has_normalized_sti

This extension will allow Rails STI to work a normalized type column.

For example

create_table :people, :force => true do |t| t.string :full_name t.integer :type_id end

create_table :person_types, :force => true do |t| t.string :type_name end

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base has_normalized_sti end

class PersonType < ActiveRecord::Base end

after calling has_normalized_sti:

• type - returns the name of the class of the type just as regular STI
• type= - set the type to something specific like regular STI
• normal_type - the Type object through the relation

Configuration options are:

• type_class_name - belong_to this model for the type storage
  (default: #{class_name}Type)
• foreign_key - specifies the column for id of the type (default: type_id)
• type_column - specifies the column name for the type string on the types table
  (default: type_name)

Override example

create_table :people, :force => true do |t| t.string :full_name t.integer :special_type_id end

create_table :person_types, :force => true do |t| t.string :special_person_type end

class SpecialPerson < ActiveRecord::Base set_table_name :people has_normalized_sti :type_class_name => 'SpecialPersonType', :type_column => 'special_person_type', :foreign_key => 'special_type_id' end

class SpecialPersonType < ActiveRecord::Base set_table_name :person_types end