DottedLine¶ ↑

A plugin for ActiveRecord that tracks who is responsible for a change, and what they changed. Similar to other versioning or audit trail libraries like paper_trail, acts_as_versioned and acts_as_revisionable.

DottedLine’s focus is on keeping thorough, redundant signatures for changes that are independent of database id columns. DottedLine only records changes, it doesn’t allow changes to be restored.

Installation¶ ↑

1. Install DottedLine as a plugin (gem version coming soon):

   script/plugin install [email protected]:bowsersenior/dotted_line.git

2. Run the generator to create the migration file for the signatures table:

   script/generate dotted_line

3. Run the migration:

   rake db:migrate
   

How do I start signing on the dotted line?¶ ↑

In your model, just use signs_on_the_dotted_line like so:

class Message < ActiveRecord::Base
  signs_on_the_dotted_line
  ...

You can also specify which associations to track, using the :for option, and specify one or more actions that require an explanation:

class Exam < ActiveRecord::Base
  signs_on_the_dotted_line  :for => :grade,                   # one or more association names
                            :require_explanation_for => :all  # see below for options
  ...

:require_explanation_for accepts :all, :none, or one or more action names (can be any string or symbol)

Here’s one more example:

class VeryBindingLegalAgreement < ActiveRecord::Base
  signs_on_the_dotted_line :for => :agreed_terms, 
                           :require_explanation_for => ['deny', 'modify'], 
                           :default_action => 'submit'
  ...

All the work above will get you… …ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

DottedLine doesn’t do anything unless you use the sign method in your controller BEFORE you create or update a record. When calling the sign method, you must also provide the :signer option, which is usually the current_user, but can be pretty much anything that has a to_s method defined on it.

class ExamsController < ApplicationController
  def update
    ...
    @exam.sign :action => :submit, :signer => current_user   
    # nothing is saved here, but @exam is now marked to have a signature recorded once it is saved

    if @exam.save
      # a signature was created if save was successful
      flash[:notice] = "Success!"
    ...

But what about the :require_explanation_for option? To use that, we would just add a line before the save method:

class ExamsController < ApplicationController
  def update
    ...
    @exam.sign :signer => current_user  # no :action set, so :default_action will be used

    if @exam.explanation_from_signer_required_for(:update) && params[:explanation].blank?
      flash[:error] = "Must provide an explanation to do an update!"
      ...
    elsif @exam.save
      # a signature was created if save was successful
      flash[:notice] = "Success!"
    ...

Basically, it’s up to you to use DottedLine the way you want in your controller. The idea is that it is smart enough to stay out of your way unless you explicitly call it, instead of working magically and mysteriously behind the scenes. This way, you can be sure that the recorded signatures are authoritative and reliable.

How signatures are stored¶ ↑

Each signature stores the name of the signer, a brief description of the record that was affected by the change, and a text description that records every aspect of the change (that DottedLine was set to track). The text description includes changes to attributes and associations specified in the :for option. The explanation is also stored. Primary keys and foreign keys of affected records and associations are also stored, but these are not meant to be relied upon. In case a record is deleted, or a value changes, the text fields stored in the signature will preserve exactly the state of affairs when the change was made.

#TODO: Examples of stored signatures

License¶ ↑

DottedLine is released under the MIT license