collectiveidea / clear_empty_attributes

Click here to lend your support to: clear_empty_attributes and make a donation at www.pledgie.com !

When Active Record objects are saved from a form, empty fields are saved as empty strings instead of nil. This kills most validations.

This URL has Read+Write access

Update homepage
brandon (author)
Fri Nov 13 04:24:53 -0800 2009
commit  805d67a0efbb00ed9291fdd0add09bdfeec690ec
tree    ddc5551b0e812b4eead4aa1d3664e4ade92cacbb
parent  7ab48309eb1c52ed78f36444b9a4617d8c7b1824
name age
history
message
file .gitignore Tue Dec 23 04:23:28 -0800 2008 its a gem now too... [grosser]
file README.markdown Loading commit data...
file Rakefile
file VERSION
file clear_empty_attributes.gemspec
file init.rb Mon Feb 05 06:55:52 -0800 2007 oops [brandon]
directory lib/
directory spec/
directory tasks/ Thu Jan 15 22:15:35 -0800 2009 Rename rake task to db:clear_empty_attributes a... [brandon]
README.markdown

Problem

When AR objects are saved, empty fields are saved as '' instead of nil.

  • Complicates queries for empty fields (WHERE field IS NULL OR field = '')
  • Makes the use of unless field.blank? necessary (opposed to only if field)
  • Can lead to late-detected bugs because most of the time strings were filled or '' and suddenly they are nil
  • Some validations do not support :allow_blank=>true
  • Databases can handle NULL better & faster than empty strings (especially when using LIKE)

Solution

Defines an AR before_validation that sets empty Strings to nil.

Install

script/plugin install git://github.com/collectiveidea/clear_empty_attributes.git OR
sudo gem install clear_empty_attributes -s http://gemcutter.org

Migration

When you are switching to clear_empty_attributes, run this task to remove any '' strings/texts from your database.

rake db:clear_empty_attributes

(only works when checked out or installed as plugin)

Authors

Hereby placed under public domain, do what you want, just do not hold anybody accountable...