= Shmemeter
<b>Version 0.2.0 (21 Apr, 2008)</b>

Author::    Yossef Mendelssohn (ymendel@pobox.com)
Copyright:: Copyright (c) 2008, Flawed Logic, OG Consulting, Yossef Mendelssohn
License::   MIT License.  See MIT-LICENSE file for more details.

Shmemeter is a Ruby on Rails plugin that improves delegation to allow for changing the method called on the receiver (something Forwardable gives you and Rails delegation doesn't) as well as setting a value to use if the receiver is missing.

== Installation

Unpack the shmemeter directory into vendor/plugins/ in your rails project.
A definitive public revision control access point is forthcoming that will make it possible to install the plugin via script/plugin install.

== Reasoning

It can be hard to handle all those Law (or Suggestion) of Demeter cases when ActiveRecord and associations make it so tempting to just *know* what's going on a few method calls down the line. Write wrapper methods for every attribute or method you might care about on another object gets old, especially when some associations are optional and you need to guard against NoMethodError from calling methods on nil. You can only do so much before you throw up your hands in disgust and shout "SCREW YOU, DEMETER!"

This plugin gives you an easier way. Use it and just mumble "demeter shmemeter" under your breath from time to time.

== Using Shmemeter

Shmemeter adds two extra options for delegation.

You can still delegate normally

    class User < ActiveRecord::Base
      delegate :username, :to => :login  # Easier than def username() login.username; end
    end

You can handle a missing target

    class User < ActiveRecord::Base
      delegate :username, :to => :login, :missing_target => ''  # Easier than def username() if login then login.username else '' end; end
    end

You can call a different method on the target

    class User < ActiveRecord::Base
      delegate :username, :to => :login, :as => :name  # Easier than def username() login.name; end
    end

And finally, you can call a different method on the target while handling a missing target

    class User < ActiveRecord::Base
      delegate :username, :to => :login, :as => :name, :missing_target => ''  # Easier than def username() if login then login.name else '' end; end
    end

== Version history:

  0.2.0 - Initial release