[ANN] Active Record 0.9.0: Thread safety, speed, naturalness

What's new in Active Record 0.9.0?
==================================

It痴 been a while, but the wait will be worth it. This massive update  
includes thread safety, 400% speed increase (on a 100 objects loop),  
better callback definitions, natural association assignment, hashes and  
arrays in YAML storage, and much, much more.

Download from http://activerecord.rubyonrails.org, talk on #rubyonrails  
(FreeNet).


* Active Record is now thread safe! (So you can use it with Cerise and  
WEBrick
   applications) [Implementation idea by Michael Neumann, debugging  
assistance
   by Jamis Buck]

* Improved performance by roughly 400% on a basic test case of pulling  
100
   records and querying one attribute. This brings the tax for using  
Active
   Record instead of "riding on the metal" (using MySQL-ruby C-driver  
directly)
   down to ~50%. Done by doing lazy type conversions and caching column
   information on the class-level.

* Added callback objects and procs as options for implementing the  
target for
   callback macros.

* Added "counter_cache" option to belongs_to that automates the usage of
   increment_counter and decrement_counter. Consider:

     class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
       has_many :comments
     end

     class Comment < ActiveRecord::Base
       belongs_to :post
     end

   Iterating over 100 posts like this:

     <% for post in @posts %>
       <%= post.title %> has <%= post.comments_count %> comments
     <% end %>

   Will generate 100 SQL count queries -- one for each call to
   post.comments_count. If you instead add a "comments_count" int column
   to the posts table and rewrite the comments association macro with:

     class Comment < ActiveRecord::Base
       belongs_to :post, :counter_cache => true
     end

   Those 100 SQL count queries will be reduced to zero. Beware that  
counter
   caching is only appropriate for objects that begin life
   with the object it's specified to belong with and is destroyed like  
that as
   well. Typically objects where you would also specify :dependent =>  
true. If
   your objects switch from one belonging to another (like a post that  
can be
   move from one category to another), you'll have to manage the counter
   yourself.

* Added natural object-style assignment for has_one and belongs_to
   associations. Consider the following model:

     class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
       has_one :manager
     end

     class Manager < ActiveRecord::Base
       belongs_to :project
     end

   Earlier, assignments would work like following regardless of which  
way the
   assignment told the best story:

     active_record.manager_id = david.id

   Now you can do it either from the belonging side:

     david.project = active_record

   ...or from the having side:

     active_record.manager = david

   If the assignment happens from the having side, the assigned object is
   automatically saved. So in the example above, the project_id  
attribute on
   david would be set to the id of active_record, then david would be  
saved.

* Added natural object-style assignment for has_many associations  
[Florian
   Weber]. Consider the following model:

     class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
       has_many :milestones
     end

     class Milestone < ActiveRecord::Base
       belongs_to :project
     end

   Earlier, assignments would work like following regardless of which  
way the
   assignment told the best story:

     deadline.project_id = active_record.id

   Now you can do it either from the belonging side:

     deadline.project = active_record

   ...or from the having side:

     active_record.milestones << deadline

   The milestone is automatically saved with the new foreign key.

* API CHANGE: Attributes for text (or blob or similar) columns will now  
have
   unknown classes stored using YAML instead of using to_s. (Known  
classes that
   won't be yamelized are: String, NilClass, TrueClass, FalseClass,  
Fixnum,
   Date, and Time). Likewise, data pulled out of text-based attributes  
will be
   attempted converged using Yaml if they have the "--- " header. This  
was
   primarily done to be enable the storage of hashes and arrays without
   wrapping them in aggregations, so now you can do:

     user = User.find(1)
     user.preferences = { "background" => "black", "display" => large }
     user.save

     User.find(1).preferences # => { "background"=>"black",  
"display"=>large }

   Please note that this method should only be used when you don't care  
about
   representing the object in proper columns in the database. A money  
object
   consisting of an amount and a currency is still a much better fit for  
a
   value object done through aggregations than this new option.

* POSSIBLE CODE BREAKAGE: As a consequence of the lazy type  
conversions, it's
   a bad idea to reference the @attributes hash directly (it always was,  
but
   now it's paramount that you don't). If you do, you won't get the type
   conversion. So to implement new accessors for existing attributes, use
   read_attribute(attr_name) and write_attribute(attr_name, value)  
instead.
   Like this:

     class Song < ActiveRecord::Base
       # Uses an integer of seconds to hold the length of the song

       def length=(minutes)
         write_attribute("length", minutes * 60)
       end

       def length
         read_attribute("length") / 60
       end
     end

   The clever kid will notice that this opens a door to sidestep the  
automated
   type conversion by using @attributes directly. This is not  
recommended as
   read/write_attribute may be granted additional responsibilities in the
   future, but if you think you know what you're doing and aren't afraid  
of
   future consequences, this is an option.

* Applied a few minor bug fixes reported by Daniel Von Fange.


What about Active Record 1.0.0?
==================================

Active Record will be moving to promised land of 1.0.0 within a  
reasonably short time frame. So if you have any wishes, comments, or  
complaints, you'll want to voice them sooner rather than later. 1.0.0  
won't mean the end of developement, of course, but it would be nice to  
have a really solid release. So do speak forth.


