Smart caching, the intelligent way.

smart-cache.rb

# Contains better caching retrieval and storage logic.
module SmartFetch

  # Intelligently caches the block if needed, or retrieves it from cache.
  # @param [String] name the name of the cache key.
  # @param [Hash] options options to feed to a call to `Rails.cache.write`, if required.
  # @param [Block] blk anything inside of this block gets cached.
  # @return [String] the contents of the cache.
  def smart_fetch(name, options={}, &blk)
    unless options[:force]
      in_cache = Rails.cache.fetch(name)
      return in_cache if in_cache
    end
    val = yield
    Rails.cache.write(name, val, options) unless val.nil?
    return val
  end
end

Call it as such.

class SomeClass
  include SmartFetch

  def do_something_intense(refresh=false)
    result = smart_fetch("some-cache-key", expires_in: 1.hour, force: refresh) do
      { some_crazy: 'hash-data' }
    end
  end
end