@@ -1,13 +1,46 @@ ActiveRitalin ============= -Introduction goes here. -Example -======= +Rails find_by_sql is the devil. Ninety nine percent of the time find_by_sql is unnecessary and problematic, but its sooo seductive. I cant even begin to count the ways that find_by_sql can cause trouble, but heres a few: -Example goes here. + * Plugins like acts_as_paranoid rely on developers *not* using the back door to get around the dynamic conditions to exclude deleted rows. + * There quite a few gotchas, ie: SELECT * FROM users JOIN another_table wont work because ActiveRecord will use the last ID field, not the first. + * Logic hidden in find_by_sql is not reusable (as compared to a fancy association, etc) + * It offends my aesthetic sense. We all like to pretend our ORM layer isnt leaky.. dont we? +I remember a time when we had to use find_by_sql when we found a feature was missing from ActiveRecord. I propose that the only remaining legitimate use of ActiveRecord may be to call a stored procedure. -Copyright (c) 2008 [name of plugin creator], released under the MIT license +So, keeping with the hyperactivity theme, I suggest that we all take some ActiveRitalin: A plugin for Rails that tells ActiveRecord to chill out, and causes developers to sit and think a bit before proceeding. + +ActiveRitalin makes find_by_sql private and introduces find_by_sql_with_excuse that warns upon each use. The implementation is very simple: + +module ActiveRitalin + def self.append_features(klass) + super + + klass.class_eval %( + def self.find_by_sql_with_excuse(excuse, sql) + RAILS_DEFAULT_LOGGER.warn("Find By Sql called with excuse: " + excuse ) + find_by_sql(sql) + end + + class << self + private :find_by_sql + end + ) + end +end + +To use, from your rails applications root dir: + +script/plugin install git://github.com/lukegalea/activeritalin.git + +Think you need find_by_sql? Ask yourself the following questions: + + * Can I just use :include, :select, :join, :conditions or some combination of the above? + * Should this be an association? (perhaps with :conditions and :select on it? Maybe :readonly?) + + +Copyright (c) 2008 Luke Galea, released under the MIT license README 4f440801afbbc5df9196a3b203d2a640eb401a3f Luke Galea luke@ideaforge.org http://github.com/lukegalea/activeritalin/commit/d978f8a5e01efb4816f7dcde67c129cb268f5c5d d978f8a5e01efb4816f7dcde67c129cb268f5c5d 2008-09-23T14:00:52-07:00 2008-09-23T14:00:52-07:00 Added documentation 6f232ef7eb5d712bf1481c4c6a638fc6c51e81e5 Luke Galea luke@ideaforge.org