### Overview [![Build status](https://secure.travis-ci.org/troessner/transitions.png?branch=master)](http://travis-ci.org/troessner/transitions) [![Gem Version](https://badge.fury.io/rb/transitions.png)](http://badge.fury.io/rb/transitions) [![Code Climate](https://codeclimate.com/github/troessner/transitions.png)](https://codeclimate.com/github/troessner/transitions) ### Synopsis `transitions` is a ruby state machine implementation. ### Compatibility Supported ruby versions: * 1.9.3 * 2.0 `transitions` does not work with ruby 1.8.7 (see [this issue](https://github.com/troessner/transitions/issues/86) for example). ### Installation #### Rails This goes into your Gemfile: gem "transitions", :require => ["transitions", "active_model/transitions"] … and this into your ORM model: include ActiveModel::Transitions #### Standalone gem install transitions ### Using transitions class Product include ActiveModel::Transitions state_machine do state :available # first one is initial state state :out_of_stock, :exit => :exit_out_of_stock state :discontinued, :enter => lambda { |product| product.cancel_orders } event :discontinued do transitions :to => :discontinued, :from => [:available, :out_of_stock], :on_transition => :do_discontinue end event :out_of_stock, :success => :reorder do transitions :to => :out_of_stock, :from => [:available, :discontinued] end event :available do transitions :to => :available, :from => [:out_of_stock], :guard => lambda { |product| product.in_stock > 0 } end end end In this example we assume that you are in a rails project using Bundler, which would automatically require `transitions`. If this is not the case for you you have to add require 'transitions' wherever you load your dependencies in your application. **Known limitations:** * You can only use one state machine per model. While in theory you can define two or more, this won't work as you would expect. Not supporting this was intentional, if you're interested in the ratione look up version 0.1.0 in the CHANGELOG. * Use symbols, not strings for declaring the state machine. Using strings is **not** supported as is using whitespace in names (because `transitions` possibly generates methods out of this). ### Features #### Getting and setting the current state Use the (surprise ahead) `current_state` method - in case you didn't set a state explicitly you'll get back the state that you defined as initial state. >> Product.new.current_state => :available You can also set a new state explicitly via `update_current_state(new_state, persist = true / false)` but you should never do this unless you really know what you're doing and why - rather use events / state transitions (see below). Predicate methods are also available using the name of the state. >> Product.new.available? => true #### Events When you declare an event, say `discontinue`, three methods are declared for you: `discontinue`, `discontinue!` and `can_discontinue?`. The first two events will modify the `state` attribute on successful transition, but only the bang(!)-version will call `save!`. The `can_discontinue?` method will not modify state but instead returns a boolean letting you know if a given transition is possible. In addition, a `can_transition?` method is added to the object that expects one or more event names as arguments. This semi-verbose method name is used to avoid collission with [https://github.com/ryanb/cancan](the authorization gem CanCan). >> Product.new.can_transition? :out_of_stock => true If you need to get all available transitions for current state you can simply call: >> Product.new.available_transitions => [:discontinued, :out_of_stock] #### Automatic scope generation `transitions` will automatically generate scopes for you if you are using ActiveRecord and tell it to do so via the `auto_scopes` option: Given a model like this: class Order < ActiveRecord::Base include ActiveModel::Transitions state_machine :auto_scopes => true do state :pick_line_items state :picking_line_items event :move_cart do transitions to: :pick_line_items, from: :picking_line_items end end end you can use this feature a la: >> Order.pick_line_items => [] >> Order.create! => # >> Order.pick_line_items => [#] #### Using `guard` Each event definition takes an optional `guard` argument, which acts as a predicate for the transition. You can pass in Symbols, Strings, or Procs like this: event :discontinue do transitions :to => :discontinued, :from => [:available, :out_of_stock], :guard => :can_discontinue end or event :discontinue do transitions :to => :discontinued, :from => [:available, :out_of_stock], :guard => [:can_discontinue, :super_sure?] end Any arguments passed to the event method will be passed on to