Socialization¶ ↑

Socialization is a Ruby Gem that allows any model to Follow and/or Like any other model. This is accomplished through a double polymorphic relationship on the Follow and Like models. But you don’t need to know that since all the complexity is hidden from you.

<img src=“https://secure.travis-ci.org/cmer/socialization.png” />

Installation¶ ↑

Rails 3 Support¶ ↑

Add the gem to the gemfile:

gem "socialization"

Run the generator:

rails generate socialization

This will generate two migration files and two models named Follow and Like. You may delete the Follow or Like model and migration if you don’t need that functionality in your application.

Rails 2.3.x Support¶ ↑

I haven’t tested it nor do I care much about Rails 2.3.x. Sorry!

Usage¶ ↑

Setup¶ ↑

Allow a model to be followed:

class Celebrity < ActiveRecord::Base
  ...
  acts_as_followable
  ...
end

Allow a model to be a follower:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  ...
  acts_as_follower
  ...
end

Allow a model to be liked:

class Movie < ActiveRecord::Base
  ...
  acts_as_likeable
  ...
end

Allow a model to like:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  ...
  acts_as_liker
  ...
end

Or a more complex case where users can like and follow each other:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  ...
  acts_as_follower
  acts_as_followable
  acts_as_liker
  acts_as_likeable
  ...
end

---

acts_as_follower Methods¶ ↑

Follow something

user.follow!(celebrity)

Stop following

user.unfollow!(celebrity)

Is following?

user.follows?(celebrity)

---

acts_as_followable Methods¶ ↑

Find out if an objects follows

celebrity.followed_by?(user)

All followers

celebrity.followers

---

acts_as_liker Methods¶ ↑

Like something

user.like!(movie)

Stop liking

user.unlike!(movie)

Likes?

user.likes?(movie)

---

acts_as_likeable Methods¶ ↑

Find out if an objects likes

movie.liked_by?(user)

All likers

movie.likers

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.

• Send me a pull request. Bonus points for topic branches.

Similar Projects¶ ↑

acts_as_follower is a similar project that I only discovered when I was 95% finished writing the first version of Socialization. I initially intended to name this project acts_as_follower only to find out the name was taken. You might want to check it out as well so see which one suits your needs better. Socialization is simpler, supports “Likes” and easilly extendable; acts_as_follower has more “Follow” features.

Copyright¶ ↑

Copyright © 2012 Carl Mercier – Released under the MIT license.