Artworker

The Artworker gem provides many of the basic functions needed when dealing with a collection of different fine artwork and artists. The gem does this by providing custom attributes in an easy to use way that are universally needed (based on museum standards) when dealing with artwork and artists.

Installation

gem install artworker

Usage

In Your Artwork Model

In the migration file for your artwork model, make sure you have columns for the following standard artwork attributes:

  • Title Column => Either string or text.
  • Date Column => Either string or text.
  • Height Column => Decimal, that defaults to 0.
  • Width Column => Decimal, that defaults to 0.
  • Depth Column => Decimal, that defaults to 0.

Optionally, you can define other columns for artworker. Those columns can provide added functionality to override the defaults:

  • Use Fractions Column => Boolean, default can be set to true if you want to use fractions instead of decimals.
  • Use Metric System Column => Boolean, default can be set to true if you want to use centimeters instead of inches.

You can also assign other dimension types like paper, or framed, or base. Simply add those dimensions as decimal columns, making sure they default to 0.

Here is a sample migration that includes the basic columns, optional columns, and columns to record the frame dimensions:

class CreateArtworks < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def self.up
    create_table :artworks do |t|
      t.string :title
      t.string :date
      t.decimal :height, :null => false, :default => 0
      t.decimal :width, :null => false, :default => 0
      t.decimal :depth, :null => false, :default => 0
      t.decimal :framed_height, :null => false, :default => 0
      t.decimal :framed_width, :null => false, :default => 0
      t.decimal :framed_depth, :null => false, :default => 0
      t.boolean :use_fractions, :default => true, :null => false
      t.boolean :use_metric, :default => false, :null => false
      t.timestamps
    end
  end

  def self.down
    drop_table :artworks
  end
end

Once you have created your migration file and migrated your database. You can add the uses_artworker_artwork command to your model. You may alter the options to match the columns in your database (though it may not be necessary if your columns match the default options). Here is the sample usage of the uses_artworker_artwork command for the model based on the above sample migration:

uses_artworker_artwork :title => :title,
                    :date => :date,
                    :use_fractions => :use_fractions,
                    :use_metric => :use_metric,
                    :dimensions => { :dimensions => [:height, :width, :depth], :framed_dimensions => [:framed_height, :framed_width, :framed_depth]}

You should now be able to use the attributes that Artworker provides. Below is a list of those attributes for the sample model:

title_with_date
italic_title_with_date
height
width
depth
framed_height
framed_width
framed_depth
height_in_inches
height_in_centimeters
width_in_inches
width_in_centimeters
depth_in_inches
depth_in_centimeters
framed_height_in_inches
framed_height_in_centimeters
framed_width_in_inches
framed_width_in_centimeters
framed_depth_in_inches
framed_depth_in_centimeters
dimensions
dimensions_in_inches
dimensions_in_centimeters
framed_dimensions
framed_dimensions_in_inches
framed_dimensions_in_centimeters

In Your Artist Model

In the migration file for your artist model, make sure you have columns for the following standard artist attributes:

  • First Name Column => Either string or text.
  • Last Name Column => Either string or text.
  • Birth Date Column => Either integer, string or text.
  • Death Date Column => Either integer, string or text.
  • Nationlity Column => Either string or text.

Here is a sample migration that includes the basic columns:

class CreateArtists < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def self.up
    create_table :artists do |t|
      t.string :firstname
      t.string :lastname
      t.string :birth
      t.string :death
      t.string :nationality
      t.timestamps
    end
  end

  def self.down
    drop_table :artists
  end
end

Once you have created your migration file and migrated your database. You can add the uses_artworker_artist command to your model. You may alter the options to match the columns in your database (though it may not be necessary if your columns match the default options). Here is the sample usage of the uses_artworker_artist command for the model based on the above sample migration:

uses_artworker_artist :firstname => :firstname,
                 :lastname => :lastname,
                 :birth => :birth,
                 :death => :death,
                 :nationality => :nationality

You should now be able to use the attributes that Artworker provides. Below is a list of those attributes for the sample model:

fullname
dates
fullname_with_dates
fullname_with_nationality_and_dates

Troubleshooting and FAQs

Why did you make this gem?

There's only so many times that you can write the same code in project to project before you get really sick of it. We've made enough sites for organizations in the art world to know this will alleviate our need for repetitious code.

What are the default options?

For the artwork options, the defaults are:

    :title => :title
    :date => :date
    :use_fractions => :use_fractions (or false if column does not exist)
    :use_metric => :use_metric (or false if column does not exist)
    :dimensions => { :dimensions => [:height, :width, :depth] }

For the artist options, the defaults are:

    :firstname => :firstname
    :lastname => :lastname
    :birth => :birth
    :death => :death
    :nationality => :nationality

The fractions aren't formatting properly in an input field?

Yes, this is as Rails intended. You can override this by explicitly declaring the value of the input field.

Why can't this gem generate a standard migration, model, controller, etc. for me?

Most people have their own preference when it comes to scaffold generation, and they usually go so far as to create their own. It doesn't seem like putting yet another scaffold out in the wild makes much sense.

Why doesn't this gem also handle images?

Everybody has their own methods for working with images, so it doesn't seem too advantageous at this point to include that functionality. With that being said, it may get added in the future.

Where are the tests?

Glad you asked! The testing environment is rspec, and the tests can be found in the spec directory.

Development

This project can be found on github at the following URL.

http://github.com/datalab/Artworker/

We encourage you to fork this project and make any changes you would like!