Newer version attached, has been tested in one specific app which brought up some issues with tables that have references to them (these have been fixed).
Now patches instance instead of class (so web2py's normal reloading works equally well) Massimo / Jonathan - could you comment on the probability that something like this would be added to the main web2py distribution? At the very least, hooks that one could use to implement such audit/authorization/logging functionality without having to patch adapters? I'd be happy to contribute a patch for this, if you give me an indication of how you'd like to see it implemented, if at all.
# # General audit support for web2py: # When a table is set to be "audited", a shadow table is defined for # it, with 3 additional fields: "oid" (for original id), "audit_time", "audit_user", "audit_type" (insert/update/delete) # on insert: after insert, the new record is copied to audit table # on update: after update, the new records are copied to the audit table # on delete: before deleting, records are copied to the audit table with audit_delete=true # # no new/additional transactions. that is, rollback will also roll back the audit; commit # will also commit the audit. # TODO: deactivate "on delete cascade" actions -> turn them to "restrict" or even drop the reference? # TODO: add "idtype" to adapter - a type that can be used to store id - a "weak" reference # TODO: is there a char(1) record type? audit_type would benefit from that class AuditError(RuntimeError): pass from gluon.dal import Set as SetClassToIgnore AUDIT_OID = Field("audit_oid", "integer") # -> switch to idtype/weak reference AUDIT_TIME = Field("audit_time", "datetime") AUDIT_USER = Field("audit_user", "string") # or auth_user AUDIT_TYPE = Field("audit_type", "integer") # 1=insert, 2=update, 3=delete AUDIT_FIELDS = [AUDIT_OID, AUDIT_TIME, AUDIT_USER, AUDIT_TYPE] AUDIT_TYPE_INSERT = 1 AUDIT_TYPE_UPDATE = 2 AUDIT_TYPE_DELETE = 3 AUDIT_TEMPLATE = 'audit_%s' def audited_record(shadow, record, audit_type): """Make a record into the audit record with a given type in place""" record[AUDIT_OID.name] = record.id del record['id'] # audit records gets their own id del record['update_record'] # since we retrieve id, we get this ?!!? del record['delete_record'] # since we retrieve id, we get this ?!?! for k, v in record.items(): if isinstance(v, SetClassToIgnore): # since we retrieve id, we get these for all referencing tables del record[k] record[AUDIT_TIME.name] = request.now record[AUDIT_USER.name] = 'unknown' record[AUDIT_TYPE.name] = audit_type shadow.insert(**record) def audited_insert(self, table, fields): shadow = self.shadow.get(table._tablename) if not shadow: return self.unaudited_insert(table, fields) rid = self.unaudited_insert(table, fields) if isinstance(rid, int): # either int or Reference record = table[int(rid)] # retrieve just inserted record audited_record(shadow, record, AUDIT_TYPE_INSERT) return rid raise AuditError, "Cannot audit inserts to table %s"%table # TODO: how do we audit a change to id? should we block it? def audited_update(self, tablename, query, fields): shadow = self.shadow.get(tablename) if not shadow: return self.unaudited_update(tablename, query, fields) db = self.db table = db[tablename] # find which records are about to be updated by this .... rows = self.select(query, ['id'], {}) rows = [x['id'] for x in rows] # we only care about the ids. count = self.unaudited_update(tablename, query, fields) # do the update # retrieve updated records rows = self.select(table.id.belongs(rows), [str(field) for field in table], {}) for record in rows: audited_record(shadow, record, AUDIT_TYPE_UPDATE) return count def audited_delete(self, tablename, query): shadow = self.shadow.get(tablename) if not shadow: return self.unaudited_delete(table, query) db = self.db table = db[tablename] # retrieve records about to be deleted rows = self.select(query, [str(field) for field in table], {}) count = self.unaudited_delete(tablename, query) # do the delete # retrieve updated records for record in rows: audited_record(shadow, record, AUDIT_TYPE_DELETE) return count # using magic described in: # http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1015307/python-bind-an-unbound-method def patch_adapter(a): if hasattr(a, 'shadow'): return print 'patching adapter %s' % id(a) a.shadow = {} # patch instance every time a.unaudited_insert = a.insert a.unaudited_delete = a.delete a.unaudited_update = a.update a.insert = audited_insert.__get__(a, a.__class__) a.update = audited_update.__get__(a, a.__class__) a.delete = audited_delete.__get__(a, a.__class__) # remove field constraints when creating audit table. # TODO - switch all references to weakref or at least ON CASCADE RESTRICT? def with_audit(table): name = table._tablename dal = table._db adapter = dal._adapter patch_adapter(adapter) if name in adapter.shadow: return # audit already set fields = AUDIT_FIELDS + [Field(field, table[field].type) for field in table.fields if field != 'id'] shadow = dal.define_table(AUDIT_TEMPLATE%name, *fields) adapter.shadow[name] = shadow