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Track and record all the changes in your database with Ecto. Revert back to anytime in history.
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izelnakri/paper_trail
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Track and record all the changes in your database. Revert back to anytime in history.
PaperTrail lets you record every change in your database in a separate database table calledversions. Library generates a new version record with associated data every time you runPaperTrail.insert/2,PaperTrail.update/2 orPaperTrail.delete/2 functions. Simply these functions wrap your Repo insert, update or destroy actions in a database transaction, so if your database action fails you won't get a new version.
PaperTrail is assailed with hundreds of test assertions for each release. Data integrity is an important aim of this project, please refer to thestrict_mode if you want to ensure data correctness and integrity of your versions. For simpler use cases the default mode of PaperTrail should suffice.
changeset=Post.changeset(%Post{},%{title:"Word on the street is Elixir got its own database versioning library",content:"You should try it now!"})PaperTrail.insert(changeset)# => on success:# {:ok,# %{model: %Post{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "posts">,# title: "Word on the street is Elixir got its own database versioning library",# content: "You should try it now!", id: 1, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38],# updated_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38]},# version: %PaperTrail.Version{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "versions">,# event: "insert", id: 1, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38],# item_changes: %{title: "Word on the street is Elixir got its own database versioning library",# content: "You should try it now!", id: 1, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38],# updated_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38]},# item_id: 1, item_type: "Post", originator_id: nil, originator: nil, meta: nil}}}# => on error(it matches Repo.insert/2):# {:error, Ecto.Changeset<action: :insert,# changes: %{title: "Word on the street is Elixir got its own database versioning library", content: "You should try it now!"},# errors: [content: {"is too short", []}], data: #Post<>,# valid?: false>, %{}}post=Repo.get!(Post,1)edit_changeset=Post.changeset(post,%{title:"Elixir matures fast",content:"Future is already here, Elixir is the next step!"})PaperTrail.update(edit_changeset)# => on success:# {:ok,# %{model: %Post{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "posts">,# title: "Elixir matures fast", content: "Future is already here, Elixir is the next step!",# id: 1, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38],# updated_at: ~N[2016-09-15 22:00:59]},# version: %PaperTrail.Version{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "versions">,# event: "update", id: 2, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 22:00:59],# item_changes: %{title: "Elixir matures fast", content: "Future is already here, Elixir is the next step!"},# item_id: 1, item_type: "Post", originator_id: nil, originator: nil# meta: nil}}}# => on error(it matches Repo.update/2):# {:error, Ecto.Changeset<action: :update,# changes: %{title: "Elixir matures fast", content: "Future is already here, Elixir is the next step!"},# errors: [title: {"is too short", []}], data: #Post<>,# valid?: false>, %{}}PaperTrail.get_version(post)# %PaperTrail.Version{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "versions">,# event: "update", id: 2, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 22:00:59],# item_changes: %{title: "Elixir matures fast", content: "Future is already here, Elixir is the next step!"},# item_id: 1, item_type: "Post", originator_id: nil, originator: nil, meta: nil}}}updated_post=Repo.get!(Post,1)PaperTrail.delete(updated_post)# => on success:# {:ok,# %{model: %Post{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:deleted, "posts">,# title: "Elixir matures fast", content: "Future is already here, Elixir is the next step!",# id: 1, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38],# updated_at: ~N[2016-09-15 22:00:59]},# version: %PaperTrail.Version{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "versions">,# event: "delete", id: 3, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 22:22:12],# item_changes: %{title: "Elixir matures fast", content: "Future is already here, Elixir is the next step!",# id: 1, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38],# updated_at: ~N[2016-09-15 22:00:59]},# item_id: 1, item_type: "Post", originator_id: nil, originator: nil, meta: nil}}}Repo.aggregate(Post,:count,:id)# => 0PaperTrail.Version.count()# => 3# same as Repo.aggregate(PaperTrail.Version, :count, :id)PaperTrail.Version.last()# returns the last version in the db by inserted_at# %PaperTrail.Version{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "versions">,# event: "delete", id: 3, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 22:22:12],# item_changes: %{"title" => "Elixir matures fast", content: "Future is already here, Elixir is the next step!", "id" => 1,# "inserted_at" => "2016-09-15T21:42:38",# "updated_at" => "2016-09-15T22:00:59"},# item_id: 1, item_type: "Post", originator_id: nil, originator: nil, meta: nil}
PaperTrail is inspired by the ruby gempaper_trail. However, unlike thepaper_trail gem this library actually results in less data duplication, faster and more explicit programming model to version your record changes.
The library source code is minimal and well tested. It is suggested to read the source code.
