README

BeTaggable

BeTaggable is a lean mean little tagging machine.

• Weights in at 67 lines, this plugin is 1/10th the size of acts_as_taggable gem (2.0.2).
• Tag any models you want, no need to create additional join table.
• Built in tags_cache column to reduce DB traffic.
• Simple installation, run 3 commands and you‘re ready to tag and roll.

Install

1. install the plugin

    script/plugin install http://railers.rubyforge.org/svn/plugins/trunk/be_taggable
   

2. generate, append your model class names to be tagged.

    script/generate be_taggable_tables Article Bookmark ...
   

3. rake db:migrate

that‘s it, now let‘s tag and roll.

Usage

  Class TestBook
    be_taggable  # Mark your class be_taggable.
    ...
  end

  book = TestBook.create(:name => "AWDWR")
  book.tag("programming, rails")       # 2 tags added
  book.tag("agile,       rails")       # "programming" removed,
                                         "agile"       added,
                                         "rails"       untouched.

  hash = TestBook.tags_count     # {"rails" => 1, "agile" => 1}

  book.tag("")                         # remove all tags.

  TestBook.find_tagged_with("rails")  # return list of matching book objects.
  TestBook.find_tagged_with("rails", :offset => 20, :limit => 10)  # search with options.

Usage in template

To display model‘s tags from tags_cache column.

      <% for tag in YAML::load(article.tags_cache) %>
        <%= link_to(tag, tagged_articles_path(tag))  # assume route exists %>
      <% end -%>

To show tag cloud

    <table>
    <% Article.tags_count.sort.each{|pair| %>
      <tr>
        <td><%= link_to(pair[0], tagged_articles_path(pair[0])) %></td>
        <td><%= pair[1] # count %></td>
      </tr>
    <% } %>
    </table>

If you like fish eye styled tag clound, feel free to copy off from acts_as_taggable gem.

BeTaggable Internal

BeTaggable stays small by fully exploit the power and versatility of ActiveRecord. It only uses 2 models, Tag and association model Tagship. Tagship is polymorphic and can be associated with any models.

Tags are distinguished by both tag name and model type. For example, if you have 3 books and 2 DVDs tagged "rails", then there‘ll be 2 rows in "tags" table, and 5 rows in "tagships" table.

  id  name    model_type   tagships_count
  ---------------------------------------
   1  rails   Book              3
   2  rails   Dvd               2

Q & A

Help about this plugin is available on ruby-on-rails.groups.wuyasea.com