From: Bryan Evans <bsevans@...>
Date: 2006-11-08T08:20:16+09:00
Subject: [ANN] DrySQL

If any of you use ActiveRecord for Object-Relational Mapping in your 
Ruby apps, you may find the DrySQL plug-in helpful: 
http://drysql.rubyforge.org

DrySQL is a plug-in that extends ActiveRecord to provide a complete DRY
solution for Object-Relational Mapping.

You've defined columns, constraints, relationships, and keys on your DB.
With DrySQL you don't need to re-define _any_ of these things in your 
Ruby
code.

DrySQL has received numerous comparisons to Magic Models as both 
projects have a feature in common: automatic generation of associations 
and validations for data objects. The main thing that differentiates 
DrySQL is that the ORM is truly DRY. Your table names, columns names, 
primary & foreign key names do not need to follow any naming 
conventions, because DrySQL retrieves _all_ of this information from 
your DB's information schema. By using the information schema to its 
full potential, you don't need to re-define _any_ artifact of your DB 
schema in your application code.

In the worst-case scenario (your table name does not conform to 
ActiveRecord naming conventions), your data class could look like this:

class Employee < ActiveRecord::Base
  set_table_name "EMPLOY01"
end

You never need to explicitly identify primary/foreign keys, or specify 
associations or validations in your application code (if your table name 
conforms to AR naming conventions, you don't even need to define a class 
for it). The end result is that you don't need ORM code in your 
application and you gain loose coupling to your database structure: you 
can change your tables/columns/constraints on your DB and not need to 
change your application code.

In addition to taking a different approach to solving the 
"auto-generation of associations and validations" problem, DrySQL 
introduces a number of "new" features as well.

I'm not going to try to sell you on DrySQL if you're happy with your 
current Ruby ORM solution, but if your current solution doesn't meet 
your needs then please do check out DrySQL:

http://drysql.rubyforge.org

Cheers.
...And sorry for the long-winded post. Hopefully some of you find it 
useful

- Bryan

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