= acts_as_overflowable
 
http://revolutiononrails.blogspot.com/
 
== DESCRIPTION:
 
Allows a column to overflow data into a secondary column if the data size exceeds 
the character limit. This is useful for fast indexing.

Instead of trying to index text blobs, you can specify a varchar column to be used 
for indexing.  Any characters that do not fit into the base column will be 
automatically saved into or retrieved from an overflow field.
 
== FEATURES/PROBLEMS:
 
* Only tested on mysql and sqlite3
 
 
== SYNOPSIS:
 
 
Create overflow column migration:
 
 class CreateOverflowModels < ActiveRecord::Migration
   def self.up     
     create_table :overflows do |t|
       t.integer :overflowable_id
       t.string :overflowable_type
       t.string :overflow
       t.timestamps
     end

     add_column(:my_class_that_uses_overflows, :has_overflow, :boolean)
     add_column(:my_class_that_uses_overflows, :overflowable_text, :string, :limit => 255)
   end
 
   def self.down
     drop_table :overflows

     remove_column(:my_class_that_uses_overflows, :has_overflow)
     remove_column(:my_class_that_uses_overflows, :overflowable_text)
   end
 end

  
 
 
Add to model:
 
 class MyClassThatUsesOverflow < ActiveRecord::Base
   acts_as_overflowable :overflow_column => :overflowable_text, 
                        :overflow_limit => 255,
                        :overflow_indicator => :has_overflow,
                        :overflow_table => :overflows
 end
 
 
To get and set the value of the "overflowable_text" field as described in the test model, 
use:
  # #{my_field_name_here}_with_overflow is the method name
  long_text = overflowable_obj.overflowable_text_with_overflow

  overflowable_obj.overflowable_text_with_overflow = very_long_text


Simply using the getters and setters for "overflowable_text" without appending 
"_with_overflow" to the method name will return the fragment of the text contained in 
the base column.
 
 
 
== REQUIREMENTS:
 
 
== INSTALL:
 
* sudo gem install revolutionhealth-acts_as_overflowable -s http://gems.github.com
 
 
== LICENSE:
 
(The MIT License)
 
Copyright (c) 2008 Revolution Health Group LLC
 
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:
 
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
 
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.