refactor to allow for ruby style accessor methods

README.textile

@@ -48,14 +48,21 @@ This library has a specific way to build and read API objects.  Each class can t
 # Modify the title later
 @p["title"] => "My Awesome Campaign"
 
+# or use the ruby style accessor
+
+@p.title = 'My Awesome Campaign'
+
 # Look at all the variables
 @p.variables.inspect
 => {"title" => "My Awesome Campaign"}
-</pre>
 
-Each API object has 3 constants defined: XML_NAME, ATTRIBUTES and ELEMENTS.  The ATTRIBUTES and ELEMENTS reveal the possible variables you can pass into the constructor and modify per the example above.  The XML_NAME is used for serializing an API object to XML for delivery back to ActBlue.
+# or a specific one.
+
+@p.title.inspect
+=> "My Awesome Campaign"
+</pre>
 
-The reason a variable hash is exposed with the [] operator and variables are not simply getter/setter instance methods is due to the fact that the ActBlue API has several attributes and elements that have a '-' dash in their name.
+Original ActBlue field names are available with the [] operator - this allows access to  attributes and elements that have a '-' dash in their name. Ruby equivalents to these names are available as accessor methods with the dashes replaced with underscores. 
 
 When creating objects with nested elements you should use the corresponding API objects.  For example if I wanted to add some Listentries to the Page object we were working with above:
 

lib/actblue/active_blue.rb

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ module ActBlue
   ACTBLUE_VERSION = "2007-10-1"
   ACTBLUE_URL = ENV['ACTBLUE_URL'] || "https://secure.actblue.com"
 
-  class ActiveBlue
+  module ActiveBlue
     include HTTParty
     format :xml
     base_uri "#{ACTBLUE_URL}/#{ACTBLUE_VERSION}"
@@ -13,6 +13,51 @@ class ActiveBlue
 
     attr_accessor :variables
 
+    # add accessors and other class methods places where this has been included 
+
+    module ClassMethods
+      def elements 
+        @elements || []
+      end 
+
+      def attributes
+        @attributes || []
+      end
+
+      def add_attributes(attributes)
+        @attributes = attributes
+        setup_accessors(attributes) 
+      end
+
+      def add_elements(elements)
+        @elements = elements
+        setup_accessors(elements)
+      end
+
+      def setup_accessors(names)
+        accessor_name_hash  = { }
+        names.each do | key |
+          accessor_name_hash[key.gsub('-', '_')] = key
+        end
+
+        accessor_name_hash.each do | accessor_name, variable_name|
+          # assignment
+          define_method "#{accessor_name}=".intern do | value |
+            @variables[variable_name] = value
+          end
+          # access
+          define_method accessor_name.intern do
+            @variables[variable_name]
+          end
+        end
+      end
+
+    end
+
+    def self.included(base)
+      base.extend ClassMethods
+    end
+
     def line_items_lambda 
       lambda do |hash| 
         if (hash.is_a?(Array) && hash.first.class.name == "ActBlue::LineItem") 
@@ -99,10 +144,10 @@ def to_xml
 
     def to_xml_element
       element = REXML::Element.new(self.class::XML_NAME)
-      self.class::ATTRIBUTES.each do |a|
+      self.class.attributes.each do |a|
         element.add_attribute(a, @variables[a]) if @variables[a]
       end
-      self.class::ELEMENTS.each do |e|
+      self.class.elements.each do |e|
         if @variables[e]
           if act_types[e] && act_types[e].is_a?(Proc)
             parentElement = REXML::Element.new(e)

lib/actblue/candidacy.rb

@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 module ActBlue
 
-  class Candidacy < ActiveBlue
+  class Candidacy 
+    include ActiveBlue
 
     XML_NAME   =  'candidacy'
-    ATTRIBUTES =  ['id']
-    ELEMENTS =    ['election','result']
+    add_attributes  ['id']
+    add_elements    ['election','result']
 
   end
 

lib/actblue/check.rb

@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 module ActBlue
 
-  class Check < ActiveBlue
+  class Check 
+    include ActiveBlue
 
     XML_NAME   =  'check'
-    ATTRIBUTES =  ['id']
-    ELEMENTS =    ['date', 'number']
+    add_attributes  ['id']
+    add_elements    ['date', 'number']
 
   end
 

lib/actblue/contribution.rb

@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 module ActBlue 
 
-  class Contribution < ActiveBlue
+  class Contribution 
+    include ActiveBlue
 
     XML_NAME = 'contribution'
-    ATTRIBUTES = ['order-number', 'created-on']
-    ELEMENTS = ['page', 'refcode', 'source', 'timestamp', 'submitter', 'recurring', 'recurringtimes', 'referrer', 'successuri', 'lineitems']
+    add_attributes ['order-number', 'created-on']
+    add_elements   ['page', 'refcode', 'source', 'timestamp', 'submitter', 'recurring', 'recurringtimes', 'referrer', 'successuri', 'lineitems']
 
     def self.get(params)
       hash = ActiveBlue.get('/contributions', :query => params)

lib/actblue/credit_card.rb

@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 module ActBlue
 
-  class CreditCard < ActiveBlue
+  class CreditCard 
+    include ActiveBlue
 
     XML_NAME   =  'creditcard'
-    ATTRIBUTES =  []
-    ELEMENTS =    ['name', 'billing-addr1', 'billing-addr2', 'billing-city', 'billing-state', 'billing-postalcode', 'account', 'expires', 'verifier']
+    add_elements    ['name', 'billing-addr1', 'billing-addr2', 'billing-city', 'billing-state', 'billing-postalcode', 'account', 'expires', 'verifier']
 
