I have a procedure which receives two models, one which already exists, and another one which holds new attributes which I want to merge in the first one.
Since other parts of the program are holding the same reference to the new model, I can't just operate on the existing one. Therefor I do the following:
def merge(new_model, existing_model)
new_model.attributes = existing_model.attributes.merge(new_model.attributes)
new_model.id = existing_model.id
end
Now the new_model is being saved which gives me the uniqueness erorr (even though it's technically the same model). I also tried using the reload method, but that yields the same result.
Background:
The method above is run in a before_add callback on an association. I want to be able to call update on a model (with nested associations) without having to specify IDs of the nested models. This update is supposed to merge some associations, which is why I try to do the whole merge thing above.
You can't set the id of a model and then save the record expecting the id to be set since the id is the primary key of the database. So you are actually creating a whole new record and, thus, the uniqueness validation error. So you'll need to think of some other design to accomplish what you are wanting. It may help to know that what you are trying to do sounds similar to a deep_dup, except that ActiveRecord doesn't define this method (but Hash does).
I am trying to get the value of a form field of the previous record when creating a new record.
Basically each record has a text area for notes. When creating a new record, instead of the notes field containing a static value or being blank, I would like it to pull the value of this field from the previously created record.
For example the parent model is Customer and the child model is called Stickies.
I have tried this by calling:
#customer.stickies.last.notes
When you do this everything is nil. I assume this is because when calling this in the view it assumes the last record is actually the record that is about to be saved. Anyone know how I can accomplish this.
Try using #last_note = #customer.stickies.last.notes before creating a new record and use this value to show last note.
#user = User.new
#user.id returns nil but i need to know it before i save. Is it possible ?
YES you can!
I had the same question and investigated the docs.
The ability to solve this question is very related to your database type in fact.
Oracle and Postgresql do have useful functions to easily solve this.
For MySQL(oracle) or SkySQL(open-source) it seems more complicated (but still possible). I would recommend you avoid using these (MySQL/SkySQL) databases if you need advanced database tools.
First you must try to avoid this situation as much as possible in your application design, as it is dangerous to play with IDs before they get saved.
There may be situation where you don't have any other choice:
For instance when two tables are referencing themselves and for security reason you don't allow DELETE or UPDATE on these tables.
When this is the case, you can use the (PostgreSQL, Oracle) database nextval function to generate the next ID number without actually inserting a new record.
Use it in conjunction with the find_by_sql rails method.
To do this with postgreSQL and Rails for instance, choose one of your rails models and add a class method (not an instance method!).
This is possible with the "self" word at the beginning of the method name.
self tells Ruby that this method is usable only by the class, not by its instance variables (the objects created with 'new').
My Rails model:
class MyToy < ActiveRecord::Base
...
def self.my_next_id_sequence
self.find_by_sql "SELECT nextval('my_toys_id_seq') AS my_next_id"
end
end
When you generate a table with a Rails migration, by default Rails automatically creates a column called id and sets it as the primary key's table. To ensure that you don't get any "duplicate primary key error", Rails automatically creates a sequence inside the database and applies it to the id column. For each new record (row) you insert in your table, the database will calculate by itself what will be the next id for your new record.
Rails names this sequence automatically with the table name append with "_id_seq".
The PostgreSQL nextval function must be applied to this sequence as explained here.
Now about find_by_sql, as explained here, it will create an array containing new objects instances of your class. Each of those objects will contain all the columns the SQL statement generates. Those columns will appear in each new object instance under the form of attributes. Even if those attributes don't exist in your class model !
As you wisely realized, our nextval function will only return a single value.
So find_by_sql will create an array containing a single object instance with a single attribute.
To make it easy to read the value of this very attribute, we will name the resulting SQL column with "my_next_id", so our attribute will have the same name.
So that's it. We can use our new method:
my_resulting_array = MyToy.my_next_id_sequence
my_toy_object = my_resulting_array[0]
my_next_id_value = my_toy_object.my_next_id
And use it to solve our dead lock situation :
my_dog = DogModel.create(:name => 'Dogy', :toy_id => my_next_id_value)
a_dog_toy = MyToy.new(:my_dog_id => my_dog.id)
a_dog_toy.id = my_next_id_value
a_dog_toy.save
Be aware that if you don't use your my_next_id_value this id number will be lost forever. (I mean, it won't be used by any record in the future).
The database doesn't wait on you to use it. If somewhere at any time, your application needs to insert a new record in your my_table_example (maybe at the same time as we are playing with my_next_id_sequence), the database will always assign an id number to this new record immediately following the one you generated with my_next_id_sequence, considering that your my_next_id_value is reserved.
This may lead to situations where the records in your my_table_example don't appear to be sorted by the time they were created.
No, you can't get the ID before saving. The ID number comes from the database but the database won't assign the ID until you call save. All this is assuming that you're using ActiveRecord of course.