Add paper_trail to your list of dependencies in
mix.exs:defdepsdo[{:paper_trail,"~> 0.14.3"}]end
Configure paper_trail to use your application repo in
config/config.exs:config:paper_trail,repo:YourApplicationName.Repo# if you don't specify this PaperTrail will assume your repo name is Repo
Install and compile your dependency:
mix deps.get && mix compileRun this command to generate the migration:
mix papertrail.installYou might want to edit the types for
:item_idor:originator_idif you'reusing UUID or other types for your primary keys before you executemix ecto.migrate.Run the migration:
mix ecto.migrate
Your application is now ready to collect some history!
YES! Make sure you do the steps above.
| Column Name | Type | Description | Entry Method |
|---|---|---|---|
| event | String | either "insert", "update" or "delete" | Library generates |
| item_type | String | model name of the reference record | Library generates |
| item_id | configurable (Integer by default) | model id of the reference record | Library generates |
| item_changes | Map | all the changes in this version as a map | Library generates |
| originator_id | configurable (Integer by default) | foreign key reference to the creator/owner of this change | Optionally set |
| origin | String | short reference to origin(eg. worker:activity-checker, migration, admin:33) | Optionally set |
| meta | Map | any extra optional meta information about the version(eg. %{slug: "ausername", important: true}) | Optionally set |
| inserted_at | Date | inserted_at timestamp | Ecto generates |
If you are using UUID or another type for your primary keys, you can configurethe PaperTrail.Version schema to use it.
config:paper_trail,item_type:Ecto.UUID,originator_type:Ecto.UUID,originator_relationship_options:[references::uuid]
defmoduleAcme.UserdouseEcto.Schema@primary_key{:uuid,:binary_id,autogenerate:true}schema"users"dofield:email,:stringtimestamps()end
Remember to edit the types accordingly in the generated migration.
PaperTrail records have a string field calledorigin.PaperTrail.insert/2,PaperTrail.update/2,PaperTrail.delete/2 functions accept a second argument to describe the origin of this version:
PaperTrail.update(changeset,origin:"migration")# or:PaperTrail.update(changeset,origin:"user:1234")# or:PaperTrail.delete(changeset,origin:"worker:delete_inactive_users")# or:PaperTrail.insert(new_user_changeset,origin:"password_registration")# or:PaperTrail.insert(new_user_changeset,origin:"facebook_registration")
You can specify setter/originator relationship to paper_trail versions withoriginator assignment. This feature is only possible by specifying:originator keyword list for your application configuration:
# In your config/config.exsconfig:paper_trail,originator:[name::user,model:YourApp.User]# For most applications originator should be the user since models can be updated/created/deleted by several users.
Note: You will need to recompile your deps after you have added the config for originator.
Then originator name could be used for querying and preloading. Originator setting must be done via:originator or originator name that is defined in the paper_trail configuration:
user=create_user()# all these set originator_id's for the version recordsPaperTrail.insert(changeset,originator:user){:ok,result}=PaperTrail.update(edit_changeset,originator:user)# or you can use :user in the params instead of :originator if this is your config:# config :paper_trail, originator: [name: :user, model: YourApplication.User]{:ok,result}=PaperTrail.update(edit_changeset,user:user)result[:version]|>Repo.preload(:user)|>Map.get(:user)# we can access the user who made the change from the version thanks to originator relationships!PaperTrail.delete(edit_changeset,user:user)
Also make sure you have the foreign-key constraint in the database and in your version migration file.
You might want to add some meta data that doesn't belong tooriginator andorigin fields. Such data could be stored in one object namedmeta in paper_trail versions. Meta field could be passed as the second optional parameter to PaperTrail.insert/2, PaperTrail.update/2, PaperTrail.delete/2 functions:
company=Company.changeset(%Company{},%{name:"Acme Inc."})|>PaperTrail.insert(meta:%{slug:"acme-llc"})# You can also combine this with an origin:edited_company=Company.changeset(company,%{name:"Acme LLC"})|>PaperTrail.update(origin:"documentation",meta:%{slug:"acme-llc"})# Or even with an originator:user=create_user()deleted_company=Company.changeset(edited_company,%{})|>PaperTrail.delete(origin:"worker:github",originator:user,meta:%{slug:"acme-llc",important:true})
This is a feature more suitable for larger applications. Models can keep their version references via foreign key constraints. Therefore it would be impossible to delete the first and current version of a model if the model exists in the database, it also makes querying easier and the whole design more relational database/SQL friendly. In order to enable strict mode:
# In your config/config.exsconfig:paper_trail,strict_mode:true
Strict mode expects tracked models to have foreign-key reference to their first_version and current_version. These columns must be namedfirst_version_id, andcurrent_version_id in their respective model tables. A tracked model example with a migration file:
# In the migration file: priv/repo/migrations/create_company.exsdefmoduleRepo.Migrations.CreateCompanydodefchangedocreatetable(:companies)doadd:name,:string,null:falseadd:founded_in,:date# null constraints are highly suggested:add:first_version_id,references(:versions),null:falseadd:current_version_id,references(:versions),null:falsetimestamps()endcreateunique_index(:companies,[:first_version_id])createunique_index(:companies,[:current_version_id])endend# In the model definition:defmoduleCompanydouseEcto.SchemaimportEcto.Changesetschema"companies"dofield:name,:stringfield:founded_in,:datebelongs_to:first_version,PaperTrail.Versionbelongs_to:current_version,PaperTrail.Version,on_replace::update# on_replace: is important!timestamps()enddefchangeset(struct,params\\%{})dostruct|>cast(params,[:name,:founded_in])endend
When you run PaperTrail.insert/2 transaction,first_version_id andcurrent_version_id automagically gets assigned for the model. Example:
