sort_this

SortThis

SortThis provides a way to sort.

The controller/view code is based off of railscasts episode 228 - Sortable Table Columns.

Here is an example app that demonstrates the usage.

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'sort_this'

And then execute:

$ bundle

Usage

Model

Add a call to the sortable method with a hash of sorts

class YourModel < ActiveRecord::Base
  
  sort_this :sort_name => {:column_name => :name, :default => 'ASC', :table_name => 'some_other_table_name', :joins => :association, :clause => "some.clause"}
  
end

The options are

sort_name: Is the name of the sort, this in most cases will be the same as the column_name, but can be anything

Sort Options:

  column_name: (Optional) The name of the column to sort on. If left blank it will use the sort name.
  default:     (Optional) Defines a default sort if provided. The valid options are 'ASC' or 'DESC'.
  table_name:  (Optional) Overrides the table name used, should usually be used in coordination with joins.
  joins:       (Optional) Defines an association to join on, this should be provided if the column is in another table. ** Requires table name to be set. **
                          This is what you would usually pass into a joins or includes clause for ActiveRecord.
  clause:      (Optional) Overrides the clause used for the sort.
  

Then to sort

YourModel.sort("sort_name", "asc|desc|ASC|DESC") => sorted list of YourModel objects

Controller

In you controller define a default sort

class SomeController < ApplicationController
  sortable "sort_name"
  
  def index
    SomeModel.sort(sort_column, sort_direction)
  end
end

In Views

sortable(sort_name, title = nil, html_options = {})

<%= sortable("sort_name") %>

or custom title

<%= sortable("sort_name", "Sort Different Name") %>

TODO:

Defined Highest to Lowest priority

• Options on the sortable controller options

  • Limiting which actions it can be applied on
  • Allowing different types of sorts for different actions (defining multiple sortables)
  • Customized sort parameters

• Being able to define multiple column sorts

  Something like:
  sort_this :some_crazy_sort => {
    [
      {:column_name => :some_column, other options},
      ...
    ] 
  }
  
  not sure how that'd be called though...
  

• Throw error when the table_name option is not set and joins is set.

• Define a default scope and remove from the sort method, gives more control to developer.

• Define scopes for each sort defined (individual sort scopes)

Contributing

1. Fork it
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add some feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
5. Create new Pull Request