module ActiveModel::Dirty

Included modules:
ActiveModel::AttributeMethods

Active Model Dirty

Provides a way to track changes in your object in the same way as Active Record does.

The requirements for implementing ActiveModel::Dirty are:

  • include ActiveModel::Dirty in your object.

  • Call define_attribute_methods passing each method you want to track.

  • Call attr_name_will_change! before each change to the tracked attribute.

  • Call changes_applied after the changes are persisted.

  • Call clear_changes_information when you want to reset the changes information.

  • Call restore_attributes when you want to restore previous data.

A minimal implementation could be:

class Person
  include ActiveModel::Dirty

  define_attribute_methods :name

  def initialize(name)
    @name = name
  end

  def name
    @name
  end

  def name=(val)
    name_will_change! unless val == @name
    @name = val
  end

  def save
    # do persistence work

    changes_applied
  end

  def reload!
    # get the values from the persistence layer

    clear_changes_information
  end

  def rollback!
    restore_attributes
  end
end

A newly instantiated Person object is unchanged:

person = Person.new("Uncle Bob")
person.changed? # => false

Change the name:

person.name = 'Bob'
person.changed?       # => true
person.name_changed?  # => true
person.name_changed?(from: "Uncle Bob", to: "Bob") # => true
person.name_was       # => "Uncle Bob"
person.name_change    # => ["Uncle Bob", "Bob"]
person.name = 'Bill'
person.name_change    # => ["Uncle Bob", "Bill"]

Save the changes:

person.save
person.changed?      # => false
person.name_changed? # => false

Reset the changes:

person.previous_changes # => {"name" => ["Uncle Bob", "Bill"]}
person.reload!
person.previous_changes # => {}

Rollback the changes:

person.name = "Uncle Bob"
person.rollback!
person.name          # => "Bill"
person.name_changed? # => false

Assigning the same value leaves the attribute unchanged:

person.name = 'Bill'
person.name_changed? # => false
person.name_change   # => nil

Which attributes have changed?

person.name = 'Bob'
person.changed # => ["name"]
person.changes # => {"name" => ["Bill", "Bob"]}

If an attribute is modified in-place then make use of +[attribute_name]_will_change!+ to mark that the attribute is changing. Otherwise Active Model can't track changes to in-place attributes. Note that Active Record can detect in-place modifications automatically. You do not need to call +[attribute_name]_will_change!+ on Active Record models.

person.name_will_change!
person.name_change # => ["Bill", "Bill"]
person.name << 'y'
person.name_change # => ["Bill", "Billy"]

Public Instance Methods

changed() Show source
# File activemodel/lib/active_model/dirty.rb, line 141
def changed
  changed_attributes.keys
end

Returns an array with the name of the attributes with unsaved changes.

person.changed # => []
person.name = 'bob'
person.changed # => ["name"]
changed?() Show source
# File activemodel/lib/active_model/dirty.rb, line 132
def changed?
  changed_attributes.present?
end

Returns true if any attribute have unsaved changes, false otherwise.

person.changed? # => false
person.name = 'bob'
person.changed? # => true
changed_attributes() Show source
# File activemodel/lib/active_model/dirty.rb, line 171
def changed_attributes
  @changed_attributes ||= ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess.new
end

Returns a hash of the attributes with unsaved changes indicating their original values like attr => original value.

person.name # => "bob"
person.name = 'robert'
person.changed_attributes # => {"name" => "bob"}
Also aliased as: attributes_changed_by_setter
changes() Show source
# File activemodel/lib/active_model/dirty.rb, line 151
def changes
  ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess[changed.map { |attr| [attr, attribute_change(attr)] }]
end

Returns a hash of changed attributes indicating their original and new values like attr => [original value, new value].

person.changes # => {}
person.name = 'bob'
person.changes # => { "name" => ["bill", "bob"] }
previous_changes() Show source
# File activemodel/lib/active_model/dirty.rb, line 161
def previous_changes
  @previously_changed ||= ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess.new
end

Returns a hash of attributes that were changed before the model was saved.

person.name # => "bob"
person.name = 'robert'
person.save
person.previous_changes # => {"name" => ["bob", "robert"]}
restore_attributes(attributes = changed) Show source
# File activemodel/lib/active_model/dirty.rb, line 189
def restore_attributes(attributes = changed)
  attributes.each { |attr| restore_attribute! attr }
end

Restore all previous data of the provided attributes.

Private Instance Methods

changes_applied() Show source
# File activemodel/lib/active_model/dirty.rb, line 201
def changes_applied # :doc:
  @previously_changed = changes
  @changed_attributes = ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess.new
end

Removes current changes and makes them accessible through previous_changes.

clear_attribute_changes(attributes) Show source
# File activemodel/lib/active_model/dirty.rb, line 267
def clear_attribute_changes(attributes) # :doc:
  attributes_changed_by_setter.except!(*attributes)
end

Remove changes information for the provided attributes.

clear_changes_information() Show source
# File activemodel/lib/active_model/dirty.rb, line 207
def clear_changes_information # :doc:
  @previously_changed = ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess.new
  @changed_attributes = ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess.new
end

Clear all dirty data: current changes and previous changes.

© 2004–2018 David Heinemeier Hansson
Licensed under the MIT License.