The default_value_for plugin allows one to define default values for ActiveRecord models in a declarative manner. For example:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
default_value_for :name, "(no name)"
default_value_for :last_seen do
Time.now
end
end
u = User.new
u.name # => "(no name)"
u.last_seen # => Mon Sep 22 17:28:38 +0200 2008Note: critics might be interested in the "When (not) to use default_value_for?" section. Please read on.
The current version of default_value_for (3.x+) is compatible with Rails 3.2 or higher, and Ruby 1.9.3 and higher.
Add it to your Gemfile:
gem "default_value_for", "~> 3.0"This gem is signed using PGP with the Phusion Software Signing key: http://www.phusion.nl/about/gpg. That key in turn is signed by the rubygems-openpgp Certificate Authority: http://www.rubygems-openpgp-ca.org/.
You can verify the authenticity of the gem by following The Complete Guide to Verifying Gems with rubygems-openpgp: http://www.rubygems-openpgp-ca.org/blog/the-complete-guide-to-verifying-gems-with-rubygems-openpgp.html
To use default_value_for with older versions of Ruby and Rails, you must use the previous stable release, 2.0.3. This version works with Rails 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2; and Ruby 1.8.7 and higher. It does not work with Rails 4.
gem "default_value_for", "~> 2.0.3"To use default_value_for with Rails 2.x you must use an older version:
./script/plugin install git://github.com/FooBarWidget/default_value_for.git -r release-1.0.7The default_value_for method is available in all ActiveRecord model classes.
The first argument is the name of the attribute for which a default value should be set. This may either be a Symbol or a String.
The default value itself may either be passed as the second argument:
default_value_for :age, 20...or it may be passed as the return value of a block:
default_value_for :age do
if today_is_sunday?
20
else
30
end
endIf you pass a value argument, then the default value is static and never changes. However, if you pass a block, then the default value is retrieved by calling the block. This block is called not once, but every time a new record is instantiated and default values need to be filled in.
The latter form is especially useful if your model has a UUID column. One can generate a new, random UUID for every newly instantiated record:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
default_value_for :uuid do
UuidGenerator.new.generate_uuid
end
end
User.new.uuid # => "51d6d6846f1d1b5c9a...."
User.new.uuid # => "ede292289e3484cb88...."Note that record is passed to the block as an argument, in case you need it for whatever reason:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
default_value_for :uuid do |x|
x # <--- a User object
UuidGenerator.new.generate_uuid
end
end- allows_nil (default: true) - Sets explicitly passed nil values if option is set to true.
You can pass this options hash as 2nd parameter and have to pass the default value through the :value option in this case e.g.:
default_value_for :age, :value => 20, :allows_nil => falseYou can still pass the default value through a block:
default_value_for :uuid, :allows_nil => false do
UuidGenerator.new.generate_uuid
endAs a shortcut, you can use +default_values+ to set multiple default values at once.
default_values :age => 20,
:uuid => lambda { UuidGenerator.new.generate_uuid }If you like to override default_value_for options for each attribute you can do so:
default_values :age => { :value => 20 },
:uuid => { :value => lambda { UuidGenerator.new.generate_uuid }, :allows_nil => false }The difference is purely aesthetic. If you have lots of default values which are constants or constructed with one-line blocks, +default_values+ may look nicer. If you have default values constructed by longer blocks, default_value_for suit you better. Feel free to mix and match.
As a side note, due to specifics of Ruby's parser, you cannot say,
default_value_for :uuid { UuidGenerator.new.generate_uuid }because it will not parse. One needs to write
default_value_for(:uuid) { UuidGenerator.new.generate_uuid }instead. This is in part the inspiration for the +default_values+ syntax.
Upon instantiating a new record, the declared default values are filled into the record. You've already seen this in the above examples.
