"Next" button creates a Viewed_Lesson | Ruby on Rails 4 | Learning App - ruby-on-rails

Question

I am trying to make a "next" button that should generate a Viewed_lesson (user_id, lesson_id, boolean: true) and then redirect to the next lesson. The purpose is to make a tracking progress to show the progress of the user over a course.
My models:
class Course
has_many :lessons
end
class Lesson
#fields: course_id
belongs_to :course
end
class User
has_many :viewed_lessons
has_many :viewed_courses
end
class ViewedLesson
#fields: user_id, lesson_id, completed(boolean)
belongs_to :user
belongs_to :lesson
end
class ViewedCourse
#fields: user_id, course_id, completed(boolean)
belongs_to :user
belongs_to :course
end
What would the create action of viewed_lesson controller should look like?
There is only a create method needed.
And how would the button/form would look like in the view? The button is placed in lectures/id/lesson/id
Thank you for your help in advance!

Answer 1

I would say that your design sounds a little bit off. In rails there is not always a 1:1 crud relation between models and controllers.
First off I would rename those models UserLesson and UserCouse. It makes the relation really obvious and ViewedLesson stinks because it implies some sort of state.
In Rails a 1:1 relation between models and controllers is not always the best solution. And sometimes just using the standard crud verbs might not cut it.
Imagine the follow scenarios:
Does POST /user/1/lessons mean that a user has completed a course?
Or does it mean the user has just started a lesson?
Instead you might want to do a design like the following:
# config/routes.rb
resources :lessons # Used by admins to CRUD the curriculum.
resources :users
resources :lessons, controller: `users/lessons` do
member do
post :complete
end
end
end
# app/controllers/users/lessons_controller.rb
module Users
class LessonsController
before_action :set_lesson, only: [:show, :update, :complete]
# ...
# Enroll user in a lession
# POST /users/:user_id/lessons/:id
def create
#user_lesson = UserLesson.create(lesson: params[:id], user: params[:user_id])
end
# POST /users/:user_id/lessons/:id/complete
def complete
# #todo check if user has completed all steps...
end
# Save user progress when they reach certain milestones
def update
# #todo update user_lesson
end
def set_lesson
#lesson = Lession.find(params[:id])
end
def set_user_lesson
#user_lesson = UserLesson.find_by(user: params[:user_id], lession_id: params[:id])
end
end
end
Another alternative would be if you don't want to nest the routes under users:
resources :lessions, controller: 'user_lessions' do
member do
post :complete
end
end
# or
resources :courses, controller: 'user_courses' do
resources :lessions, controller: 'user_lessions' do
member do
post :complete
end
end
end
namespace :admin do
resources :lessions # used to crud the corriculum
end

Answer 2

It should look like following:
class ViewedLessonsController < ApplicationController
before_filter :set_user_and_lesson
def create
#viewed_lesson = ViewLession.new(user_id: #user.id, lession_id: #lesson.id, completed: true)
if #viewed_lesson.save
# redirect_to appropriate location
else
# take the appropriate action
end
end
end
In your ApplicationController class, you can do:
def set_user_and_lesson
#user = User.find_by_id(params[:user_id])
#lesson = Lesson.find_by_id(params[:lesson_id])
end
You also need to define the routes for it, and remember, you need to have models as well for ViewedLesson and ViewedCourse.