company=Company.changeset(%Company{},%{name:"Acme LLC"})|>PaperTrail.insert# {:ok,# %{model: %Company{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "companies">,# name: "Acme LLC", founded_in: nil, id: 1, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38],# updated_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38], first_version_id: 1, current_version_id: 1},# version: %PaperTrail.Version{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "versions">,# event: "insert", id: 1, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 22:22:12],# item_changes: %{name: "Acme LLC", founded_in: nil, id: 1, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38]},# originator_id: nil, origin: "unknown", meta: nil}}}
When you PaperTrail.update/2 a model,current_version_id gets updated during the transaction:
edited_company=Company.changeset(company,%{name:"Acme Inc."})|>PaperTrail.update(origin:"documentation")# {:ok,# %{model: %Company{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "companies">,# name: "Acme Inc.", founded_in: nil, id: 1, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38],# updated_at: ~N[2016-09-15 23:22:12], first_version_id: 1, current_version_id: 2},# version: %PaperTrail.Version{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "versions">,# event: "update", id: 2, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 23:22:12],# item_changes: %{name: "Acme Inc."}, originator_id: nil, origin: "documentation", meta: nil}}}
Additionally, you can put a null constraint onorigin column, you should always put anorigin reference to describe who makes the change. This is important for big applications because a model can change from many sources.
PaperTrail also supportsPaperTrail.insert!,PaperTrail.update!,PaperTrail.delete!. Naming of these functions intentionally matchRepo.insert!,Repo.update!,Repo.delete! functions. If PaperTrail is on strict_mode these bang functions will update the version references of the model just like the normal PaperTrail operations.
Bang functions assume the operation will always be successful, otherwise functions will raiseEcto.InvalidChangesetError just likeRepo.insert!,Repo.update! andRepo.delete!:
changeset=Post.changeset(%Post{},%{title:"Word on the street is Elixir got its own database versioning library",content:"You should try it now!"})inserted_post=PaperTrail.insert!(changeset)# => on success:# %Post{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "posts">,# title: "Word on the street is Elixir got its own database versioning library",# content: "You should try it now!", id: 1, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38],# updated_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38]# }## => on error raises: Ecto.InvalidChangesetError !!inserted_post_version=PaperTrail.get_version(inserted_post)# %PaperTrail.Version{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "versions">,# event: "insert", id: 1, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38],# item_changes: %{title: "Word on the street is Elixir got its own database versioning library",# content: "You should try it now!", id: 1, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38],# updated_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38]},# item_id: 1, item_type: "Post", originator_id: nil, originator: nil, meta: nil}edit_changeset=Post.changeset(inserted_post,%{title:"Elixir matures fast",content:"Future is already here, Elixir is the next step!"})updated_post=PaperTrail.update!(edit_changeset)# => on success:# %Post{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "posts">,# title: "Elixir matures fast", content: "Future is already here, you deserve to be awesome!",# id: 1, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38],# updated_at: ~N[2016-09-15 22:00:59]}## => on error raises: Ecto.InvalidChangesetError !!updated_post_version=PaperTrail.get_version(updated_post)# %PaperTrail.Version{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "versions">,# event: "update", id: 2, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 22:00:59],# item_changes: %{title: "Elixir matures fast", content: "Future is already here, Elixir is the next step!"},# item_id: 1, item_type: "Post", originator_id: nil, originator: nil# meta: nil}PaperTrail.delete!(updated_post)# => on success:# %Post{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:deleted, "posts">,# title: "Elixir matures fast", content: "Future is already here, Elixir is the next step!",# id: 1, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38],# updated_at: ~N[2016-09-15 22:00:59]}## => on error raises: Ecto.InvalidChangesetError !!PaperTrail.get_version(updated_post)# %PaperTrail.Version{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "versions">,# event: "delete", id: 3, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 22:22:12],# item_changes: %{title: "Elixir matures fast", content: "Future is already here, Elixir is the next step!",# id: 1, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 21:42:38],# updated_at: ~N[2016-09-15 22:00:59]},# item_id: 1, item_type: "Post", originator_id: nil, originator: nil, meta: nil}Repo.aggregate(Post,:count,:id)# => 0PaperTrail.Version.count()# => 3# same as Repo.aggregate(PaperTrail.Version, :count, :id)PaperTrail.Version.last()# returns the last version in the db by inserted_at# %PaperTrail.Version{__meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "versions">,# event: "delete", id: 3, inserted_at: ~N[2016-09-15 22:22:12],# item_changes: %{"title" => "Elixir matures fast", content: "Future is already here, Elixir is the next step!", "id" => 1,# "inserted_at" => "2016-09-15T21:42:38",# "updated_at" => "2016-09-15T22:00:59"},# item_id: 1, item_type: "Post", originator_id: nil, originator: nil, meta: nil}
Sometimes you have to deal with applications where you need multi tenancy capabilities,and you want to keep tracking of the versions of your data on different schemas (PostgreSQL)or databases (MySQL).
