dm-is-tree

= dm-is-tree

DataMapper plugin enabling easy creation of tree structures from your DM models.

This requires a foreign key property for your model, which by default would be called :parent_id.

== Installation

=== Stable

Install the dm-is-tree gem.

$ (sudo)? gem install dm-is-tree

=== Edge

Download or clone dm-is-versioned from Github[http://github.com/datamapper/dm-is-tree/].

$ cd /path/to/dm-is-tree

$ rake install # will install dm-is-tree

== Getting started

To start using this gem, just...

require 'dm-is-tree'

Lets say we have a Category model...

class Category include DataMapper::Resource property :id, Serial property :name, String end

...and we want to have a tree structure within it, something like this:

the_parent +- child +- grandchild1 +- grandchild2

To achieve this we just add the following to the model:

class Category <snip...>

is :tree, :order => :name

end

No need to define the :parent_id property, it will be added automatically

property :parent_id, Integer

This will automatically add the following to your model:

=== Instance Methods

• #parent / #parent=
• #children / #children=
• #siblings
• #generation
• #ancestors
  • also aliased as #self_and_siblings for those used to AR's :acts_as_tree
• #root
  • also aliased as #first_root for those used to AR's :acts_as_tree

=== Class Methods

• #first_root
• #roots

== Configuration Options

Before we go onto the usage examples, a few quick words about configuration options available:

=== :child_key

Specifies the column name to use for tracking of the tree (default: #parent_id).

class Category <snip...>

is :tree, :child_key => :some_other_foreign_key_id

end

=== :model

Specifies the name of the Model to use for the tree (default: Model class name defined in)

class Category <snip...>

is :tree, :model => 'SomeStrangeModelName'

end

=== :order [Optional]

Specifies the sort order of the children when retrieving them (default: not present)

class Category <snip...>

is :tree, :order => [:updated_at, :name]

end

== Usage

To create the above structure, we would start with:

the_parent = Category.create(:name => "the_parent")

=== #parent & #parent=

The #parent instance method returns the node referenced by the foreign key - :parent_id or the defined :child_key.

by default #parent and #parent_id return nil when there is no parent

the_parent.parent # => nil

The #parent= instance method sets the :parent_id foreign key to the parent's id attribute value.

To define a parent you can use either of these syntaxes:

a_child = Category.create(:name => "a_child", :parent => the_parent)

a_child = Category.create(:name => "a_child", :parent_id => the_parent.id)

a_child = Category.create(:name => "a_child") a_child.parent = the_parent

When retrieving the parent, you will receive the full parent object ( or nil if none was declared )

a_child.parent # => the_parent

=== #children & #children=

The #children instance method returns all nodes with the current node as their parent, in the order specified by the :order configuration option.

by default #children return an empty Array when there are no children

a_child.children # => []

or an Array with child objects when there are children

the_parent.children # => [a_child]

The #children= instance method adds children by setting the :parent_id foreign key to the parent's id attribute value.

To add a child you can use either of these syntaxes:

child = the_parent.children.create(:name => "child")

grandchild1 = Category.create(:name => "grandchild1") child.children << grandchild1

grandchild2 = child.children.create(:name => "grandchild2")

When retrieving children, or a child, you will receive an Array of child objects.

child.children # => [grandchild1, grandchild2,...]

just retrieve the first child

child.children.first # => grandchild1

=== #siblings

The #siblings instance method returns all the children of the parent, excluding the current node.

by default #siblings return an empty Array when there are no siblings

the_parent.siblings # => []

grandchild1.siblings # => [grandchild2]

=== #generation

The #generation instance method returns all the children of the parent, including the current node.

by default #generation return an Array with itself only when it's a 'lonely child'

the_parent.generation # => [the_parent]

grandchild1.generation # => [grandchild1, grandchild2]

=== #ancestors

The #ancestors instance method returns all the ancestors of the current node.

by default it returns an empty Array when born through immaculate conception (is root)

the_parent.ancestors # => []

grandchild2.ancestors # => [the_parent, a_child]

=== #root

The #root instance method returns the root (parent) of the current node.

by default returns itself only when it's the root node

the_parent.root # => the_parent

a_child.root # => the_parent

grandchild2.root # => the_parent

=== self.#first_root

The #first_root class method returns the first root declared in the model.

Category.first_root # => the_parent

=== self.#roots

The #roots class method returns an Array of the roots declared in the model.

Category.roots # => [the_parent]

parent2 = Category.create(:name => 'parent2')

Category.roots # => [the_parent, parent2]

=== Summary

parent = Category.create(:name => "parent")

child = parent.children.create(:name => "child")

grandchild1 = child.children.create(:name => "grandchild1")

grandchild2 = Category.create(:name => "grandchild2") child.children << grandchild2

grandchild3 = Category.create(:name => "grandchild2") grandchild3.parent = child

parent.parent # => nil child.parent # => parent

parent.children # => [child] parent.children.first.children.first # => grandchild1

parent.siblings # => [] grandchild1.siblings # => [grandchild2]

parent.generation # => [parent] grandchild1.generation # => [grandchild1, grandchild2]

parent.ancestors # => [] grandchild2.ancestors # => [parent, child]

parent.root # => parent parent.root # => parent grandchild2.root # => parent

Category.first_root # => parent Category.roots # => [parent]

== Gotchas

Now there are some gotcha's that might not be entirely obvious to everyone, so let's clarify them here.

=== Prevent a node being made a child of it self

By default dm-is-tree allows you to save a record as a child of it self, which is quite unnatural. To prevent this, I would humbly suggest adding this custom validation code to your model(s).

class Category <snip...>

# prevent saving Category as child of self, except when new?
validates_with_method :parent_id,
                      :method => :category_cannot_be_made_a_child_of_self,
                      :unless => :new?

protected

  def category_cannot_be_made_a_child_of_self
    if self.id === self.parent_id
      return [
        false,
        "A Category [ #{self.name} ] cannot be made a child of it self [ #{self.name} ]"
      ]
    else
      return true
    end
  end

end

An example:

parent = Category.create(:name => "parent") child = parent.children.create(:name => 'child')

child.parent = child

child.save # => return false

child.errors.on(:parent_id) # => ["A Category [ child ] cannot be made a child of it self [ child ]"]

=== Sorting order within nodes

By default the sorting order is alphabetic, but this spans the entire table (with all nodes), which might not be what you want.

To prevent this, order the results by :parent_id first, and secondly by :name or whatever you wish to sort by.

class Category <snip...>

is :tree, :order => [:parent_id, :name]

end

That's about it.

== Errors / Bugs

If something is not behaving intuitively, it is a bug, and should be reported. Report it here: http://datamapper.lighthouseapp.com/

== TODOs

• Make it automatically prevent saving self as child of self.
• Anything else missing?

== Note on Patches/Pull Requests

• Fork the project.
• Make your feature addition or bug fix.
• Add tests for it. This is important so we don't break it in a future version unintentionally.
• Commit, do not mess with rakefile, version, or history.
  • (if you want to have your own version, that is fine but bump version in a commit by itself we can ignore when we pull)
• Send us a pull request. Bonus points for topic branches.

== Copyright

Copyright (c) 2011 Timothy Bennett. Released under the MIT License.

See LICENSE for details.

=== Credits

Credit also goes to these contributors[http://github.com/datamapper/dm-is-tree/contributors].

Current Maintainer: Garrett Heaver (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/garrett/heaver)