Module: ActiveRecord::Inheritance::ClassMethods

Defined in:
activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb

Instance Attribute Summary collapse

Instance Method Summary collapse

Instance Attribute Details

#abstract_class ⇒ Object

Set this to true if this is an abstract class (see abstract_class?). If you are using inheritance with Active Record and don’t want a class to be considered as part of the STI hierarchy, you must set this to true. ApplicationRecord, for example, is generated as an abstract class.

Consider the following default behavior:

Shape = Class.new(ActiveRecord::Base)
Polygon = Class.new(Shape)
Square = Class.new(Polygon)

Shape.table_name   # => "shapes"
Polygon.table_name # => "shapes"
Square.table_name  # => "shapes"
Shape.create!      # => #<Shape id: 1, type: nil>
Polygon.create!    # => #<Polygon id: 2, type: "Polygon">
Square.create!     # => #<Square id: 3, type: "Square">

However, when using abstract_class, Shape is omitted from the hierarchy:

class Shape < ActiveRecord::Base
  self.abstract_class = true
end
Polygon = Class.new(Shape)
Square = Class.new(Polygon)

Shape.table_name   # => nil
Polygon.table_name # => "polygons"
Square.table_name  # => "polygons"
Shape.create!      # => NotImplementedError: Shape is an abstract class and cannot be instantiated.
Polygon.create!    # => #<Polygon id: 1, type: nil>
Square.create!     # => #<Square id: 2, type: "Square">

Note that in the above example, to disallow the creation of a plain Polygon, you should use validates :type, presence: true, instead of setting it as an abstract class. This way, Polygon will stay in the hierarchy, and Active Record will continue to correctly derive the table name.



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# File 'activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb', line 163

def abstract_class
  @abstract_class
end

#base_class ⇒ Object (readonly)

Returns the first class in the inheritance hierarchy that descends from either an abstract class or from ActiveRecord::Base.

Consider the following behavior:

class ApplicationRecord < ActiveRecord::Base
  self.abstract_class = true
end
class Shape < ApplicationRecord
  self.abstract_class = true
end
Polygon = Class.new(Shape)
Square = Class.new(Polygon)

ApplicationRecord.base_class # => ApplicationRecord
Shape.base_class # => Shape
Polygon.base_class # => Polygon
Square.base_class # => Polygon



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# File 'activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb', line 114

def base_class
  @base_class
end

Instance Method Details

#abstract_class? ⇒ Boolean

Returns whether this class is an abstract class or not.

Returns:

  • (Boolean) 


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# File 'activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb', line 166

def abstract_class?
  @abstract_class == true
end

#base_class? ⇒ Boolean

Returns whether the class is a base class. See #base_class for more information.

Returns:

  • (Boolean) 


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# File 'activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb', line 118

def base_class?
  base_class == self
end

#descends_from_active_record? ⇒ Boolean

Returns true if this does not need STI type condition. Returns false if STI type condition needs to be applied.

Returns:

  • (Boolean) 


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# File 'activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb', line 81

def descends_from_active_record?
  if self == Base
    false
  elsif superclass.abstract_class?
    superclass.descends_from_active_record?
  else
    superclass == Base || !columns_hash.include?(inheritance_column)
  end
end

#dup ⇒ Object

:nodoc:



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# File 'activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb', line 225

def dup # :nodoc:
  # `initialize_dup` / `initialize_copy` don't work when defined
  # in the `singleton_class`.
  other = super
  other.set_base_class
  other
end

#finder_needs_type_condition? ⇒ Boolean

:nodoc:

Returns:

  • (Boolean) 


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# File 'activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb', line 91

def finder_needs_type_condition? # :nodoc:
  # This is like this because benchmarking justifies the strange :false stuff
  :true == (@finder_needs_type_condition ||= descends_from_active_record? ? :false : :true)
end

#initialize_clone(other) ⇒ Object

:nodoc:



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# File 'activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb', line 233

def initialize_clone(other) # :nodoc:
  super
  set_base_class
end

#new(attributes = nil, &block) ⇒ Object

Determines if one of the attributes passed in is the inheritance column, and if the inheritance column is attr accessible, it initializes an instance of the given subclass instead of the base class.



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# File 'activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb', line 55

def new(attributes = nil, &block)
  if abstract_class? || self == Base
    raise NotImplementedError, "#{self} is an abstract class and cannot be instantiated."
  end

  if _has_attribute?(inheritance_column)
    subclass = subclass_from_attributes(attributes)

    if subclass.nil? && scope_attributes = current_scope&.scope_for_create
      subclass = subclass_from_attributes(scope_attributes)
    end

    if subclass.nil? && base_class?
      subclass = subclass_from_attributes(column_defaults)
    end
  end

  if subclass && subclass != self
    subclass.new(attributes, &block)
  else
    super
  end
end

#polymorphic_class_for(name) ⇒ Object

Returns the class for the provided name.

It is used to find the class correspondent to the value stored in the polymorphic type column.



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# File 'activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb', line 217

def polymorphic_class_for(name)
  if store_full_class_name
    name.constantize
  else
    compute_type(name)
  end
end

#polymorphic_name ⇒ Object

Returns the value to be stored in the polymorphic type column for Polymorphic Associations.



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# File 'activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb', line 210

def polymorphic_name
  store_full_class_name ? base_class.name : base_class.name.demodulize
end

#primary_abstract_class ⇒ Object

Sets the application record class for Active Record

This is useful if your application uses a different class than ApplicationRecord for your primary abstract class. This class will share a database connection with Active Record. It is the class that connects to your primary database.



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# File 'activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb', line 176

def primary_abstract_class
  if ActiveRecord.application_record_class && ActiveRecord.application_record_class.name != name
    raise ArgumentError, "The `primary_abstract_class` is already set to #{ActiveRecord.application_record_class.inspect}. There can only be one `primary_abstract_class` in an application."
  end

  self.abstract_class = true
  ActiveRecord.application_record_class = self
end

#sti_class_for(type_name) ⇒ Object

Returns the class for the provided type_name.

It is used to find the class correspondent to the value stored in the inheritance column.



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# File 'activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb', line 193

def sti_class_for(type_name)
  if store_full_sti_class && store_full_class_name
    type_name.constantize
  else
    compute_type(type_name)
  end
rescue NameError
  raise SubclassNotFound,
    "The single-table inheritance mechanism failed to locate the subclass: '#{type_name}'. " \
    "This error is raised because the column '#{inheritance_column}' is reserved for storing the class in case of inheritance. " \
    "Please rename this column if you didn't intend it to be used for storing the inheritance class " \
    "or overwrite #{name}.inheritance_column to use another column for that information. " \
    "If you wish to disable single-table inheritance for #{name} set " \
    "#{name}.inheritance_column to nil"
end

#sti_name ⇒ Object

Returns the value to be stored in the inheritance column for STI.



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# File 'activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb', line 186

def sti_name
  store_full_sti_class && store_full_class_name ? name : name.demodulize
end