Call for help!
==============

Do you have working knowledge with and access to either Oracle, ODBC,  
Sybase, or DB2, I'd be really grateful if you would consider writing an  
adapter for Active Record. Adapters are usually just around 100 lines  
of code. You'll have three examples to look at, a well-specified  
interface[1], and almost 100 test cases to make it real easy. Luke  
Holden reports that he spent just a few hours getting SQLite and  
PostgreSQL adapters working.

[1]  
http://ar.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/ConnectionAdapters/ 
AbstractAdapter.html


Active Record -- Object-relation mapping put on rails
=====================================================

Active Record connects business objects and database tables to create a  
persistable
domain model where logic and data is presented in one wrapping. It's an  
implementation of the object-relational mapping (ORM) pattern by the  
same name as described by Martin Fowler:

   "An object that wraps a row in a database table or view, encapsulates
        the database access, and adds domain logic on that data."

Active Records main contribution to the pattern is to relieve the  
original of two stunting problems: lack of associations and  
inheritance. By adding a simple domain language-like set of macros to  
describe the former and integrating the Single Table Inheritance  
pattern for the latter, Active Record narrows the gap of functionality  
between the data mapper and active record approach.

A short rundown of the major features:

* Automated mapping between classes and tables, attributes and columns.
    class Product < ActiveRecord::Base; end

    ...is automatically mapped to the table named "products", such as:

    CREATE TABLE products (
      id int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
      name varchar(255),
      PRIMARY KEY  (id)
    );

    ...which again gives Product#name and Product#name=(new_name)


* Associations between objects controlled by simple meta-programming  
macros.
    class Firm < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_many  :clients
      has_one   :account
      belong_to :conglomorate
    end


* Aggregations of value objects controlled by simple meta-programming  
macros.
    class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
      composed_of :balance, :class_name => "Money",
                  :mapping => %w(balance amount)
      composed_of :address,
                  :mapping => [%w(address_street street),  
%w(address_city city)]
    end


* Validation rules that can differ for new or existing objects.
    class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
      def validate # validates on both creates and updates
        errors.add_on_empty "title"
      end

      def validate_on_update
        errors.add_on_empty "password"
      end
    end


* Callbacks as methods or ques on the entire lifecycle
   (instantiation, saving, destroying, validating, etc).

    class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
      def before_destroy # is called just before Person#destroy
        CreditCard.find(credit_card_id).destroy
      end
    end

    class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
      after_find :eager_load, 'self.class.announce(#{id})'
    end

   Learn more in link:classes/ActiveRecord/Callbacks.html


* Observers for the entire lifecycle
    class CommentObserver < ActiveRecord::Observer
      def after_create(comment) # is called just after Comment#save
        NotificationService.send_email("[e-mail]", comment)
      end
    end


* Inheritance hierarchies
    class Company < ActiveRecord::Base; end
    class Firm < Company; end
    class Client < Company; end
    class PriorityClient < Client; end


* Transaction support on both a database and object level. The latter  
is implemented
   by using Transaction::Simple

     # Just database transaction
     Account.transaction do
       david.withdrawal(100)
       mary.deposit(100)
     end

     # Database and object transaction
     Account.transaction(david, mary) do
       david.withdrawal(100)
       mary.deposit(100)
     end


* Direct manipulation (instead of service invocation)

   So instead of (Hibernate example):

      long pkId = 1234;
      DomesticCat pk = (DomesticCat) sess.load( Cat.class, new  
Long(pkId) );
      // something interesting involving a cat...
      sess.save(cat);
      sess.flush(); // force the SQL INSERT

   Active Record lets you:

      pkId = 1234
      cat = Cat.find(pkId)
      # something even more interesting involving a the same cat...
      cat.save


* Database abstraction through simple adapters (~100 lines) with a  
shared connector

    ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(:adapter => "sqlite",  
:dbfile => "dbfile")

    ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(
      :adapter  => "mysql",
      :host     => "localhost",
      :username => "me",
      :password => "secret",
      :database => "activerecord"
    )


* Logging support for Log4r and Logger

     ActiveRecord::Base.logger = Logger.new(STDOUT)
     ActiveRecord::Base.logger = Log4r::Logger.new("Application Log")


Philosophy
==========

Active Record attempts to provide a coherent wrapping for the  
inconvenience that is object-relational mapping. The prime directive  
for this mapping has been to minimize the amount of code needed to  
built a real-world domain model. This is made possible by relying on a  
number of conventions that make it easy for Active Record to infer  
complex relations and structures from a minimal amount of explicit  
direction.

Convention over Configuration:
* No XML-files!
* Lots of reflection and run-time extension
* Magic is not inherently a bad word

Admit the Database:
* Lets you drop down to SQL for odd cases and performance
* Doesn't attempt to duplicate or replace data definitions

--
David Heinemeier Hansson,
http://www.instiki.org/      -- A No-Step-Three Wiki in Ruby
http://www.basecamphq.com/   -- Web-based Project Management
http://www.loudthinking.com/ -- Broadcasting Brain
http://www.nextangle.com/    -- Development & Consulting Services