Enterprise Rails

Refactor Steps

Refactoring to modules can be a big process. If you haven’t had modules in mind while developing your application, your list of classes may be messy. Two “big refactors” are detailed here. Step one is simply to get your physical classes (those derived from ActiveRecord::Base) into a single module. Step two is to detangle “utility” functions intended to be run with script/runner into their own classes, which belong in the Utility module.

High-Level Module Refactor

1. Create the directories physical, logical, and utility under the models directory.

2. Move all of your classes that descend from ActiveRecord::Base (likely all of them) into the models/physical directory.

3. Wrap each class with the following:

   module Physical
     # original code
   end

4. Create the directories physical and service under the controllers directory.

5. Move all of your classes that descend from ActionController::Base (likely all of them) into the controllers/physical directory.

6. For each class, repeat step 3.

7. Adjust all routes in routes.rb to take the module name into account:

   map.connect 'foo/:action/:id', :controller => 'physical/foo'

8. Make analogous changes in your test directory for unit and functional tests. Remember to repeat step 3 for each set of files.

Detangling Utility Methods

Utility methods are those that you never intend to be run while executing a user request. They are run exclusively via script/runner, either from the command line or through a crontab process. Often these methods will be mixed into your ActiveRecord ...