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Attributes

[RW] abstract_class

Set this to true if this is an abstract class (see abstract_class?). If you are using inheritance with Active Record and don't want a class to be considered as part of the STI hierarchy, you must set this to true. ApplicationRecord, for example, is generated as an abstract class.

Consider the following default behaviour:

Shape = Class.new(ActiveRecord::Base)
Polygon = Class.new(Shape)
Square = Class.new(Polygon)

Shape.table_name   # => "shapes"
Polygon.table_name # => "shapes"
Square.table_name  # => "shapes"
Shape.create!      # => #<Shape id: 1, type: nil>
Polygon.create!    # => #<Polygon id: 2, type: "Polygon">
Square.create!     # => #<Square id: 3, type: "Square">

However, when using abstract_class, Shape is omitted from the hierarchy:

class Shape < ActiveRecord::Base
  self.abstract_class = true
end
Polygon = Class.new(Shape)
Square = Class.new(Polygon)

Shape.table_name   # => nil
Polygon.table_name # => "polygons"
Square.table_name  # => "polygons"
Shape.create!      # => NotImplementedError: Shape is an abstract class and cannot be instantiated.
Polygon.create!    # => #<Polygon id: 1, type: nil>
Square.create!     # => #<Square id: 2, type: "Square">

Note that in the above example, to disallow the creation of a plain Polygon, you should use validates :type, presence: true, instead of setting it as an abstract class. This way, Polygon will stay in the hierarchy, and Active Record will continue to correctly derive the table name.

Instance Public methods

abstract_class?()

Returns whether this class is an abstract class or not.

Source: show | on GitHub 

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 163
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 ActiveRecord::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.

Source: show | on GitHub 

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 101
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

base_class?()

Returns whether the class is a base class. See base_class for more information.

Source: show | on GitHub 

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 115
def base_class?
  base_class == self
end

descends_from_active_record?()

Returns true if this does not need STI type condition. Returns false if STI type condition needs to be applied.

Source: show | on GitHub 

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 78
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

inherited(subclass)

Source: show | on GitHub 

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 205
def inherited(subclass)
  subclass.instance_variable_set(:@_type_candidates_cache, Concurrent::Map.new)
  super
end

new(attributes = nil, &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.

Source: show | on GitHub 

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 52
def new(attributes = nil, &block)
  if abstract_class? || self == Base
    raise NotImplementedError, "#{self} is an abstract class and cannot be instantiated."
  end

  if _has_attribute?(inheritance_column)
    subclass = subclass_from_attributes(attributes)

    if subclass.nil? && scope_attributes = current_scope&.scope_for_create
      subclass = subclass_from_attributes(scope_attributes)
    end

    if subclass.nil? && base_class?
      subclass = subclass_from_attributes(column_defaults)
    end
  end

  if subclass && subclass != self
    subclass.new(attributes, &block)
  else
    super
  end
end

polymorphic_class_for(name)

Returns the class for the provided name.

It is used to find the class correspondent to the value stored in the polymorphic type column.

Source: show | on GitHub 

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 197
def polymorphic_class_for(name)
  if store_full_class_name
    ActiveSupport::Dependencies.constantize(name)
  else
    compute_type(name)
  end
end

polymorphic_name()

Returns the value to be stored in the polymorphic type column for Polymorphic Associations.

Source: show | on GitHub 

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 190
def polymorphic_name
  store_full_class_name ? base_class.name : base_class.name.demodulize
end

sti_class_for(type_name)

Returns the class for the provided type_name.

It is used to find the class correspondent to the value stored in the inheritance column.

Source: show | on GitHub 

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 175
def sti_class_for(type_name)
  if store_full_sti_class && store_full_class_name
    ActiveSupport::Dependencies.constantize(type_name)
  else
    compute_type(type_name)
  end
rescue NameError
  raise SubclassNotFound,
    "The single-table inheritance mechanism failed to locate the subclass: '#{type_name}'. " \
    "This error is raised because the column '#{inheritance_column}' is reserved for storing the class in case of inheritance. " \
    "Please rename this column if you didn't intend it to be used for storing the inheritance class " \
    "or overwrite #{name}.inheritance_column to use another column for that information."
end

sti_name()

Returns the value to be stored in the inheritance column for STI.

Source: show | on GitHub 

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 168
def sti_name
  store_full_sti_class && store_full_class_name ? name : name.demodulize
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.

Source: show | on GitHub 

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/inheritance.rb, line 213
def compute_type(type_name)
  if type_name.start_with?("::")
    # 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
    type_candidate = @_type_candidates_cache[type_name]
    if type_candidate && type_constant = ActiveSupport::Dependencies.safe_constantize(type_candidate)
      return type_constant
    end

    # Build a list of candidates to search for
    candidates = []
    name.scan(/::|$/) { candidates.unshift "#{$`}::#{type_name}" }
    candidates << type_name

    candidates.each do |candidate|
      constant = ActiveSupport::Dependencies.safe_constantize(candidate)
      if candidate == constant.to_s
        @_type_candidates_cache[type_name] = candidate
        return constant
      end
    end

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