Rails HABTM - Properly removing an association - ruby-on-rails

I am developing a feature for creating specials, for a shopping website. One product can have more than one special, and obviously a special can have more than one product..
I am using a has_and_belongs_to_many relationship, so i have declared:
Product.rb
has_and_belongs_to_many :specials
Special.rb
has_and belongs_to_many :products
Now, with a product #product and a special #special, an association is created like so..
#special.products << #product
After doing this, the following is true:
#special.products.first == #product
and, importantly:
#product.specials.first == #special
When i delete the association using this
#special.products.delete(#product)
then #product is removed from specials, so #special.products.first==nil, however #product still contains #special, in other words #products.specials.first==#special
Is there any proper way, apart from writing a delete method, to do this in a single call?

According to the Rails documentation:
collection.delete(object, …)
Removes one or more objects from the
collection by removing their associations from the join table. This
does not destroy the objects.
Brilliant reference here for you
You can use:
product = Product.find(x)
special = product.specials.find(y)
product.specials.delete(special)
This creates ActiveRecord objects for both the object you're trying to remove, which gives clear definition to the function
collection.clear
Removes all objects from the
collection by removing their associations from the join table. This
does not destroy the objects.
In this example:
product = Product.find(x)
product.specials.clear

Related

Rails get created nested record

I'm creating a single associated record in a has_many association via nested_attributes like so
#Parent Model
has_many :child_models
#Parent Controller
def create
parentModel.update_attributes(parent_model_params_with_nested_child_attributes)
end
Pretty basic, but after the update created a new ChildModel I want to add some other data to it, so I need to get a reference to the ChildModel that was just created.
parentModel.childModels.order("id DESC").first
since that SHOULD contain the most recently created association, but I'm wondering if A) that's true and B) there isn't a better way.

Find multiple database objects by attribute in Rails?

I have a Track table and a Section table. A track has many sections. Sections are connected to their respective task by the Section's :track_id, which corresponds to the Track's :id attribute.
<% #track = Track.find(params[:id]) %>
<% #sections = Section.find_by_track_id(#track.id) %>
In the code above I'm trying to find multiple sections that share the same :track_id attribute, but find_by_track_id() only returns the first. What's the best way to get all of them?
Thanks!
If your tracks and sections are related in this way, then the best way to relate them is by using the methods that come automatically from Rails' associations.
in this case, I expect in your model files, you have the following:
class Track < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :sections
end
class Section < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :track
end
Then you can get the sections for a track like this:
#track = Track.find(params[:id])
#sections = #track.sections
You're looking for where, which finds all records where a specific set of conditions are met.
#sections = Section.where(track_id: #track.id)
This is unrelated to your question, but you should set #sections and #track in your controller. As it seems like you're new to Rails, I'd highly recommend reading through the Rails Guides. They will help you immensely on your journey.
EDIT: I was solving for the general question of "Find multiple database objects by attribute in Rails?", which is how to find multiple database objects in the general case. #TarynEast's method is the way to go to find all of the sections for a track, or more generally, all of the objects that belong to the desired object. For the specific case you're asking for above, go with #TarynEast's solution.
Association
To extend Taryn East's answer, you need to look into ActiveRecord Associations.
In your model, if you have the following has_many relationship:
#app/models/track.rb
Class Track < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :sections
end
#app/models/section.rb
Class Section < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :track
end
This will set up a relational database association between your tracks and sections datatables.
--
Associative Data
The magic of Rails comes into play here
When you call the "parent" object, you'll be able to locate it using its primary key (typically the ID). The magic happens when Rails automatically uses this primary_key as a foreign_key of the child model - allowing you to call all its data as an append to the parent object:
#track = Track.find params[:id] #-> find single Track by primary key
#sections = #track.sections #-> automagically finds sections using the track primary key
This means if you call the following, it will work exactly how you want:
#sections.each do |section|
section.name
end
Where
Finally, if you wanted to look up more than one record at a time, you should identify which ActiveRecord method you should use:
find is to locate a single record by id
finy_by key: "value" is to locate a single record by your defined key/column
where is to return multiple items using your own conditions
So to answer your base line question, you'll want to use where:
#sections = Section.where track_id: params[:id]
This is not the right answer, but it should help you
<% #sections=#track.sections%>
Use find when you are looking for one specific element identified by it's id.
Model.find is using the primary key column. Therefore there is always exactly one or no result.

