module Dirty

Active Model Dirty

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

The requirements to implement ActiveModel::Dirty are to:

• 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

If you wish to also track previous changes on save or update, you need to add

@previously_changed = changes

inside of your save or update method.

A minimal implementation could be:

class Person

  include ActiveModel::Dirty

  define_attribute_methods [:name]

  def name
    @name
  end

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

  def save
    @previously_changed = changes
    @changed_attributes.clear
  end

end

Examples:

A newly instantiated object is unchanged:

person = Person.find_by_name('Uncle Bob')
person.changed?       # => false

Change the name:

person.name = 'Bob'
person.changed?       # => true
person.name_changed?  # => 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

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 ActiveModel can’t track changes to in-place attributes.

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