class ActiveRecord::Base
  def self.find_by_proto(many, obj)
    cond = ""; conds = []
    obj.attributes.each do |k,v|
      if v; conds << cond += "#{k} = ?"; conds << v; end
    end
    self.find(many, :conditions => conds)
  end
end

# call this like this:

myProto = Address.new
myProto.street = 'Main Street'
myProto.city = 'Austin'

addresses = Address.find_by_proto(:all, myProto)

# addresses is now all Addresses that match the proto
# Useful?
# anybody have a more sophisticated solution, e.g. one that uses RegExps maybe?