hopsoft / fig

The smart way to manage config settings for Rails and Ruby applications using YAML configuration files.

Fig¶ ↑

DRY up those magic numbers and hard coded strings into something more managable. Fig is the smart way to manage stuff that really belongs in a config file instead of scattered throughout your code.¶ ↑

Read the RDocs or jump right in with the tutorial video.

Why¶ ↑

Even though Ruby is a dynamic language and hard coded values aren’t as big a deal, it’s still good practice to have a centralized place to hold certain settings.

In the past I used a global Hash to store this stuff, but have always wanted something more powerful and elegant.

What¶ ↑

Fig is a simple to use configuration management tool for Ruby applications and libraries.

The primary features are:

• Multiple configuration files

• Dynamic updating and re-loading of configuration files

• Simple dot-notation access to configuration settings

• YAML access to configuration settings

• Safe options to request settings that may not exist

• Interpolation to help DRY up configuration files through reuse of settings

• Thread safe

How¶ ↑

The simplest way to get started is to watch the 10 minute tutorial.

Installation¶ ↑

Fig is availabe as both a Gem and as a Rails Plugin.

To install as a Gem:¶ ↑

First, be sure that Github has been added as a gem source. (This only needs to be done once.)

gem sources -a http://gems.github.com

Second, install the Gem.

sudo gem install hopsoft-fig

To install as a Rails Plugin:¶ ↑

script/plugin install git://github.com/hopsoft/fig.git

Usage¶ ↑

Create a YAML file that will serve as one of the configuration files you plan to use. In a Rails application, I usually create the file config/app.yml, but you can name the file anything you like and can save it to any location within your appliation or library.

Instantiate a Fig object that is globally available to your application. In a Rails application, I generally do this in environment.rb.

CONFIG = Hopsoft::Fig.new(RAILS_ROOT + '/config/app.yml')

Start using your settings.

puts CONFIG.settings.message
puts CONFIG.yaml['message']
puts CONFIG.get_setting('message')

# returns nil instead of an error when the setting doesn't exist
puts CONFIG.get_setting('some.nested.setting.that.may.not.exist')

Reuse settings in your YAML file (This is a great way to apply the DRY principle to your configuration settings):

name: Nathan Hopkins
message: Hello from {fig:name}.

puts CONFIG.get_setting('message')
# outputs -> Hello from Nathan Hopkins.

Update the YAML file and load the changes without restarting your application.

CONFIG.load

Copyright © 2008 Hopsoft LLC, released under the MIT license