Methods
A
B
C
D
N
S
Attributes
[RW] abstract_class

Set this to true if this is an abstract class (see abstract_class?). If you are using inheritance with ActiveRecord and don't want child classes to utilize the implied STI table name of the parent class, this will need to be true. For example, given the following:

class SuperClass < ActiveRecord::Base
  self.abstract_class = true
end
class Child < SuperClass
  self.table_name = 'the_table_i_really_want'
end

self.abstract_class = true is required to make Child<.find,.create, or any Arel method> use the_table_i_really_want instead of a table called super_classes

Instance Public methods
abstract_class?()

Returns whether this class is an abstract class or not.

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 96
def abstract_class?
  defined?(@abstract_class) && @abstract_class == true
end
base_class()

Returns the class descending directly from ActiveRecord::Base, or an abstract class, if any, in the inheritance hierarchy.

If A extends AR::Base, A.base_class will return A. If B descends from A through some arbitrarily deep hierarchy, B.base_class will return A.

If B < A and C < B and if A is an #abstract_class then both B.base_class and C.base_class would return B as the answer since A is an abstract_class.

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 66
def base_class
  unless self < Base
    raise ActiveRecordError, "#{name} doesn't belong in a hierarchy descending from ActiveRecord"
  end

  if superclass == Base || superclass.abstract_class?
    self
  else
    superclass.base_class
  end
end
descends_from_active_record?()

True if this isn't a concrete subclass needing a STI type condition.

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 35
def descends_from_active_record?
  if self == Base
    false
  elsif superclass.abstract_class?
    superclass.descends_from_active_record?
  else
    superclass == Base || !columns_hash.include?(inheritance_column)
  end
end
new(*args, &block)

Determines if one of the attributes passed in is the inheritance column, and if the inheritance column is attr accessible, it initializes an instance of the given subclass instead of the base class

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 17
def new(*args, &block)
  if abstract_class? || self == Base
    raise NotImplementedError, "#{self} is an abstract class and can not be instantiated."
  end

  attrs = args.first
  if subclass_from_attributes?(attrs)
    subclass = subclass_from_attributes(attrs)
  end

  if subclass
    subclass.new(*args, &block)
  else
    super
  end
end
sti_name()
# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 100
def sti_name
  store_full_sti_class ? name : name.demodulize
end
symbolized_base_class()
# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 50
def symbolized_base_class
  @symbolized_base_class ||= base_class.to_s.to_sym
end
symbolized_sti_name()
# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 54
def symbolized_sti_name
  @symbolized_sti_name ||= sti_name.present? ? sti_name.to_sym : symbolized_base_class
end
Instance Protected methods
compute_type(type_name)

Returns the class type of the record using the current module as a prefix. So descendants of MyApp::Business::Account would appear as MyApp::Business::AccountSubclass.

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 108
def compute_type(type_name)
  if type_name.match(/^::/)
    # If the type is prefixed with a scope operator then we assume that
    # the type_name is an absolute reference.
    ActiveSupport::Dependencies.constantize(type_name)
  else
    # Build a list of candidates to search for
    candidates = []
    name.scan(/::|$/) { candidates.unshift "#{$`}::#{type_name}" }
    candidates << type_name

    candidates.each do |candidate|
      begin
        constant = ActiveSupport::Dependencies.constantize(candidate)
        return constant if candidate == constant.to_s
      rescue NameError => e
        # We don't want to swallow NoMethodError < NameError errors
        raise e unless e.instance_of?(NameError)
      end
    end

    raise NameError, "uninitialized constant #{candidates.first}"
  end
end