Upon retrieving an existing record in the following case, the declared default values are not filled into the record. Consider the example with the UUID:
user = User.create
user.uuid # => "529c91b8bbd3e..."
user = User.find(user.id)
# UUID remains unchanged because it's retrieved from the database!
user.uuid # => "529c91b8bbd3e..."But when the declared default value is set to not allow nil and nil is passed the default values will be set on retrieval. Consider this example:
default_value_for(:number, :allows_nil => false) { 123 }
user = User.create
# manual SQL by-passing active record and the default value for gem logic through ActiveRecord's after_initialize callback
user.update_attribute(:number, nil)
# declared default value should be set
User.find(user.id).number # => 123 # = declared default valueIf a certain attribute is being assigned via the model constructor's mass-assignment argument, that the default value for that attribute will not be filled in:
user = User.new(:uuid => "hello")
user.uuid # => "hello"However, if that attribute is protected by +attr_protected+ or +attr_accessible+, then it will be filled in:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
default_value_for :name, 'Joe'
attr_protected :name
end
user = User.new(:name => "Jane")
user.name # => "Joe"
# the without protection option will work as expected
user = User.new({:name => "Jane"}, :without_protection => true)
user.name # => "Jane"Explicitly set nil values for accessible attributes will be accepted:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
default_value_for :name, 'Joe'
end
user = User(:name => nil)
user.name # => nil
... unless the accessible attribute is set to not allowing nil:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
default_value_for :name, 'Joe', :allows_nil => false
end
user = User(:name => nil)
user.name # => "Joe"Inheritance works as expected. All default values are inherited by the child class:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
default_value_for :name, 'Joe'
end
class SuperUser < User
end
SuperUser.new.name # => "Joe"default_value_for also works with attributes that aren't database columns.
It works with anything for which there's an assignment method:
# Suppose that your 'users' table only has a 'name' column.
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
default_value_for :name, 'Joe'
default_value_for :age, 20
default_value_for :registering, true
attr_accessor :age
def registering=(value)
@registering = true
end
end
user = User.new
user.age # => 20
user.instance_variable_get('@registering') # => trueThe given default values are duplicated when they are filled in, so if you mutate a value that was filled in with a default value, then it will not affect all subsequent default values:
class Author < ActiveRecord::Base
# This model only has a 'name' attribute.
end
class Book < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :author
# By default, a Book belongs to a new, unsaved author.
default_value_for :author, Author.new
end
book1 = Book.new
book1.author.name # => nil
# This does not mutate the default value:
book1.author.name = "John"
book2 = Book.new
book2.author.name # => nilHowever the duplication is shallow. If you modify any objects that are referenced by the default value then it will affect subsequent default values:
class Author < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessor :useless_hash
default_value_for :useless_hash, { :foo => [] }
end
author1 = Author.new
author1.useless_hash # => { :foo => [] }
# This mutates the referred array:
author1.useless_hash[:foo] << 1
author2 = Author.new
author2.useless_hash # => { :foo => [1] }You can prevent this from happening by passing a block to default_value_for, which returns a new object instance with fresh references every time:
class Author < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessor :useless_hash
default_value_for :useless_hash do
{ :foo => [] }
end
end
author1 = Author.new
author1.useless_hash # => { :foo => [] }
author1.useless_hash[:foo] << 1
author2 = Author.new
author2.useless_hash # => { :foo => [] }A conflict can occur if your model class overrides the 'initialize' method, because this plugin overrides 'initialize' as well to do its job.
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
def initialize # <-- this constructor causes problems
super(:name => 'Name cannot be changed in constructor')
end
endWe recommend you to alias chain your initialize method in models where you use default_value_for:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
default_value_for :age, 20
def initialize_with_my_app
initialize_without_my_app(:name => 'Name cannot be changed in constructor')
end
alias_method_chain :initialize, :my_app
endAlso, stick with the following rules:
-
There is no need to +alias_method_chain+ your initialize method in models that don't use
default_value_for. -
Make sure that +alias_method_chain+ is called after the last
default_value_foroccurrence.
If your default value is accidentally similar to default_value_for's options hash wrap your default value like this:
default_value_for :attribute_name, :value => { :value => 123, :other_value => 1234 }You can also specify default values in the database schema. For example, you can specify a default value in a migration as follows:
create_table :users do |t|
t.string :username, :null => false, :default => 'default username'
t.integer :age, :null => false, :default => 20
endThis has similar effects as passing the default value as the second argument to default_value_for:
default_value_for(:username, 'default_username')
default_value_for(:age, 20)Default values are filled in whether you use the schema defaults or the default_value_for defaults:
user = User.new
user.username # => 'default username'
user.age # => 20It's recommended that you use this over default_value_for whenever possible.
