Question

I plan on giving different logic to different categories and I don’t know if I should make 20 different models or if I can have just one StoreCategory model and put the logic in there. Some of the logic will be small and others large.

So If I had different store categories like discount, online, delivery, retail, etc, and wanted to give them their own special logic, what should I do?

Answer 1

It’s a good question. In your place, I would create a class “Category” and my other classes inherit from the first. In the Category class I would put the shared code and the specific code in subclasses. You could use polymorphic associations if it’s necessary. It’s just an idea.

Edit 1 : Add code example

class StoreCategory < ActiveRecord::Base

  before_save :something_private

  def a_public_function
    #...
  end

  protected 
    def a_protected_function
      #...
    end

  private
    def something_private
      #something after save
    end
end

class DiscountCategory < StoreCategory
  def my_first_function
    #I could use a_public_function and a_protected_function
  end
end

class OnlineCategory < StoreCategory
  def a_protected_function
    #I could use a_public_function
    #I could override a_protected_function
    #I could use super to run the Category's function
  end
end

the function something_private is called after the save of each subclasses. I think it’s clear and organisated. It works like ApplicationController class.