ORDER BY and DISTINCT ON (...) in Rails - ruby-on-rails

Question

I am trying to ORDER by created_at and then get a DISTINCT set based on a foreign key.
The other part is to somehow use this is ActiveModelSerializer. Specifically I want to be able to declare:
has_many :somethings
In the serializer. Let me explain further...
I am able to get the results I need with this custom sql:
def latest_product_levels
sql = "SELECT DISTINCT ON (product_id) client_product_levels.product_id,
client_product_levels.* FROM client_product_levels WHERE client_product_levels.client_id = #{id} ORDER BY product_id,
client_product_levels.created_at DESC";
results = ActiveRecord::Base.connection.execute(sql)
end
Is there any possible way to get this result but as a condition on a has_many relationship so that I can use it in AMS?
In pseudo code: #client.products_levels
Would do something like: #client.order(created_at: :desc).select(:product_id).distinct
That of course fails for reasons that are beyond me.
Any help would be great.
Thank you.

Answer 1

A good way to structure this is to split your query into two parts: the first part manages the filtering of rows so that you get only your latest client product levels. The second part uses a standard has_many association to connect Client with ClientProductLevel.
Starting with your ClientProductLevel model, you can create a scope to do the latest filtering:
class ClientProductLevel < ActiveRecord::Base
scope :latest, -> {
select("distinct on(product_id) client_product_levels.product_id,
client_product_levels.*").
order("product_id, created_at desc")
}
end
You can use this scope anywhere that you have a query that returns a list of ClientProductLevel objects, e.g., ClientProductLevel.latest or ClientProductLevel.where("created_at < ?", 1.week.ago).latest, etc.
If you haven't already done so, set up your Client class with a has_many relationship:
class Client < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :client_product_levels
end
Then in your ActiveModelSerializer try this:
class ClientSerializer < ActiveModel::Serializer
has_many :client_product_levels
def client_product_levels
object.client_product_levels.latest
end
end
When you invoke the ClientSerializer to serialize a Client object, the serializer sees the has_many declaration, which it would ordinarily forward to your Client object, but since we've got a locally defined method by that name, it invokes that method instead. (Note that this has_many declaration is not the same as an ActiveRecord has_many, which specifies a relationship between tables: in this case, it's just saying that the serializer should present an array of serialized objects under the key `client_product_levels'.)
The ClientSerializer#client_product_levels method in turn invokes the has_many association from the client object, and then applies the latest scope to it. The most powerful thing about ActiveRecord is the way it allows you to chain together disparate components into a single query. Here, the has_many generates the `where client_id = $X' portion, and the scope generates the rest of the query. Et voila!
In terms of simplification: ActiveRecord doesn't have native support for distinct on, so you're stuck with that part of the custom sql. I don't know whether you need to include client_product_levels.product_id explicitly in your select clause, as it's already being included by the *. You might try dumping it.