Audited (previously acts_as_audited) is an ORM extension that logs all changes to your models. Audited also allows you to record who made those changes, save comments and associate models related to the changes. Audited works with Rails 3.
Audited supports and is tested against the following Ruby versions:
- 1.8.7
- 1.9.2
- 1.9.3
- Head
Audited may work just fine with a Ruby version not listed above, but we can't guarantee that it will. If you'd like to maintain a Ruby that isn't listed, please let us know with a pull request.
In a previous life, Audited was ActiveRecord-only. Audited will now audit models for the following backends:
- ActiveRecord
- MongoMapper
The installation process depends on what ORM your app is using.
Add the appropriate gem to your Gemfile:
gem "audited-activerecord", "~> 3.0"
Then, from your Rails app directory, create the audits
table:
$ rails generate audited:install
$ rake db:migrate
If you're already using Audited (or acts_as_audited), your audits
table may require additional columns. After every upgrade, please run:
$ rails generate audited:upgrade
$ rake db:migrate
Upgrading will only make changes if changes are needed.
gem "audited-mongo_mapper", "~> 3.0"
Simply call audited
on your models:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
audited
end
By default, whenever a user is created, updated or destroyed, a new audit is created.
user = User.create!(:name => "Steve")
user.audits.count # => 1
user.update_attributes!(:name => "Ryan")
user.audits.count # => 2
user.destroy
user.audits.count # => 3
Audits contain information regarding what action was taken on the model and what changes were made.
user.update_attributes!(:name => "Ryan")
audit = user.audits.last
audit.action # => "update"
audit.audited_changes # => {"name"=>["Steve", "Ryan"]}
By default, a new audit is created for any attribute changes. You can, however, limit the columns to be considered.
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
# All fields
# audited
# Single field
# audited only: :name
# Multiple fields
# audited only: [:name, :address]
# All except certain fields
# audited except: :password
end
You can attach comments to each audit using an audit_comment
attribute on your model.
user.update_attributes!(:name => "Ryan", :audit_comment => "Changing name, just because")
user.audits.last.comment # => "Changing name, just because"
You can optionally add the :comment_required
option to your audited
call to require comments for all audits.
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
audited :comment_required => true
end
If you're using Audited in a Rails application, all audited changes made within a request will automatically be attributed to the current user. By default, Audited uses the current_user
method in your controller.
class PostsController < ApplicationController
def create
current_user # => #<User name: "Steve">
@post = Post.create(params[:post])
@post.audits.last.user # => #<User name: "Steve">
end
end
To use a method other than current_user
, put the following in an intializer:
Audited.current_user_method = :authenticated_user
Outside of a request, Audited can still record the user with the as_user
method:
Audit.as_user(User.find(1)) do
post.update_attribute!(:title => "Hello, world!")
end
post.audits.last.user # => #<User id: 1>
Sometimes it's useful to associate an audit with a model other than the one being changed. For instance, given the following models:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :company
audited
end
class Company < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :users
end
Every change to a user is audited, but what if you want to grab all of the audits of users belonging to a particular company? You can add the :associated_with
option to your audited
call:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :company
audited :associated_with => :company
end
class Company < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :users
has_associated_audits
end
Now, when a audit is created for a user, that user's company is also saved alongside the audit. This makes it much easier (and faster) to access audits indirectly related to a company.
company = Company.create!(:name => "Collective Idea")
user = company.users.create!(:name => "Steve")
user.update_attribute!(:name => "Steve Richert")
user.audits.last.associated # => #<Company name: "Collective Idea">
company.associated_audits.last.auditable # => #<User name: "Steve Richert">
If you want to disable auditing temporarily doing certain tasks, there are a few methods available.
To disable auditing on a save:
@user.save_wihtout_auditing
or:
@user.without_auditing do
@user.save
end
To disable auditing on a column:
User.non_audited_columns = [:first_name, :last_name]
To disable auditing on an entire model:
User.auditing_enabled = false
Audited assumes you are using attr_accessible
, however, if you are using attr_protected
or just going at it unprotected you will have to set the :allow_mass_assignment => true
option.
If using attr_protected
be sure to add audit_ids
to the list of protected attributes to prevent data loss.
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
audited :allow_mass_assignment => true
end
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
audited :allow_mass_assignment => true
attr_protected :logins, :audit_ids
end
Currently, Audited does not track changes on embedded documents. Audited works by tracking a model's dirty changes but changes to embedded documents don't appear in dirty tracking.
You can find documentation at: http://rdoc.info/github/collectiveidea/audited
Or join the mailing list to get help or offer suggestions.
In the spirit of free software, everyone is encouraged to help improve this project. Here are a few ways you can pitch in:
- Use prerelease versions of Audited.
- Report bugs.
- Fix bugs and submit pull requests.
- Write, clarify or fix documentation.
- Refactor code.