Deleting a record in a has_and_belongs_to_many table - Rails

I've been looking, and can't find a good answer for how to delete records in a HABTM table. I assume a lot of people have this same requirement.
Simply, I have Students, Classes, and Classes_Students
I want a student to be able to drop a class, or delete the HABTM record that has signed that student up for that class.
There must be a simple answer to this. Does anyone know what it is?
The reason why .destroy or .delete does not work on this situation is due to the missing primary key in the middle table. However, our parent objects have this really cool method called {other_obj}_ids. It is a collection of ids on the left table object, of the right table object. This information is of course populated from our middle table.
So with that in mind, we have 2 object classes (Student, and Classes). Active record magic can generally figure out the middle table if you are not doing anything fancy, but it is recommended to use has_many :through.
class Student < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :classes
end
class Classes < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :students
end
What we can now do in terms of the middle table with this setup...
student = Student.find_by(1)
student.classes # List of class objects this student currently has.
student.class_ids # array of class object ids this student currently has
# how to remove a course from the middle table pragmatically
course = Course.find_by({:name => 'Math 101'})
# if this is actually a real course...
unless course.nil?
# check to see if the student actually has the course...
if student.class_ids.include?(course.id)
# update the list of ids in the array. This triggers a database update
student.class_ids = student.class_ids - [course.id]
end
end
I know this is a little late to answer this, but I just went through this exact situation tonight and wanted to share the solution here.
Now, if you want this deleted by the form, since you can now see how it is handled pragmatically, simply make sure the form input is nested such that it has something to the effect of:
What kind of trouble are you having? Do you have the appropriate :dependent=>:destroy and :inverse_of=>[foo] on your relations?
Let's say a class had a course title. You can do:
student.classes.find_by_course_title("Science").delete
So the proper answer here is to do something like this in your view:
<%= link_to 'Remove', cycle_cycles_group_path(#cycle, cycle), method: :delete %><br />
cycle is from a block the above code is within.
#cycle is an instance variable from the join models controller.
cycle_cycles_group_path is the nested join table "cycles_groups" under the model "Cycle" in the routes.rb file:
resources :cycles do
resources :cycles_groups do
end
end
and the join model controller looks like this:
def destroy
#cycles_group = CyclesGroup.find(params[:id])
#cycle = #cycles_group.cycle
#cycles_group.destroy
puts "cycle: #{#cycle}"
respond_to do |format|
format.html {redirect_to cycle_path(#cycle), notice: 'Training Week was successfully removed!'}
end
end

Rails 3: Join Table with additional attributes

I have a simple cart system that I have been working on for a little while for an application and am needing a little help in trying to figure out how to update a particular attribute in a join table (Between Order and Products).
Here is the code:
def add_product_to_cart
#product = Product.by_client(current_client).first
#order = current_order
unless #order.products.exists? :id => #product.id
#order.products << #product
end
end
I am trying to update a particular attribute when I update the #order.products...
This is what I am trying to do:
#order.products << #product --> When this happens I need to update a :price attribute..
Anyway of doing this?
class Order
has_many :products
def price
products.sum(:price)
end
end
Just off the top of my head. Here's the sum reference:
http://ar.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/Calculations/ClassMethods.html#M000296
Desire to put attributes into join table may be a sign of missing model. You can promote join table into model, say OrderItem, by adding primary key to it. HABTM associations in Order and Product then become has_many through associations. The new model would be a good place for setting up callback which populates price attribute. It can also unlock additional benefits, like time-stamping items and making them act_as_list, etc.

has_many through blowing away the association's metadata on mass association

Hey,
Not a Rails noob but this has stumped me.
With has many through associations in Rails. When I mass assign wines to a winebar through a winelist association (or through) table with something like this.
class WineBarController
def update
#winebar = WineBar.find(params[:id])
#winebar.wines = Wine.find(params[:wine_bar][:wine_ids].split(",")) // Mass assign wines.
render (#winebar.update_attributes(params[:wine_bar]) ? :update_success : :update_failure)
end
end
This will delete every winelist row associated with that winebar. Then it finds all of the wines in wine_ids, which we presume is a comma separated string of wine ids. Then it inserts back into the winelist a new association. This would be expensive, but fine if the destroyed association rows didn't have metadata such as the individual wine bar's price per glass and bottle.
Is there a way to have it not blow everything away, just do an enumerable comparison of the arrays and insert delete whatever changes. I feel like that's something rails does and I'm just missing something obvious.
Thanks.
Your problem looks like it's with your first statement in the update method - you're creating a new wine bar record, instead of loading an existing record and updating it. That's why when you examine the record, there's nothing showing of the relationship. Rails is smart enough not to drop/create every record on the list, so don't worry about that.
If you're using the standard rails setup for your forms:
<% form_for #wine_bar do |f| %>
Then you can call your update like this:
class WineBarController
def update
#winebar = WineBar.find(params[:id])
render (#winebar.update_attributes(params[:wine_bar]) ? :update_success : :update_failure)
end
end
You don't need to explicitly update your record with params[:wine_bar][:wine_ids], because when you updated it with params[:wine_bar], the wine_ids were included as part of that. I hope this helps!
UPDATE: You mentioned that this doesn't work because of how the forms are setup, but you can fix it easily. In your form, you'll want to rename the input field from wine_bar[wine_ids] to wine_bar[wine_ids_string]. Then you just need to create the accessors in your model, like so:
class WineBar < ActiveRecord::Base
def wine_ids_string
wines.map(&:id).join(',')
end
def wine_ids_string= id_string
self.wine_ids = id_string.split(/,/)
end
end
The first method above is the "getter" - it takes the list of associated wine ids and converts them to a string that the form can use. The next method is the "setter", and it accepts a comma-delimited string of ids, and breaks it up into the array that wine_ids= accepts.
You might also be interested in my article Dynamic Form Elements in Rails, which outlines how rails form inputs aren't limited to the attributes in the database record. Any pair of accessor methods can be used.

Resources