Rails Plugin: is_searchable

Announcing is_searchable, provides search functionality for models with ridiculously easy setup.

Here is a model that uses is_searchable:

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
is_searchable :by_query => 'CONCAT(people.first_name, people.last_name) LIKE :like_query OR people.phone_number LIKE :like_query',
:and_filters => {
'age' => 'people.age = ?',
'over_age' => 'people.age > ?',
'under_age' => 'people.age < ?',
'first_name' => 'people.first_name = ?',
'last_name' => 'people.last_name = ?'
}
end

This code, in the simple form shown above, gives you two functions: Person.search and Person.search_count. Both of these should receive the same arguments (query, options), except that only Person.search will honor limit and offset. Here are some search examples:

Person.search('pa', :filters => {:over_age => 21, :under_age => 40}) #=> finds all middle-aged people with 'pa' in their name.
Person.search('tom') #=> finds all people named Tom or Tommy, etc.
Person.search('', :filters => {:under_age => 21}) #=> finds all people not yet old enough to drink (in the USA).
Person.search('', :limit => 10, :offset => 20) #=> finds the 3rd page of 10 people.

This plugin has been THE search functionality for all my models for a long time now, and it does the job well. It also plays well with my restful_api plugin (hmm, I haven't blogged about that one yet).

Install like any usual rails plugin:
ruby script/plugin install http://svn.behindlogic.com/public/rails/plugins/is_searchable/

And, if you have any questions or problems, please comment!