the `guard` predicate. #### Using `on_transition` Each event definition takes an optional `on_transition` argument, which allows you to execute methods on transition. You can pass in a Symbol, a String, a Proc or an Array containing method names as Symbol or String like this: event :discontinue do transitions :to => :discontinued, :from => [:available, :out_of_stock], :on_transition => [:do_discontinue, :notify_clerk] end Any arguments passed to the event method will be passed on to the `on_transition` callback. `on_transition` is called after `guard` and before `enter` on the state that it is transitioning to. #### Using `enter` and `exit` If you want to trigger a method call when the object enters or exits a state regardless of the transition that made that happen, use `enter` and `exit`. `exit` will be called before the transition out of the state is executed. If you want the method to only be called if the transition is successful, then use another approach. `enter` will be called after the transition has been made but before the object is persisted. If you want the method to only be called after a successful transition to a new state including persistence, use the `success` argument to an event instead. #### Using `success` In case you need to trigger a method call after a successful transition you can use `success`. This will be called after the `save!` is complete (if you use the `state_name!` method) and should be used for any methods that require that the object be persisted. event :discontinue, :success => :notfiy_admin do transitions :to => :discontinued, :from => [:available, :out_of_stock] end In addition to just specify the method name on the record as a symbol you can pass a lambda to perfom some more complex success callbacks: event :discontinue, :success => lambda { |order| AdminNotifier.notify_about_discontinued_order(order) } do transitions :to => :discontinued, :from => [:available, :out_of_stock] end If you need it, you can even call multiple methods or lambdas just passing an array: event :discontinue, :success => [:notify_admin, lambda { |order| AdminNotifier.notify_about_discontinued_order(order) }] do transitions :to => :discontinued, :from => [:available, :out_of_stock] end #### Timestamps If you'd like to note the time of a state change, Transitions comes with timestamps free! To activate them, simply pass the `timestamp` option to the event definition with a value of either true or the name of the timestamp column. *NOTE - This should be either true, a String or a Symbol* # This will look for an attribute called exploded_at or exploded_on (in that order) # If present, it will be updated event :explode, :timestamp => true do transitions :from => :complete, :to => :exploded end # This will look for an attribute named repaired_on to update upon save event :rebuild, :timestamp => :repaired_on do transitions :from => :exploded, :to => :rebuilt end #### Using `event_fired` and `event_failed` In case you define `event_fired` and / or `event_failed`, `transitions` will use those callbacks correspondingly. You can use those callbacks like this: def event_fired(current_state, new_state, event) MyLogger.info "Event fired #{event.inspect}" end def event_failed(event) MyLogger.warn "Event failed #{event.inspect}" end #### Listing all the available states and events You can easily get a listing of all available states: Order.available_states # Uses the default state machine # => [:pick_line_items, :picking_line_items] Same goes for the available events: Order.available_events # => [:move_cart] #### Explicitly setting the initial state with the `initial` option state_machine :initial => :closed do state :open state :closed end ### Configuring a different column name with ActiveRecord To use a different column than `state` to track it's value simply do this: class Product < ActiveRecord::Base include Transitions state_machine :attribute_name => :different_column do ... end end ### Known bugs / limitations * Right now it seems like `transitions` does not play well with `mongoid`. A possible fix had to be rolled back due to other side effects: https://github.com/troessner/transitions/issues/76. Since I know virtually zero about mongoid, a pull request would be highly appreciated. * Multiple state machines are and will not be supported. For the rationale behind this see the Changelog. ### Documentation, Guides & Examples * [Online API Documentation](http://rdoc.info/github/troessner/transitions/master/Transitions) * [Railscasts #392: A Tour of State Machines](http://railscasts.com/episodes/392-a-tour-of-state-machines) (requires Pro subscription) ### Copyright Copyright (c) 2010 Jakub Kuźma, Timo Rößner. See LICENSE for details.