How to map one user to another (from same table) - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'd like to know how to solve this problem in my model/migrations, with correct referential integrity/uniqueness constraints.
I have a user table with two types of user: support_worker and service_user (like teacher and pupil). A support_worker can provide support for many service_users. I used to have separate tables for these respective user types, but for simplicity it makes more sense to have both user types in a single 'user' table (for Devise).
I'll have another table called support_allocation which records the relationship between a support_worker and the service_user(s) they support - this support_allocation has other information stored about it (like a budget; time/money). So this table needs to map one user_id to another user_id. I imagine the table structure will look something like this: SupportAllocation (id, support_worker_id, service_user_id)
So far, my migrations look like this (I've used Devise gem to create the user table so this amends it):
class ChangeUsers < ActiveRecord::Migration[5.2]
def change
change_table :users do |t|
t.string :user_type # support_worker or service_user
t.string :given_name
t.string :family_name
t.string :customer_reference # only for service_users
t.date :date_of_birth # only for service_users
t.string :job_roles # only for support_workers
end
end
class CreateSupportAllocations < ActiveRecord::Migration[5.2]
def change
create_table :support_allocations do |t|
t.boolean :active, default: true
# This next bit is guesswork
t.integer support_worker_id # support_worker's user_id
t.integer service_user_id # service_user's user_id
t.timestamps
end
end
end
Here's where I get confused... I need to create a join, but this will only do it on user_id, whereas the relationship is defined by the two user_id columns (as shown and named above). I'm not sure if this a compound key or if a single foreign key (or two) will suffice.
Here's my migration work-in-progress:
class AddJoins < ActiveRecord::Migration[5.2]
def change
change_table :support_allocations do |t|
t.belongs_to :user, index: true
end
end
end
I'd like to know how to achieve this. For the record, I'm using ActiveAdmin for my app. Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

I don't think you need the AddJoins migration. Add 2 associations in your CreateSupportAllocations model like so:
belongs_to :support_worker, :foreign_key => :support_worker_id, :class_name => User
belongs_to :service_user, :foreign_key => :service_user_id, :class_name => User
In your activeadmin form you can set the collections for the select, for example
(in app/admin/support_allocations.rb)
form do |f|
f.inputs do
# your inputs
f.input :support_worker, :as => :select, :collection => User.where(:user_type => 'support_worker')
f.input :service_user, :as => :select, :collection => User.where(:user_type => 'service_user')
end
f.actions
end
# added after comments
index do
selectable_column
column :support_worker
actions
end
Add a to_s method in you user model like so:
def to_s
"#{self.full_name}"
end

Answer 2

Thanks for all your help. I added the suggested associations to my SupportAllocation model. For the record, I also had to add the following associations to my User model to make the join work fully, in both directions:
has_many :occurances_as_support_worker, :class_name => 'SupportAllocation', :foreign_key => 'support_worker_id'
has_many :occurances_as_service_user, :class_name => 'SupportAllocation', :foreign_key => 'service_user_id'
I used the example given here to work this out.
When accessing attributes specific to a type of user (i.e. using the join over support_worker_id OR service_user_id), on the index page. I use code like this:
column 'Service user', :full_name, :sortable => 'service_users.family_name' do |support_allocation|
#ServiceUser.find(support_allocation.service_user_id).full_name
support_allocation.service_user.full_name
end
column 'Support worker', :full_name, :sortable => 'support_workers.family_name' do |support_allocation|
support_allocation.support_worker.full_name
end