   end
 

lib/actblue/election.rb

@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 module ActBlue
 
-  class Election < ActiveBlue
+  class Election
+    include ActiveBlue
 
     XML_NAME   =  'election'
-    ATTRIBUTES =  ['id']
-    ELEMENTS =    ['election_date','office']
+    add_attributes ['id']
+    add_elements    ['election_date','office']
 
   end
 

lib/actblue/entity.rb

@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 module ActBlue
 
-  class Entity < ActiveBlue
+  class Entity
+    include ActiveBlue
 
     XML_NAME  =   'entity'
-    ATTRIBUTES =  ['id']
-    ELEMENTS =    ['legalname', 'displayname', 'sortname', 'jurisdiction', 'govid', 'prefacewiththe', 'donate', 'kind', 'state', 'party', 'url', 'visible','candidacy']
+    add_attributes  ['id']
+    add_elements    ['legalname', 'displayname', 'sortname', 'jurisdiction', 'govid', 'prefacewiththe', 'donate', 'kind', 'state', 'party', 'url', 'visible','candidacy']
 
   end
 

lib/actblue/expires.rb

@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 module ActBlue
 
-  class Expires < ActiveBlue
+  class Expires
+    include ActiveBlue
 
     XML_NAME   =  'expires'
-    ATTRIBUTES =  ['year', 'month']
-    ELEMENTS =    []
+    add_attributes  ['year', 'month']
 
   end
 

lib/actblue/instrument.rb

@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 module ActBlue
 
-  class Instrument < ActiveBlue
+  class Instrument
+    include ActiveBlue
 
     XML_NAME = 'instrument'
-    ATTRIBUTES = []
-    ELEMENTS = ['creditcard', 'check']
+    add_elements ['creditcard', 'check']
 
   end
 

lib/actblue/line_item.rb

@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 module ActBlue
 
-  class LineItem < ActiveBlue
+  class LineItem
+    include ActiveBlue
 
     XML_NAME = 'lineitem'
-    ATTRIBUTES = ['id','effective-at', 'status', 'visibility']
-    ELEMENTS = ['amount', 'fee', 'entity', 'aq-fee', 'premium-fee', 'processing-fee', 'jurisdiction']
+    add_attributes ['id','effective-at', 'status', 'visibility']
+    add_elements   ['amount', 'fee', 'entity', 'aq-fee', 'premium-fee', 'processing-fee', 'jurisdiction']
 
   end
 

lib/actblue/list_entry.rb

@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 module ActBlue
 
-  class ListEntry < ActiveBlue
+  class ListEntry
+    include ActiveBlue
 
     XML_NAME   =  'listentry'
-    ATTRIBUTES =  ['page','entity','position']
-    ELEMENTS =    ['blurb']
+    add_attributes ['page','entity','position']
+    add_elements   ['blurb']
 
   end
 

lib/actblue/office.rb

@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 module ActBlue
 
-  class Office < ActiveBlue
+  class Office
+    include ActiveBlue
 
     XML_NAME   =  'office'
-    ATTRIBUTES =  ['id']
-    ELEMENTS =    ['name','description','race_type','district','seat_count','state']
+    add_attributes  ['id']
+    add_elements    ['name','description','race_type','district','seat_count','state']
 
   end
 

lib/actblue/page.rb

@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 module ActBlue
 
-  class Page < ActiveBlue
+  class Page 
+    include ActiveBlue
 
     XML_NAME   =  'page'
-    ATTRIBUTES =  ['name', 'partner', 'created-on']
-    ELEMENTS =    ['title', 'author', 'blurb', 'visibility', 'showcandidatesummary', 'listentries']
+    add_attributes  ['name', 'partner', 'created-on']
+    add_elements    ['title', 'author', 'blurb', 'visibility', 'showcandidatesummary', 'listentries']
 
     def post
       ActiveBlue.post('/pages', :body => to_xml)

lib/actblue/source.rb

@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 module ActBlue
 
-  class Source < ActiveBlue
+  class Source 
+    include ActiveBlue
 
     XML_NAME   =  'source'
-    ATTRIBUTES =  []
-    ELEMENTS =    ['firstname', 'lastname', 'addr1', 'addr2', 'city', 'state', 'zip', 'country', 'employer', 'occupation', 'empaddr1', 'empaddr2', 'empcity', 'empstate', 'empzip', 'empcountry', 'email', 'phone']
+    add_elements   ['firstname', 'lastname', 'addr1', 'addr2', 'city', 'state', 'zip', 'country', 'employer', 'occupation', 'empaddr1', 'empaddr2', 'empcity', 'empstate', 'empzip', 'empcountry', 'email', 'phone']
 
   end
 

spec/page_spec.rb

@@ -33,6 +33,24 @@
     end
   end
 
+  describe "accessors" do
+    it "should have basic accessors" do
+      page = Page.new(:title => "test title", "listentries" => {"listentry" => [{:blurb => "body one"}, {:blurb => "body two"}]})
+      page.title.should == 'test title'
+      page.title = 'another title'
+      page.title.should == 'another title'
+      page['title'].should == 'another title'
+    end
+
+    it "should autotransform accessors with dashes" do
+      t = Time.now
+      page = Page.new('created-on' => t, :title => "test title", "listentries" => {"listentry" => [{:blurb => "body one"}, {:blurb => "body two"}]})
+      page.created_on.should == t
+      page.created_on = 'foo'
+      page['created-on'].should == 'foo'
+    end
+  end
+
   describe "#to_xml" do
     it "should describe the contribution in xml" do
       page = ActBlue::Page.new('name' => 'a', 'title' => 'b')