Add User to project using his email - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have projects which can have one projectOwner and multiple projectMembers. After creating my project, I want to be able to add users to this project.
Right now my problem is that I have to enter the user_id and project_id when creating a new projectMember. The form is expecting a user_id and project_id so how can I change that so that it takes an email and then finds the user_id related to it.
View:
<%= form_for([#project, #project.project_members.build]) do |f| %>
<p>
<%= f.label :project_id %><br>
<%= f.text_field :project_id %>
</p>
<p>
<%= f.label :user_id %><br>
<%= f.text_field :user_id %>
</p>
<p>
<%= f.submit :Add, class: 'btn btn-info' %>
</p>
<% end %>
Controller:
def create
#project_member = ProjectMember.new(member_params)
#project_member.save
end
private
def member_params
params.require(:project_member).permit(:user_id, :project_id)
end
Model relation:
class User < ApplicationRecord
has_many :roles
has_many :projects, through: :roles
end
class Role < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :user
belongs_to :project
end
class ProjectOwner < Role
end
class ProjectMember < Role
end
class Project < ApplicationRecord
has_many :project_members
has_many :members, class_name: "User", through: :project_members
has_one :project_owner
has_many :owners, class_name: "User", through: :project_owner
end
Right now my routes look like this but I feel like this isnt the right way of doing it:
devise_for :users
resources :users do
resources :projects
end
resources :projects do
resources :project_members
end

Answer 1

The form is expecting a user_id and project_id so how can I change
that so that it takes an email and then finds the user_id related to
it.
You can have an input for the email in the form and allow the controller to do the rest
<%= form_for([#project, #project.project_members.build]) do |f| %>
<p>
<%= f.label :project_id %><br>
<%= f.text_field :project_id %>
</p>
<p>
<%= label_tag :email %><br>
<%= email_field_tag :email %>
</p>
<p>
<%= f.submit :Add, class: 'btn btn-info' %>
</p>
<% end %>
In the controller, find the user with the email
def create
#project_member = ProjectMember.new(member_params)
#user = User.find_by(email: params[:email])
#project_member.user_id = #user.id
#project_member.save
end
Also, you don't need to provide project_id explicitly in the form. The #project in the form will give you the project_id. You just need to let the controller do the mapping
<%= form_for([#project, #project.project_members.build]) do |f| %>
<p>
<%= label_tag :email %><br>
<%= email_field_tag :email %>
</p>
<p>
<%= f.submit :Add, class: 'btn btn-info' %>
</p>
<% end %>
In the controller,
def create
#project = Project.find(params[:project_id])
#project_member = #project.project_members.new(member_params)
#user = User.find_by(email: params[:email])
#project_member.user_id = #user.id
#project_member.save
end

Answer 2

In your view, replace user_id with user_email field:
<p>
<%= f.label :user_email %><br>
<%= f.text_field :user_email %>
</p>
In controller, get the email
def create
user = User.find_by_email(params[:project_member][:user_email]) # find the user by email
#project_member = ProjectMember.new(:project_id => params[:project_member][:project_id]) # create new project member with project id
#project_member.users << user # assign user to newly created project member
#project_member.save
end
private
def member_params
params.require(:project_member).permit(:user_email, :project_id)
end
Hope it helps!
Note: Please make sure if the User we find by email exists!

Answer 3

One way you achieve this is modifying your member_params as
def member_params
member_params = params.require(:project_member).permit(:email, :project_id)
if (user_id = User.find_by_email(member_params[:email]).try(:id)).present?
member_params.merge!(user_id: user_id)
member_params.permit!
else
# display error
end
end
Or let your params be as it is
def member_params
params.require(:project_member).permit(:email, :project_id)
end
in your controller,
def create
#project_member = ProjectMember.build_by(member_params)
if #project_member.save
# success
else
# failure
end
end
and model,
def self.build_by(params)
project_member = self.new(params)
project_member.user_id = User.find_by_email(params[:email]).try(:id)
end
I think, second option is more cleaner and logic moves to model..