After searching for a tableless model example I came across this code which seems to be the general consensus on how to create one.
class Item < ActiveRec
Or you could do it like this (Edge Rails only):
class Item
include ActiveModel::Model
attr_accessor :name, :email, :content
validates_presence_of :name
validates_format_of :email, :with => /^[-a-z0-9_+\.]+\@([-a-z0-9]+\.)+[a-z0-9]{2,4}$/i
validates_length_of :content, :maximum => 500
end
By simply including ActiveModel::Model you get all the other modules included for you. It makes for a cleaner and more explicit representation (as in this is an ActiveModel)