status, in: [:student, :employed, :retired], predicates: true
end

describe User do
  it { should enumerize(:status).in(:student, :employed, :retired).with_predicates(true) }
end

You can text prefixed predicates with the with_predicates qualifiers.

class User
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :status, in: [:student, :employed, :retired], predicates: { prefix: true }
end

describe User do
  it { should enumerize(:status).in(:student, :employed, :retired).with_predicates(prefix: true) }
end
with_scope

Use with_scope to test usage of the :scope option.

class User
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :status, in: [:student, :employed, :retired], scope: true
end

describe User do
  it { should enumerize(:status).in(:student, :employed, :retired).with_scope(true) }
end

You can test a custom scope with the with_scope qualifiers.

class User
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :status, in: [:student, :employed], scope: :employable
end

describe User do
  it { should enumerize(:status).in(:student, :employed, :retired).with_scope(scope: :employable) }
end
with_multiple

Use with_multiple to test usage of the :multiple option.

class User
  extend Enumerize

  enumerize :status, in: [:student, :employed, :retired], multiple: true
end

describe User do
  it { should enumerize(:status).in(:student, :employed, :retired).with_multiple(true) }
end

Minitest with Shoulda

You can use the RSpec matcher with shoulda in your tests by adding two lines in your test_helper.rb inside class ActiveSupport::TestCase definition:

class ActiveSupport::TestCase
  ActiveRecord::Migration.check_pending!

  require 'enumerize/integrations/rspec'
  extend Enumerize::Integrations::RSpec

  ...
end

Other Integrations

Enumerize integrates with the following automatically:


Contributing

  1. Fork it
  2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
  3. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Added some feature')
  4. Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
  5. Create new Pull Request