Attributarchy

An attribute-driven hierarchy builder for Rails views.

The Idea

You do this:

1. Configure a hierarchy (or hierarchies) of attributes
2. Create partials for each attribute
3. Feed this duo some data

And you get this:

Dynamic, hierarchical views that allow you to easily dish out an array of layouts, styles, and behavior. All as simple or complex as you'd like.

Usage

In your Gemfile:

  gem 'attributarchy'

In your controller:

  include Attributarchy

  has_attributarchy \
    #----------#
    # Required #
    #----------#
      # Name it, as you can define multiple
      :name,
      # Specify an array of attributes that constitute the (?:attribut|hier)archy
      as: [:attribute, ...],
    #----------#
    # Optional #
    #----------#
      # Specify an additional lookup path (as a string) or paths (as an array)
      in: %w[this_path that_path],
      # Specify an attribute (as a symbol) or attributes (as an array) that will
      # only be used for grouping -- not rendering
      without_rendering: [:a_no_show]

In your controller's corresponding view directory (or another location configured via :in):

Define a partial for all rendering attributes. The locals provided to these are:

1. group_data -- The data set of the grouped-by attribute
2. group_value -- The name of the grouped-by attribute
3. group_level -- An integer representing the position of the grouping within the hierarchy

And, finally, in your view:

  build_attributarchy(:name, data_set)

Working With Engines

My knowledge is limited here, but to get this working in an engine you must specify a full lookup path, e.g.:

  in: "#{YourEngine::Engine.root}/app/views/your_engine/..."

I believe this is the only way to do this short of converting the gem to a rail tie, but I'm not positive. Besides, I don't want Attributarchy included in every controller anyway — it seems quite specialized.

Examples

To see a simple example, start the dummy rails app and hit its root.