I had a similar situation. I called the sequence using find_by_sql on my model which returns the model array. I got the id from the first object of the arry. something like below.
Class User < ActiveRecord::Base
set_primary_key 'user_id'
alias user_id= id=
def self.get_sequence_id
self.find_by_sql "select TEST_USER_ID_SEQ.nextval as contact_id from dual"
end
end
and on the class on which you reference the user model,
#users = User.get_sequence_id
user = users[0]
Normally the ID is filled from a database sequence automatically.
In rails you can use the after_create event, which gives you access to the object just after it has been saved (and thus it has the ID). This would cover most cases.
When using Oracle i had the case where I wanted to create the ID ourselves (and not use a sequence), and in this post i provide the details how i did that. In short the code:
# a small patch as proposed by the author of OracleEnhancedAdapter: http://blog.rayapps.com/2008/05/13/activerecord-oracle-enhanced-adapter/#comment-240
# if a ActiveRecord model has a sequence with name "autogenerated", the id will not be filled in from any sequence
ActiveRecord::ConnectionAdapters::OracleEnhancedAdapter.class_eval do
alias_method :orig_next_sequence_value, :next_sequence_value
def next_sequence_value(sequence_name)
if sequence_name == 'autogenerated'
# we assume id must have gotten a good value before insert!
id
else
orig_next_sequence_value(sequence_name)
end
end
end
while this solution is specific to Oracle-enhanced, i am assuming the other databases will have a similar method that you could redefine.
So, while it is definitely not advised and you want to be absolutely sure why you would not want to use an id generated by a sequence, if it is needed it is most definitely possible.
It is why I love ruby and Ruby on Rails! :)
In Oracle you can get your current sequence value with this query:
SELECT last_number FROM user_sequences where sequence_name='your_sequence_name';
So in your model class, you can put something like this:
class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
self.sequence_name = 'your_sequence_name'
def self.my_next_id_sequence
get_data = self.find_by_sql "SELECT last_number FROM user_sequences where sequence_name='your_sequence_name'"
get_data[0].last_number
end
end
And finally, in controller you can get this value with this:
my_sequence_number = MyModel.my_next_id_sequence
So, there is no need to get your next value by using NEXTVAL and you won't lose you ID.
What you could do is User.max(id). which will return the highest ID in the database, you could then add 1. This is not reliable, although might meet your needs.
Since Rails 5 you can simply call next_sequence_value
Note: For Oracle when self.sequence_name is set, requesting next sequence value creates side effect by incrementing sequence value
What is the more "rails-like"? If I want to modify a model's property when it's set, should I do this:
def url=(url)
#remove session id
self[:url] = url.split('?s=')[0]
end
or this?
before_save do |record|
#remove session id
record.url = record.url.split('?s=')[0]
end
Is there any benefit for doing it one way or the other? If so, why? If not, which one is generally more common?
Obviously these two have different use-cases.
The first one should be done if you need to access the modified attribute before the record is saved. For example, you want to set the url and at once check the modified value against some condition before saving it to DB.
The second one fits if you only want to do something with the attribute just before saving to the database. So if you access it between the moment of setting and the moment of saving, you'll get the unmodified value.
I have a table that has following columns
id store_id store_name
id and store_id are always going to be same. Since I am new to rails...I had created it by mistake. But I can't afford to go back and change stuff now since I am using store_id at a lot of places.
Issue 1: I am making admin screen for this table. When I try to insert a record, eventhough, id gets inserted (rails automatically gets the next one) NULL is being inserted in store_id.
Is there any ways I can have same number in store_id as in id while inserting record using the create method. Is there something that can be put in the model so that it is always execute before creating a record. and there I can have access to the next Id that should be inserted?
Issue 2: Since I am making admin screens for this table now..before I was just inserting data into this table by hand. I have inserted 5 records by hand so id and store_id 1..5 already exist. Now when I try to insert a record from admin screen it says duplicate key violates constraint. could it be trying to insert id of 1 since this is the first time I am inserting record to this table using rails?
Issue 1: Until you can remove the store_id column, override the getter in the model for compatibility.
def store_id
id
end
As for Issue 2: make sure your create code is not manually setting the id. The next record should be inserted with id 6, as long as your object has no id defined. Try it from script/console.
I think you should just change your code to only use the ID.
A competent editor will be able to tell you where you have used store id in your project, and your tests will help if you introduce a regression error.
Otherwise, you could use a database trigger. Or setup a callback on the model to set store_id from the newly created id value (look at the after_create callback). Again, both of these approaches are hacks to cover up a bug in your system with an easy fix.
You can set custom primary key for ActiveRecord models:
class Store < ActiveRecord::Base
set_primary_key :store_id
end
Then you can create a new migration that removes 'id' column and updates 'store_id' column to be a primary key.