= CurlyMustache

ActiveModel implementation for various data stores.  In other words, it provides an ActiveRecord like library for data stores other than relational databases.  Out of the box, it works with Memcached, Redis, Tokyo Tyrant, Cassandra and Amazon SDB.

http://github.com/cjbottaro/curly_mustache

== Installation

 sudo gem install curly_mustache

CurlyMustache depends on activemodel-3.0.0beta1 and activesupport-3.0.0beta1 which are unfortunately in a state of great flux and are thus very buggy.  I'm hosting patched versions that are known to work with CurlyMustache here:

{activesupport-3.0.0beta1}[http://dl.dropbox.com/u/167916/stochasticbytes/activesupport-3.0.0.beta1.gem]

{activemodel-3.0.0beta1}[http://dl.dropbox.com/u/167916/stochasticbytes/activemodel-3.0.0.beta1.gem]

== Features

* Basic ActiveRecord-like CRUD operations (new, create, destroy, find, save).
* Validations (via ActiveModel).
* Callbacks (via ActiveModel).
* Attribute change tracking (via ActiveModel::Dirty).
* Easy creation of new types.
* Easy creation of new adapters (to connect to different data stores).
* 100% rcov(erage)!

== Quickstart

If your data store speaks Memcached, then you just need to use the <tt>:memcached</tt> adapter.

  CurlyMustache::Base.establish_connection :adapter => :memcached,
                                           :servers => %w[one.example.com:11211 two.example.com:11211]
                                           
  class User < CurlyMustache::Base
    attribute :name,          :string
    attribute :login_count,   :integer
    attribute :birthday,      :time
    
    validates_presence_of :name
    after_validation :capitalize_name
    
    def capitalize_name
      self.name = name.capitalize
    end
  end
  
  user = User.new :name => "chris"
  user.new_record?                      # => true
  user.id                               # => nil
  user.name                             # => "chris"
  user.birthday                         # => nil
  user.birthday = "03/11/1980"
  user.birthday_changed?                # => true
  user.birthday.class                   # => Time
  user.birthday                         # => "Tue Mar 11 00:00:00 -0600 1980"
  user.save!
  user.id                               # => "676cef021584904876af7c4b3e42afb5"
  
  user = User.find(user.id)
  user.name                             # => "Chris"
  
  user.destroy
  User.find(user.id)                    # => CurlyMustache::RecordNotFound
end

The +memcache+ adapter uses memcache-client[http://github.com/mperham/memcache-client].  Whatever other options you pass to +establish_connection+ will be passed to the constructor for it.

== Types

Five types are defined for you:  <tt>string</tt>, <tt>integer</tt>, <tt>float</tt>, <tt>time</tt>, <tt>boolean</tt>.  It is easy to define new types or modify existing ones.  See {Read more}[link:/classes/CurlyMustache/Attributes/Types.html]

== Callbacks

The following callbacks are available:
 before_validation_on_create    after_validation_on_create
 before_validation_on_update    after_validation_on_update
 before_validation              after_validation
 before_create                  after_create
 before_update                  after_update
 before_save                    after_save
 before_destroy                 after_destroy
                                after_find

== Adapters

You can use the {Memcached adapter}[link:/classes/CurlyMustache/Adapters/Memcached.html] with any data stores that speak memcached.  There is also the {Cassandra adapter}[link:/classes/CurlyMustache/Adapters/Cassandra.html] and soon to be SDB adapter and Tokyo Tyrant table type adapter.

You can create your own adapters by subclassing CurlyMustache::Adapters::Abstract and implementing a few methods.

== Serializing

If you need to serialize your model's attributes before sending them to the adapter, it's done by overriding {send_attributes}[link:/classes/CurlyMustache/Connection/InstanceMethods.html#M000078].  For deserialization, override {recv_attributes}[/classes/CurlyMustache/Connection/InstanceMethods.html#M000079].

This is how data flows in and out of the data store...

 ---------------------     --------------------------     ---------------      --------------
 | record.attributes | ==> | record.send_attributes | ==> | adapter.put |  ==> | data store |
 ---------------------     --------------------------     ---------------      --------------

 ---------------------     --------------------------     ---------------      --------------
 | record.attributes | <== | record.recv_attributes | <== | adapter.get |  <== | data store |
 ---------------------     --------------------------     ---------------      --------------


== Author
Christopher J. Bottaro - {cjbottaro}[http://github.com/cjbottaro]