You can use theEcto.Query prefixin order to switch between different schemas/databases for your own data, soyou can specify in your changeset where to store your record. Example:
tenant="tenant_id"changeset=User.changeset(%User{},%{first_name:"Izel",last_name:"Nakri"})changeset|>Ecto.Queryable.to_query()|>Map.put(:prefix,tenant)|>Repo.insert()
PaperTrail also allows you to store theVersion entries generated by your activity indifferent schemas/databases by using the value of the element:prefix on the optionsof the functions. Example:
tenant="tenant_id"changeset=User.changeset(%User{},%{first_name:"Izel",last_name:"Nakri"})|>Ecto.Queryable.to_query()|>Map.put(:prefix,tenant)PaperTrail.insert(changeset,[prefix:tenant])
By doing this, you're storing the newUser entry into the schema/databasespecified by the:prefix value (tenant_id).
Note that theUser's changeset it's sent with the:prefix, so PaperTrailwill take care of thestorage of the generatedVersion entry in the desired schema/database. Make sureto add this prefix to your changeset before the execution of the PaperTrail function if you want to do versioning on a separate schema.
PaperTrail can also get versions of records or models from different schemas/databases as wellby using the:prefix option. Example:
tenant="tenant_id"id=1PaperTrail.get_versions(User,id,[prefix:tenant])
PaperTrail can be configured to useutc_datetime orutc_datetime_usec for Version timestamps.
# In your config/config.exsconfig:paper_trail,timestamps_type::utc_datetime
Note: You will need to recompile your deps after you have added the config for timestamps.
PaperTrail serializes the version data in JSON and not all native Postgres data types are supported directly.Composite types andrange types are two examples which have no native JSON representation.
Developers may derive their ownJason encoder for such types. It should be noted that an encoder can only be defined for a native Elixir base type orstruct once in an application and therefore there is a small risk of conflicting encoders.
- PaperTrail.Version(s) order matter,
- Don't delete your paper_trail versions, instead you can merge them
- If you have a question or a problem, do not hesitate to create an issue or submit a pull request
set -asource .envmix test --traceMany thanks to:
- Jose Pablo Castro - Built the repo configuration for paper_trail
- Harold Tafur - Built the
:ecto_optionsoption for PaperTrail inserts - Florian Gerhardt - Fixed rare compile errors for PaperTrail repos
- Alex Antonov - Original inventor of the originator feature
- Moritz Schmale - UUID primary keys feature
- Jason Draper - UUID primary keys feature
- Jonatan Männchen - Added non-regular :binary_id UUID support for originator
- Josh Taylor - Maintenance and new feature suggestions
- Mitchell Henke - Fixed weird elixir compiler warnings
- Iván González - Multi tenancy feature and some minor refactors
- Teo Choong Ping - Fixed paper_trail references for newer Elixir versions
- devvit - Added non-regular primary key tracking support
- rustamtolipov - Added support for Ecto v3
- gabrielpra1 - Added enhanced support for Ecto.Changeset
- Darren Thompson - Added PaperTrail.Multi which makes paper trail transactions more usable
- Harold Tafur - Made PaperTrail.insert accept :ecto_options params(ie. upsert options)
- Attila Szabo - Made %Version[:inserted_at] accept different ecto datetime options
- Rafael Scheffer - Built PaperTrail.Serializer that unifies %Version{} serialization
- Kian Meng Ang - Improved documentation
- Francisco Correia - Made PaperTrail transaction keys and ecto transactions more customizable
- Don Barlow - Made :initial_version_key configurable for
strict_modeinserts - Christoph Schmatzler - Built PaperTrail.insert_or_update feature
- Izel Nakri - The Originator of this library. See what I did there ;)
Additional thanks to:
- Ruby paper_trail gem - Initial inspiration of this project.
- Ecto - For the great API.
This source code is licensed under the MIT license. Copyright (c) 2016-present Izel Nakri.
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Track and record all the changes in your database with Ecto. Revert back to anytime in history.