However, it's not possible to specify a schema default for serialized columns. With default_value_for, you can:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
serialize :color
default_value_for :color, [255, 0, 0]
endAnd if schema defaults don't provide the flexibility that you need, then default_value_for is the perfect choice. For example, with default_value_for you could specify a per-environment default:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
if Rails.env ## "development"
default_value_for :is_admin, true
end
endOr, as you've seen in an earlier example, you can use default_value_for to generate a default random UUID:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
default_value_for :uuid do
UuidGenerator.new.generate_uuid
end
endOr you could use it to generate a timestamp that's relative to the time at which the record is instantiated:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
default_value_for :account_expires_at do
3.years.from_now
end
end
User.new.account_expires_at # => Mon Sep 22 18:43:42 +0200 2008
sleep(2)
User.new.account_expires_at # => Mon Sep 22 18:43:44 +0200 2008Finally, it's also possible to specify a default via an association:
# Has columns: 'name' and 'default_price'
class SuperMarket < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :products
end
# Has columns: 'name' and 'price'
class Product < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :super_market
default_value_for :price do |product|
product.super_market.default_price
end
end
super_market = SuperMarket.create(:name => 'Albert Zwijn', :default_price => 100)
soap = super_market.products.create(:name => 'Soap')
soap.price # => 100True, +before_validate+ and +before_save+ does what we want if we're only interested in filling in a default before saving. However, if one wants to be able to access the default value even before saving, then be prepared to write a lot of code. Suppose that we want to be able to access a new record's UUID, even before it's saved. We could end up with the following code:
# In the controller
def create
@user = User.new(params[:user])
@user.generate_uuid
email_report_to_admin("#{@user.username} with UUID #{@user.uuid} created.")
@user.save!
end
# Model
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
before_save :generate_uuid_if_necessary
def generate_uuid
self.uuid = ...
end
private
def generate_uuid_if_necessary
if uuid.blank?
generate_uuid
end
end
endThe need to manually call +generate_uuid+ here is ugly, and one can easily forget to do that. Can we do better? Let's see:
# Controller
def create
@user = User.new(params[:user])
email_report_to_admin("#{@user.username} with UUID #{@user.uuid} created.")
@user.save!
end
# Model
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
before_save :generate_uuid_if_necessary
def uuid
value = read_attribute('uuid')
if !value
value = generate_uuid
write_attribute('uuid', value)
end
value
end
# We need to override this too, otherwise User.new.attributes won't return
# a default UUID value. I've never tested with User.create() so maybe we
# need to override even more things.
def attributes
uuid
super
end
private
def generate_uuid_if_necessary
uuid # Reader method automatically generates UUID if it doesn't exist
end
endThat's an awful lot of code. Using default_value_for is easier, don't you think?
I've only been able to find 2 similar plugins:
-
Default Value: http://agilewebdevelopment.com/plugins/default_value
-
ActiveRecord Defaults: http://agilewebdevelopment.com/plugins/activerecord_defaults
'Default Value' appears to be unmaintained; its SVN link is broken. This leaves only 'ActiveRecord Defaults'. However, it is semantically dubious, which leaves it wide open for corner cases. For example, it is not clearly specified what ActiveRecord Defaults will do when attributes are protected by +attr_protected+ or +attr_accessible+. It is also not clearly specified what one is supposed to do if one needs a custom +initialize+ method in the model.
I've taken my time to thoroughly document default_value_for's behavior.
I've wanted such functionality for a while now and it baffled me that ActiveRecord doesn't provide a clean way for me to specify default values. After reading http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core/browse_thread/thread/b509a2fe2b62ac5/3e8243fa1954a935, it became clear that someone needs to write a plugin. This is the result.
Thanks to Pratik Naik for providing the initial code snippet on which this plugin is based on: http://m.onkey.org/2007/7/24/how-to-set-default-values-in-your-model
Thanks to Matthew Draper for Rails 5 support.
Thanks to Norman Clarke and Tom Mango for Rails 4 support.
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