= CacheableFlash

== Description

This plugin enables greater levels of page caching by rendering flash
messages from a cookie using JavaScript, instead of in your Rails
view template.  Flash contents are converted to JSON and placed in
a cookie by an after_filter in a controller.

== Installation as plugin

ruby script/plugin install git://github.com/pivotal/cacheable-flash.git

== Installation as gem

gem install 'cacheable_flash'

add to your Gemfile:
gem 'cacheable_flash'

== Setup

=== Without asset pipeline, or pre-Rails 3.1:

First copy the JS assets into your app:
  rails generate cacheable_flash:install

CacheableFlash adds its javascript dependencies as a Rails 3 javascript 'expansion',
which are only used if you are NOT using the asset pipeline (apparently?).

So if you have config.assets.enabled = false in application.rb then in your layout:
  javascript_include_tag :cacheable_flash

Otherwise, in your layout, just source them like normal:
  javascript_include_tag 'flash', 'jquery.cookie'

=== With asset pipeline (requires Rails 3.1)

The asset pipeline should have access to the assets in this gem via your app/assets/javascripts/application.js:
  //= require flash
  //= require jquery.cookie

== Mailing List

http://groups.google.com/group/PivotalLabsOpenSource

== Bug/Feature Tracker

https://github.com/pivotal/cacheable-flash/issues

== Wiki

Please help document!

https://github.com/pivotal/cacheable-flash/wiki

=== Usage

To use, include the CacheableFlash module in your controller.
It's all or none on the actions in your controller, so you can't
mix JS and HTML display of your flash message in a controller.
No other modifications to the controller are needed.  You will need
to add divs and some javascript to your view or layout templates
to render the flash in the browser.

Note that the cookie holding the flash messages is removed as the
page is displayed, so a refresh will clear the flash message (just
as happens normally).

=== Example Controller

class MyController < ActionController::Base
  include CacheableFlash
  # ...
end

=== Example Template Markup

  <div id="error_div_id" class="flash flash_error"></div>
  <div id="notice_div_id" class="flash flash_notice"></div>
  <script type="text/javascript">
    Flash.transferFromCookies();
    Flash.writeDataTo('error', $('#error_div_id'));
    Flash.writeDataTo('notice', $('#notice_div_id'));
  </script>

== Testing
You can test your flash cookies by making assertions on the json of the "flash" cookie.
Cacheable Flash provides test helpers which includes the flash_cookie method.

=== Test::Unit Example
  require "cacheable_flash/test_helpers"

  class TestController < ActionController::Base
    def index
      flash["notice"] = "In index"
    end
  end

  class ControllerTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
    include CacheableFlash::TestHelpers

    def setup
      @controller = TestController.new
      @request = ActionController::TestRequest.new
      @response = ActionController::TestResponse.new
    end

    def test_cacheable_flash_action
      get :index
      asset_equal "In index", flash_cookie["notice"]
    end
  end

=== Rspec Example
  require "cacheable_flash/test_helpers"

  class TestController < ActionController::Base
    def index
      flash["notice"] = "In index"
    end
  end

  describe TestController, "#index" do
    include CacheableFlash::TestHelpers
    
    it "writes to the flash cookie" do
      get :index
      flash_cookie["notice"].should == "In index"
    end
  end

== Contributing to cacheable-flash

* Check out the latest master to make sure the feature hasn't been implemented or the bug hasn't been fixed yet
* Check out the issue tracker to make sure someone already hasn't requested it and/or contributed it
* Fork the project
* Start a feature/bugfix branch
* Commit and push until you are happy with your contribution
* Make sure to add tests for it. This is important so I don't break it in a future version unintentionally.
* Please try not to mess with the Rakefile, version, or history. If you want to have your own version, or is otherwise necessary, that is fine, but please isolate to its own commit so I can cherry-pick around it.

== Copyright

Licensed under the MIT License.

- Copyright (c) 2011-2012 Peter H. Boling (http://peterboling.com). See LICENSE.txt for further details.
- Copyright (c) 2007-2010 Pivotal Labs