ActiveRecord callbacks can be extremely useful, but sometimes they
just get in the way.  Wouldn't it be nice if you could disable the
callbacks at will?  Well, now you can!

Installation

script/plugin install git://github.com/brentmc79/without_callbacks.git

Example

Given an AR model like so:

class ShamWowGuy < ActiveRecord::Base

  before_save :slap_chop
  before_update :punch_hooker

  protected
    def punch_hooker
      self.hooker_count = hooker_count+1
    end
    def slap_chop
      self.catchphrase = "You're gonna love my nuts!"
    end
end

What happens when you create/save the model?

When the model is saved, its catchphrase attribute is updated by the
callback just prior to being persisted to the database.

Maybe your Mom came by for a visit and you don't really want Vince,
the ShamWow guy, blurting offensive comments about his nuts.  Well,
here's what you do:

vince = ShamWowGuy.new(:catchphrase => "You'll say WOW evey time!")
ShamWowGuy.without_callbacks(:slap_chop) do
  vince.save
end
vince.catchphrase #=> "You'll say WOW evey time!"

Uh-oh, there's a typo in our catchphrase, so we need to update
vince.  Mom's still here and she doesn't approve of hooker-punching.
What's a girl to do?

We can pass in both callback method names, like so:

ShamWowGuy.without_callbacks(:slap_chop, :punch_hooker) do
  vince.save
end

Or, we can disable ALL callbacks by not passing any arguments:

ShamWowGuy.without_callbacks do
  vince.save
end

That's all there is to it!

Note

At the moment, without_callbacks only disables instance methods
defined within the specified class.  Procs or eval'd strings
like this:

before_save {|sham_wow_guy| sham_wow_guy.slap_chop }

OR

before_update 'self.hooker_count = nil'

in the callback class methods are not yet handled.