AwesomeNestedSet

Awesome Nested Set is an implementation of the nested set pattern for ActiveRecord models. It is replacement for acts_as_nested_set and BetterNestedSet, but awesomer. It supports Rails 2.1 and later.

What makes this so awesome?

This is a new implementation of nested set based off of BetterNestedSet that fixes some bugs, removes tons of duplication, adds a few useful methods, and adds STI support.

Installation

Install as a plugin:

  script/plugin install git://github.com/collectiveidea/awesome_nested_set.git

Usage

To make use of awesome_nested_set, your model needs to have 3 fields: lft, rgt, and parent_id:

  class CreateCategories < ActiveRecord::Migration
    def self.up
      create_table :categories do |t|
        t.string :name
        t.integer :parent_id
        t.integer :lft
        t.integer :rgt
      end
    end

    def self.down
      drop_table :categories
    end
  end

Enable the nested set functionality by declaring acts_as_nested_set on your model

  class Category < ActiveRecord::Base
    acts_as_nested_set
  end

Run `rake rdoc` to generate the API docs and see CollectiveIdea::Acts::NestedSet::SingletonMethods for more info.

Conversion from other trees

Coming from acts_as_tree or another system where you only have a parent_id? No problem. Simply add the lft & rgt fields as above, and then run

  Category.rebuild!

Your tree be converted to a valid nested set. Awesome!

View Helper

The view helper is called #nested_set_options.

Example usage:

  <%= f.select :parent_id, nested_set_options(Category, @category) {|i| "#{'-' * i.level} #{i.name}" } %>

  <%= select_tag 'parent_id', options_for_select(nested_set_options(Category) {|i| "#{'-' * i.level} #{i.name}" } ) %>

See CollectiveIdea::Acts::NestedSet::Helper for more information about the helpers.

References

You can learn more about nested sets at:

  http://www.dbmsmag.com/9603d06.html
  http://threebit.net/tutorials/nestedset/tutorial1.html
  http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/ActiveRecord/Acts/NestedSet/ClassMethods.html
  http://opensource.symetrie.com/trac/better_nested_set/

How to contribute

If you find what you might think is a bug:

1. Check the GitHub issue tracker to see if anyone else has had the same issue. github.com/collectiveidea/awesome_nested_set/issues/
2. If you don’t see anything, create an issue with information on how to reproduce it.

If you want to contribute an enhancement or a fix:

1. Fork the project on github. github.com/collectiveidea/awesome_nested_set/
2. Make your changes with tests.
3. Commit the changes without making changes to the Rakefile, VERSION, or any other files that aren’t related to your enhancement or fix
4. Send a pull request.

Copyright ©2008 Collective Idea, released under the MIT license