Userstamp Plugin (v 1.1)
========================

Overview
--------
The Userstamp Plugin extends ActiveRecord::Base(http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/ActiveRecord/Base.html) to add 
automatic updating of created_by and updated_by attributes of your models in much the same way that the 
ActiveRecord::Timestamp(http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/ActiveRecord/Timestamp.html) module updates created_(at/on) 
and updated_(at/on) attributes.

The module requires that your application's user object (User by default) contains an accessor called current_user be 
set with an instance of the currently logged in user (typically using a 
before_filter(http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/ActionController/Filters/ClassMethods.html#M000127). This module can 
also be turned off on a case by case basis by setting the record_userstamps attribute of your ActiveRecord object to 
false.

Installation
------------
To install the Userstamp plugin into a current Rails application run:

  git submodule add git://github.com/ctran/userstamp.git vendor/plugins/userstamp
  
Once installed you will need to restart your webserver for the plugin to be loaded into the Rails environment.

Usage
-----
Here is a simple example for how to use the Userstamp plugin. First, create a User model object (either using the 
generator or manually creating the file). Adjust your model to include the current_user accessor like so:

     class User < ActiveRecord::Base
         cattr_accessor :current_user
     end

Second, create another table and model that will use the Userstamp functionality (I'm using Post for this example). Be 
sure to add the created_by and updated_by columns to your table definition and also create a belongs_to relationship. 
For example:

     class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
         belongs_to :created_by, :class_name => "User", :foreign_key => "created_by"
         belongs_to :updated_by, :class_name => "User", :foreign_key => "updated_by"
     end

Then in your ApplicationController create a before_filter to automatically set the current_user:

     class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
         before_filter do |c|
            User.current_user = User.find(c.session[:user].id) unless c.session[:user].nil?
         end
     end


Uninstall
---------
Just remove the vendor/plugins/userstamp folder.

Running Unit Tests
------------------
There are extensive unit tests in the "test" directory of the plugin. Currently, only MySQL is supported, but
you should be able to easily fix this by looking at "connection.rb". You'll need to create a
database for the tests and put the connection information into "connection.rb" as well as import the schema file
for MySQL that can be found at "test/fixtures/mysql.sql".

To run the test simply execute the follow from the test directory inside the Userstamp plugin directory:

     ruby userstamp_test.rb

Bugs & Feedback
---------------
Bug reports and feedback are always welcome. Please send them to ctran@pragmaquest.com.

Credits and Special Thanks
--------------------------
This is based on the Userstamp plugin at http://www.delynnberry.com/articles/category/userstamp.