Comatose 0.8 Released

Tada! Comatose _finally_ supports Rails 1.2!

In fact, it *only* supports Rails 1.2 now. If you are still on Rails 1.1, **don’t** upgrade Comatose — It won’t work. Consider yourself warned. ([version 0.7.1][] is tagged, so all you Rails 1.1ers can still get to it)

OK, so I made quite a few changes whilst upgrading Comatose. No functionality was removed, yet, but enough has changed that we should hit the high points here… I’ll post a more in-depth article on the [dev blog][] later.

First up, there’s a **new configuration system**. It’s quite dandy, really. It single-handedly made the `DEFER_COMATOSE_LOAD` and controller class hacking _obsolete_.

You can still use all the same old settings, only you set them in a configuration block in your `environment.rb` now. Here’s an example from an app I’m currently working on:

Comatose.configure do |comatose|
comatose.includes << :authenticated_system
comatose.helpers << :application_helper
# admin
comatose.admin_title = “My App’s CMS”
comatose.admin_sub_title = “… its’ fun for the whole family!”
comatose.admin_includes << :authenticated_system
comatose.admin_helpers << :application_helper
comatose.admin_authorization = :admin_required
comatose.default_tree_level = 1
comatose.admin_get_author do
current_user.login
end
comatose.admin_get_root_page do
roots = %w(public-root content-fragments)
roots.collect {|path| Comatose::Page.find_by_path(path)}
end
end

Look over that example closely, there’s a lot hidden in there.

* `comatose.includes` is an array of module names (as symbols) that will be included in the `ComatoseController`.
* `comatose.helpers` is also an array of module names, only these are loaded as [helpers][] so you can use them in a view, most likely in your layout.

Remember, you **no longer extend `ComatoseController`** to add functionality.
* All that holds true for `ComatoseAdminController` and the `comatose.admin_includes` and `comatose.admin_helpers` as well.
* `comatose.admin_get_author` and `comatose.admin_get_root_page` both accept a block of code that should return the author and root_page respectively.

You can use any default controller method, as well as methods from included modules
* `comatose.admin_authorization` is using a method from an included module directly, the `:admin_required` method from the `AuthenticatedSystem` module.

The options that accept blocks will also accept symbols representing module methods.
* Have a look at the [config class][] for all the options

Also, there are **unit tests** now. Yay!

You can get an overview of the [coverage][], if you like. Oh, using `rake test:plugins` doesn’t work, to run them you will need to change into the `vendor/plugins/comatose` directory and run `rake`, _after_ you’ve run the Comatose migrations.

From the [CHANGELOG][]:

- Now ONLY supports Rails 1.2 (not even tested in Rails 1.1)
- New configuration system
- DEFER_COMATOSE_LOAD is gone — Using Dispatcher.to_prepare replaces it
- You no longer extend the base classes to add functionality. You configure Comatose to include modules and send it symbols for providing said functionality. e.g. Comatose.config.includes << :authentiation_system; Comatose.config.authorization = :require_login
- The automatic loading of RAILS_ROOT/lib/comatose/*.rb files is NO longer supported.
- In addition to mapping comatose_root in your routes.rb, you’ll want to map.comatose_admin as well

Obviously, if you have any issues with this version, please let me know.

[coverage]:http://mattmccray.com/svn/rails/plugins/comatose/SPECS
[version 0.7.1]:http://mattmccray.com/svn/rails/plugins/tags/comatose_0-7-1/
[dev blog]:http://comatose.rubyforge.org/dev-blog.html
[CHANGELOG]:http://mattmccray.com/svn/rails/plugins/comatose/CHANGELOG
[helpers]:http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/ActionController/Helpers/ClassMethods.html#M000164
[config class]:http://mattmccray.com/svn/rails/plugins/comatose/lib/comatose/configuration.rb