cache_proxy

A mixin that provides better encapsulation and control when using cache in Rails

Does cache_proxy helps your daily work with Rails? So, please recommend me and Nando Vieira on Working With Rails. Thanks for your kindness! :)

Why?

Using the default Rails abstration for caching will scatter calls to Rails.cache all over your code. Also, it isn’t trivial to bypass the cache when you need to – most of the time you end up creating two versions of the “same” method: one cached and one uncached. Using cache_proxy you will encapsulate the access to the cache and will be able to bypass the cached result using a hash option.

How?

First, install the gem:

$ [sudo] gem install cache_proxy

Then, add it as a dependency in your code using your favorite way (a simple require or mechanisms like the Bundler gem).

The gem will provide you a module to mixin into the classes the access the cache. For example:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  include CacheProxy

  has_many :search_terms, :dependent => :destroy, :order => "term ASC"

  def saved_search_terms
    cache_proxy("my_cache_key") do
      self.search_terms
    end
  end
end

The cache_proxy method gives you the possibility of passing in two options:

	# this will bypass the cache and hit the storage, default is true
    cache_proxy("my_cache_key", :cached => false) do
      self.search_terms
    end

	# time to live, default is 30.days
    cache_proxy("my_other_cache_key", :cache_expires_in => 2.hours) do
      self.expensive_canculations
    end

And… that’s it! You can use it both in class and instance methods.

Note on Patches/Pull Requests

• Fork the project.
• Make your feature addition or bug fix.
• Add tests for it. This is important so I don’t break it in a
  future version unintentionally.
• Commit, do not mess with rakefile, version, or history.
  (if you want to have your own version, that is fine but bump version in a commit by itself I can ignore when I pull)
• Send me a pull request. Bonus points for topic branches.

Contributors

This library was implemented in conjunction with Nando Vieira, a really great programmer and friend.

License

cache_proxy is released under the MIT license. See MIT LICENSE.