many-to-many relationship in rails - ruby-on-rails

I have the following models
class Order < ApplicationRecord
has_many :order_details
has_many :products, through: :order_details
end
class OrderDetail < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :order
belongs_to :product
end
class Product < ApplicationRecord
has_many :order_details
has_many :orders, through: :order_details
end
And I already have product records in my database.
Now, if using syntax: Order.create name: 'HH', product_ids: [1,2]
1 Order record is created, and rails automatically creates 2 more OrderDetail records to connect that Order record with 2 Products.
This syntax is quite handy.
Now, I want to learn more about it from the Rails documentation. But now i still can't find the documentation about it. Can someone help me find documents to learn more?
[Edit] Additional: I'd like to find documentation on the Rails syntax that allows passing a list of ids to automatically create records in the intermediate table, like the Order.create syntax with ```product_ids` `` that I gave above.

The extensive documentation is at https://api.rubyonrails.org/, and many-to-many is here.
The essential part is to analyze the source code of Rails at Module (ActiveRecord::Associations::CollectionAssociation) and at id_writers method:
# Implements the ids writer method, e.g. foo.item_ids= for Foo.has_many :items
def ids_writer(ids)
primary_key = reflection.association_primary_key
pk_type = klass.type_for_attribute(primary_key)
ids = Array(ids).compact_blank
ids.map! { |i| pk_type.cast(i) }
# .... code continues
We see that ids parameter (ex.: [1,2]) is first checked to be Array then the compact_blank method removes all falses values, after that, ids are casted to match primary_key type of the model (usually :id). Then code continues to query database with where to get found ids (associations) and saves.

Related

Rails 4 and referencing parent id in 'has_many' SQL

TL;DR: How do I use the ID of the respective parent object in a has_many SQL clause to find child objects?
Long version:
I have the following example code:
class Person < AR::Base
has_many :purchases, -> {
"SELECT * from purchases
WHERE purchase.seller_id = #{id}
OR purchase.buyer_id = #{id}"
}
This was migrated from Rails 3 which worked and looked like
has_many :purchases, :finder_sql => proc { #same SQL as above# }
I want to find all purchases associated with a Person object in one association, no matter whether the person was the one selling the object or buying it.
Update: I corrected the SQL, it was inside out. Sorry! Also: The association only needs to be read-only: I am never going to create records using this association, so using id twice should be OK. But I do want to be able to chain other scopes on it, e.g. #person.purchases.paid.last_5, so creating the sum of two associations in a method does not work (at least it didn't in Rails 3) since it doesn't return an AM::Relation but a simple Array.
When using this above definition in Rails 4.2, I get
> Person.first.purchases
undefined method `id' for #<Person::ActiveRecord_Relation:0x...>
The error is clear, but then how do I solve the problem?
Since this is only an example for much more complicated SQL code being used to express has_many relationships (e.g. multiple JOINS with subselects for performance), the question is:
How do I use the ID of the parent object in a has_many SQL clause?
I don't think your code will work at all. You are defining an association with two foreign keys ... that'd mean that in case you want to create a new Person from a present Purchase, what foreign key is to be used, seller_id or buyer_id? That just don't make sense.
In any case, the error you are getting is clear: you are calling a variable id which is not initialized in the block context of the SQL code.
A better approach to the problem I understand from your question would be to use associations in the following way, and then define a method that gives you all the persons, both buyers and sellers that a product has. Something like this:
class Purchase < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :buyer, class_name: 'Person'
belongs_to :seller, class_name: 'Person'
def persons
ids = (buyer_ids + seller_ids).uniq
Person.where(ids: id)
end
end
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :sold_purchases, class_name: 'Purchase', foreign_key: 'buyer_id'
has_many :buyed_purchases, class_name: 'Purchase', foreign_key: 'seller_id'
end
Im my approach, buyer_id and seller_id are purchase's attributes, not person's.
I may have not understood correctly, in that case please clarify.

