Where to keep static arrays of data

Rails
1

Hello,

I was wondering if there is a right way to keep some static arrays of
data inside the application. I want to be able to access them
globally. (it’s not for setting vars, just simple arrays, i.e. [‘ICQ’,
‘AIM’, ‘GTALK’] etc). Also I don’t wan’t to use a database for that,
need a hardcoded option.

Read o the forum, that some people use environment.rb, but wasn’t sure
about that. I would like to have a separate file for each array of
data, but what is the best practise for that? Just create rb files in
a separate folder?

2

Hi,

On Thu, 2009-11-05 at 17:55 -0800, Zovar wrote:

Hello,

I was wondering if there is a right way to keep some
static arrays of data inside the application.

I’d consider storing them in the models to which they relate. If they
need their own models, that’s easy too. The models don’t have to
inherit from ActiveRecord.

HTH,
Bill

3

bill walton wrote:

Hi,

On Thu, 2009-11-05 at 17:55 -0800, Zovar wrote:

Hello,

I was wondering if there is a right way to keep some
static arrays of data inside the application.

I’d consider storing them in the models to which they relate. If they
need their own models, that’s easy too. The models don’t have to
inherit from ActiveRecord.

I’m about to try something kind of similar. I’m going to be
experimenting with storing state and country info outside the DB, since
it’s static and relatively small. I hope to use one of the tableless AR
libraries to make the data act like an AR model, though. Perhaps I’ll
find out why no one does this… :slight_smile:

HTH,
Bill

Best,

Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
[email protected]

4

On Fri, 2009-11-06 at 03:11 +0100, Marnen Laibow-Koser wrote:

need their own models, that’s easy too. The models don’t have to
inherit from ActiveRecord.

I’m about to try something kind of similar. I’m going to be
experimenting with storing state and country info outside the DB, since
it’s static and relatively small. I hope to use one of the tableless AR
libraries to make the data act like an AR model, though. Perhaps I’ll
find out why no one does this… :slight_smile:

I wouldn’t say that no one does this… and note to the OP, I use
app/helpers/application_helper.rb so these constants are available
anywhere in the appliction

$ cat /app/helpers/application_helper.rb

Methods added to this helper will be available to all templates in the

application.
module
ApplicationHelper

Select List of Yes / No

YES_NO = [
[ “Yes”, true ],
[ “No”, false ]
].freeze unless defined? YES_NO

acl

SECURITY_LEVEL = {
“payables_write_checks” => 14,
“payables_accept_checks” => 14,
“payables_print_checks” => 14,
“payables_print_the_checks” => 14,
“reports_inventory_reports_view” => 3,
“reports_price_list_w_costs” => 5,
“reports_price_list_w_costs_export” => 5,
“reports_price_list_wo_costs” => 4,
“reports_price_list_wo_costs_export” => 4,
“reports_payable_reports_view” => 6,
“reports_commissions_print” => 8,
“reports_commissions_export” => 8,
“reports_tax_reports_view” => 12,
“reports_state_taxes_print” => 8,
“reports_state_taxes_export” => 8,
“reports_sco_taxes_print” => 8,
“reports_mes_taxes_print” => 8,
“reports_phx_taxes_print” => 8,
“reports_peo_taxes_print” => 8,
“reports_sco_taxes_export” => 8,
“reports_mes_taxes_export” => 8,
“reports_phx_taxes_export” => 8,
“reports_peo_taxes_export” => 8,
“reports_receivable_reports_view” => 8,
“reports_customers_all_print” => 8,
“reports_customers_all_export” => 8,
“reports_customers_by_salesman_print” => 8,
“reports_customers_by_salesman_export” => 8,
“reports_customer_codes” => 8,
“reports_branch_codes” => 8,
“users_list” => 14
}.freeze unless defined? SECURITY_LEVEL

Craig

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5

Thanks for you replies.

I would be very grateful if you could give me an example of how to
store it in the model… Should I create local collection, or define a
method for it? Also how would I access this data from a controller?

6

Hi Zovar

 You can do it different ways.one method is create a file say

global_data.rb in the folder config/initializers Then define these
array there.You can also define also a module there like

in global_data.rb

module GlobalData
my_array = [‘ICQ’,‘AIM’, ‘GTALK’]
end

 Now you can access this from anywhere in your application like

GlobalData::my_array

   If you want you can freeze this also like

module GlobalData
my_array = [‘ICQ’,‘AIM’, ‘GTALK’]
end
GlobalData.freeze

Or if you want global variables(Please avoid its use as far as possible)
you can do like inside this same file global_data.rb

$my_array = [‘ICQ’,‘AIM’, ‘GTALK’]

  So from anywhere you can access it like $my_array

      You can also think of defining my_array above as constant if

needed

Sijo

7

On Nov 5, 8:55 pm, Zovar [email protected] wrote:

data, but what is the best practise for that? Just create rb files in
a separate folder?

Some good solutions here already, but one that I didn’t see mentioned
was YAML. It’s overkill for storing a small number of things, but can
be handy if you need a big hash table.

Basically, you have a regular YAML file (call it config/
foo_lookup.yml, for instance) and then do this in a model:

class SomeModel < AR::Base
FOO_LOOKUP = YAML::load_file(File.join(RAILS_ROOT, ‘config’,
‘foo_lookup.yml’))
end

Then you can use it pretty much anywhere as SomeModel::FOO_LOOKUP.
Note that since it runs at the class level, it will only get loaded
once in production.

The other (small) nice thing with this setup is that it keeps changes
to the constants apart from the model - handy if you’re ever poring
over source control logs…

–Matt J.

8

Thanks a lot!

9

Matt J. wrote:

On Nov 5, 8:55�pm, Zovar [email protected] wrote:

data, but what is the best practise for that? Just create rb files in
a separate folder?

Some good solutions here already, but one that I didn’t see mentioned
was YAML.
[…]

Yup. That’s what I’ll be using.

Best,

Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
[email protected]

10

Hi,

Just a question regarding the following code

class SomeModel < AR::Base
FOO_LOOKUP = YAML::load_file(File.join(RAILS_ROOT, ‘config’,
‘foo_lookup.yml’))
end

Why should the model inherit from ActiveRecord::Base ?
Would the array be loaded only once if such a class was in the lib
(without AR inheritance) instead of app/models (which may require the
inheritance) ?

Thanks for your help
I’m quite interested in keeping static arrays like that in memory but
having YAML files constantly being read and structures filled would
ruin all targeted performance gain.