MethodCache

A Rails (v2.1.0) plugin that tries to solve the problem of having to call a method repetitively. That method is expensive to be recalculated everytime. The solution is to cache the method results and we've always done that by caching a method's result in instance variables.

method_cache plugin frees you from the trouble of worrying about writing caching code and introduces a couple of utility methods in ActiveRecord objects that make your life easier.

In its current form, the plugin provides the following extensions to ActiveRecord Objects

caches_method :method_name caches_class_method :method_name and for expiring the cache instance.expire_method :method_name Class.expire_instance_method :method_name, id Class.expire_class_method :method_name

Introducing the plugin blog entry

http://humanzz.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!82322F9506CB0449!713.entry

Setup

ruby script/plugin install git://github.com/humanzz/method_cache.git

Examples

For caching instance methods

class User < ActiveRecord::Base def costy_method #some real heavy calculation that takes alot of resources #to complete #this method is called regularly and its results rarely change end caches_method :costy_method end

class User < ActiveRecord::Base def costy_method #some real heavy calculation that takes alot of resources #to complete #this method is called regularly and its results rarely change end caches_method :costy_method, :for => 20.minutes end

class User < ActiveRecord::Base def costy_method #some real heavy calculation that takes alot of resources #to complete #this method is called regularly and its results rarely change end caches_method :costy_method, :until => :midnight end

:until also accepts Time and date objects but I'm considering removing until or have it support things like :midnight because otherwise it would cause errors after the specified date or time have passed.

To expire cached instance methods @user.expire_method :costy_method User.expire_instance_method :costy_method, user_id

For caching class methods

class User < ActiveRecord::Base def self.costy_class_method #some real heavy calculation that takes alot of resources #to complete #this method is called regularly and its results rarely change end caches_class_method :costy_class_method end

caches_class_method also supports the :for and :until options

To expire class methods User.expire_class_method :costy_class_method

Test

rake test:plugins DB=sqlite3 Copyright (c) 2008 humanzz (Ahmed Sobhi), released under the MIT license