ActiveRecord::Tableless has just been released to Rubyforge.org
First made popular on the (now extinct) RailsWeenie.com fourms, the tableless model has been very popular. Why a tableless model? Read on…
Overview
ActiveRecord::Tableless allows you to create a ActiveRecord model that is not associated with a table in your database. This is a great way to exploit ActiveRecord’s validation features for simple tasks like validating the content of a contact form before sending an email.
Another great use for tableless models is mocking. I use ActiveRecord::Tableless extensively in the specs I write for some of my own ActiveRecord mixin’s without worrying about the tables or test databases being setup.
It works great for non-Rails applications too, just in case
Credits
The original forum post detailing the code is no longer available, not even in Google’s cache search. So unfortunately I cannot credit the original authors fully. The code does however appear on several other sites and is roughly the same than the code provided here.