Rails 4 - Restrict retrieved columns from associated models

I'm new to Rails, and while writing Active Record queries, I notice that all columns of all associated tables are being retrieved. I would like to tell Active Record which fields from which tables ought to be retrieved. How would go about doing that?
My models and their associations are as follows:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_one :profile
has_many :comments
has_many :posts
end
class Profile < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :user
end
class Comment < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :user
belongs_to :post
end
class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :user
has_many :comments
end
I'm following the Rails Edge Guides, and when I try to use select("users.id, profiles.first_name, profiles.last_name, comments.comment") to specify the field lists, I get a deprecation warning on the Rails console (and the SQL query that is run is a LEFT OUTER JOIN of all tables involved, but it still includes all columns):
DEPRECATION WARNING: It looks like you are eager loading table(s) (one of: users, posts) that are referenced in a string SQL snippet. For example:
Post.includes(:comments).where("comments.title = 'foo'")
Currently, Active Record recognizes the table in the string, and knows to JOIN the comments table to the query, rather than loading comments in a separate query. However, doing this without writing a full-blown SQL parser is inherently flawed. Since we don't want to write an SQL parser, we are removing this functionality. From now on, you must explicitly tell Active Record when you are referencing a table from a string:
Post.includes(:comments).where("comments.title = 'foo'").references(:comments)
If you don't rely on implicit join references you can disable the feature entirely by setting `config.active_record.disable_implicit_join_references = true`. (called from irb_binding at (irb):34)
Check if following work for you
Class User < ActivcRecord::Base
default_scope select("column1, column2, column3")
end
Buried deep inside the Rails Edge Guides for Active Record Query Interface, I found the answer. The trick is to use scopes for the particular association type where you want to restrict the retrieved fields.
Quoted directly from the guide:
4.1.3 Scopes for belongs_to
There may be times when you wish to customize the query used by belongs_to. Such customizations can be achieved via a scope block. For example:
class Order < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :customer, -> { where active: true },
dependent: :destroy
end
You can use any of the standard querying methods inside the scope block.
So, adding a select method to the above scope, with the list of fields you want retrieved will do the trick.

Ruby On Rails ActiveRecord 3 Way Join

I have 3 models:
class ProductLine < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :specifications
has_many :specification_categories, :through => :specifications,
end
class Specification < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :product_line
belongs_to :specification_category
end
class SpecificationCategory < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :specifications
has_many :product_lines, :through => :specifications
end
Basically, we are showing the specifications as a subset of data on the product line page and we would like to do something like (example only, yes I'm aware of N+1):
Controller:
#product_line = ProductLine.find(params[:id])
#specification_categories = #product_line.specification_categories)
View:
#specification_categories.each do |specification_category|
...
specification_category.specifications.each do |specification|
...
end
end
The issue here is getting rails to filter the specifications by ProductLine. I've tried constructing queries to do this but it always generates a separate NEW query when the final association is called. Even though we aren't using the code above now (not a good idea here, since we could potentially run into an N+1 problem), I'd like to know if it's even possible to do a 3 way join with association filtering. Has anyone run across this scenario? Can you please provide an example of how I would accomplish this here?
Prevent the N+1 by altering your line to:
#specification_categories = #product_line.specification_categories).include(:specifications)
OR
Construct your own query using .joins(:association), and do the grouping yourself.

Using named scopes in rails 3.0

I have recently been taking a course in Rails. We are tasked with creating three named scopes in our 'Product' model. I have done:
scope :books, where( :category => 'books')
scope :movies, where( :category => 'movies')
scope :music, where( :category => 'music')
When I call these as 'Product.books' or 'Product.movies' from the command line, I am expecting to see a return of all of my products that are books, or movies. All I get is an empty array []. Is the problem in the definition of the scopes (which I assume), or how I am trying to access them?
Your syntax is OK. I tried it by adding some books and movies.It worked fine and displayed books when i run Product.books.
So,your problem is empty database which is resulting in empty array.
Is Category its own model that is related to Product (such as by has_many or has_one)?
If this is the case, you will need to do a joins with the Category
For example, see the following code:
class Product < ActiveRecord::Base
has_one :category
scope :books, joins(:category).where('categories.name' => 'book')
end
class Category < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :product
end
In this simple example, both Product and Category only have name attributes as strings (in the migrations), and Category also has product_id.
Your syntax is correct. But first check your database, may be you don't have data related to the Product.books or Product.movies.

Rails 3: Querying from associated tables

Im very new to Ruby on Rails 3 and ActiveRecord and seem to have been thrown in at the deep end at work. Im struggling to get to grips with querying data from multiple tables using joins.
A lot of the examples Ive seen either seem to be based on much simpler queries or use < rails 3 syntax.
Given that I know the business_unit_group_id and have the following associations how would I query a list of all related Items and ItemSellingPrices?
class BusinessUnitGroup < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :business_unit_group_items
end
class BusinessUnitGroupItem < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :business_unit_group
belongs_to :item
belongs_to :item_selling_price
end
class Item < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :business_unit_group_items
end
class ItemSellingPrice < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :business_unit_group_items
end
I'm confused as to whether I need to explicity specify any joins in the query since the associations are in place.
Basically, you do not need to specify the joins:
# This gives you all the BusinessUnitGroupItems for that BusinessUnitGroup
BusinessUnitGroup.find(id).business_unit_group_items
# BusinessUnitGroupItem seems to be a rich join table so you might
# be iterested in the items directly:
class BusinessUnitGroup < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :items through => :business_unit_group_items
# and/or
has_many :item_selling_prices, through => :business_unit_group_items
...
end
# Then this gives you the items and prices for that BusinessUnitGroup:
BusinessUnitGroup.find(id).items
BusinessUnitGroup.find(id).item_selling_prices
# If you want to iterate over all items and their prices within one
# BusinessUnitGroup, try this:
group = BusinessUnitGroup.include(
:business_unit_group_item => [:items, :item_selling_prices]
).find(id)
# which preloads the items and item prices so while iterating,
# no more database queries occur

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