Rails: Select options - ruby-on-rails

I asked a similar question about select options a while ago but I still can't seem to wrap my head around it. I'm rather new to rails but here's what I'm trying to do
I have a Post table & in it, I have a "post_status" column. I
would like to give each post 3 options:
Draft
Pending
Publish
How would I go about creating these 3 options in Rails? (I was advised not to use booleans for this)
Thank you in advance

Elaborating on #Alexander Kobelev answer, I'd put it all in the model:
class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
STATUS_OPTIONS = {
:draft => 'Draft',
:pending => 'Pending',
:published => 'Published'
}
validates_inclusion_of :post_status, :in => STATUS_OPTIONS.keys
end
in your view:
Post Status: <%= select(:post, :post_status, Post::STATUS_OPTIONS.invert) %>

In this particular instance they look like status flags that could be handled a few ways, but you've asked about select options so here's a solution for that method.
Because you don't specify if you need to keep the values already in the table I've detailed a method that allows you to keep them by converting them to IDs (assuming they are currently strings), if this is not relevant then follow only the bold instructions.
Create a PostStatus resource (model, migrate, controller/view if you need the ability to change them).
Define the relationships
PostStatus
has_many :posts
Post
belongs_to :post_status
Add values to your PostStatus table (if you have a live system with strings in the table you should match the existing post status strings here to allow you to convert the data (detailed below).
Change column name to post_status_id in the Post table, change its type to int. If this isn't live then just redo the migrate with the column as integer. If it is a live system you'll need to convert your data into a new column instead of just changing its type, the below is a suggested method.
add_column :posts, :post_status_id_tmp, :int
Post.reset_column_information # make the new column available to model methods
Post.all.each do |post|
# Assuming you have a string with the option text currently:
post.post_status_id_tmp = PostStatus.find_by_name(post.post_status).id
post.save
end
remove_column :posts, :post_status
rename_column :posts, :post_status_tmp, :post_status_id
In your post form add a selectbox.
<%= form.collection_select :post_status_id, PostStatus.all, :id, :name %>
That should at the least get you started!

You can try something like this:
class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
validates_inclusion_of :status, :in => [:draft, :pending, :publish]
def status
read_attribute(:status).to_sym
end
def status= (value)
write_attribute(:status, value.to_s)
end
end
where status is :string, limit: 20 (it's just for example) in migration
or you can try to use https://github.com/jeffp/enumerated_attribute

Related

Rails 4 field type for multiselect with predefined values

Heres the situation:
I have a Category model, which needs to have an attribute where the user can select multiple items from 3-4 predefined values (meaning only I can add more, the admins can't, so there is no separate model for those 3-4 options).
Enum would be great but with that, only 1 option can be selected.
Since I am using Postgres, I am thinking about using an array type attribute to store the selected values.
Is there a simpler, more efficient way to do this or another field type which I am just not aware of?
UPDATE (What I chose to do):
Migration (Postgres 9.3):
add_column :categories, :settings, :string, array: true, default: '{}'
Controller:
Added :settings => [] to permitted params.
View: <%= f.select :settings, %w[a b c], {}, :multiple => true %>
So if I would like to get all categories where setting 'a' is present then I an do:
Category.where("'a' = ANY (settings)")
I am thinking about using an array type attribute to store the selected values.
You can serialize your field to save values as array or hash in database. For this first you'll have to add a field in categories table by creating a migration
class some_migration
def change
add_column :categories, :some_field, :text
end
end
In model tell rails to use it as a serializable field
class Category < ActiveRecord::Base
serialize :some_field, Array
end
#this will allow you to do something like this:
category = Category.create(some_field: [some_value_1,some_value_2])
Category.find(category.id).preferences # => [some_value_1, some_value_2]

Ordering a has_many list in view

I have a model called Person that the user selects five personality Traits for. However, the order they pick them for matters (they are choosing most descriptive to least descriptive).
I know how to create a join table with a poison an do ordering that way. I'm using acts_as_list as well.
But I can't seem to find any help on, is how to create a way for the user of my app to set the order of the traits. That is I want to have say five select boxes on in the HTML and have them pick each one, and use something like jQuery UI Sortable to allow them to move them around if they like.
Here is a basic idea of my models (simplified for the purpose of just getting the concept).
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :personalizations
has_many :traits, :through => :personalizations, :order => 'personalizations.position'
end
class Personalization < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :person
belongs_to :trait
end
class Trait < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :persons
has_many :persons, :through => :personalizations
end
I just have no idea how to get positioning working in my view/controller, so that when submitting the form it knows which trait goes where in the list.
After a lot of research I'll post my results up to help someone else encase they need to have list of records attached to a model via many-to-many through relationship with being able to sort the choices in the view.
Ryan Bates has a great screencast on doing sorting with existing records: http://railscasts.com/episodes/147-sortable-lists-revised
However in my case I needed to do sorting before my Person model existed.
I can easily add an association field using builder or simple_form_for makes this even easier. The result will be params contains the attribute trait_ids (since my Person has_many Traits) for each association field:
#view code (very basic example)
<%= simple_form_for #character do |f| %>
<%= (1..5).each do |i| %>
<%= f.association :traits %>
<% end %>
<% end %>
#yaml debug output
trait_ids:
- ''
- '1'
- ''
- '2'
- ''
- '3'
- ''
- '4'
- ''
- '5'
So then the question is will the order of the elements in the DOM be respected whenever the form is submitted. Specially if I implement jQuery UI draggable? I found this Will data order in post form be the same to it in web form? and I agree with the answer. As I suspected, too risky to assume the order will always be preserved. Could lead to a bug down the line even if it works in all browsers now.
Therefore after much looking I've concluded jQuery is a good solution. Along with a virtual attribute in rails to handle the custom output. After a lot of testing I gave up on using acts_as_list for what I am trying to do.
To explain this posted solution a bit. Essentially I cache changes to a virtual property. Then if that cache is set (changes were made) I verify they have selected five traits. For my purposes I am preserving the invalid/null choices so that if validation fails when they go back to the view the order will remain the same (e.g. if they skipped the middle select boxes).
Then an after_save call adds these changes to the database. Any error in after_save is still wrapped in a transaction so if any part were to error out no changes will be made. It was easiest therefore to just delete all the endowments and save the new ones (there might be a better choice here, not sure).
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :name, :ordered_traits
has_many :endowments
has_many :traits, :through => :endowments, :order => "endowments.position"
validate :verify_list_of_traits
after_save :save_endowments
def verify_list_of_traits
return true if #trait_cache.nil?
check_list = #trait_cache.compact
if check_list.nil? or check_list.size != 5
errors.add(:ordered_traits, 'must select five traits')
elsif check_list.uniq{|trait| trait.id}.size != 5
errors.add(:ordered_traits, 'traits must be unique')
end
end
def ordered_traits
list = #trait_cache unless #trait_cache.nil?
list ||= self.traits
#preserve the nil (invalid) values with '-1' placeholders
list.map {|trait| trait.nil?? '-1' : trait.id }.join(",")
end
def ordered_traits=(val)
#trait_cache = ids.split(',').map { |id| Trait.find_by_id(id) }
end
def save_endowments
return if #trait_cache.nil?
self.endowments.each { |t| t.destroy }
i = 1
for new_trait in #trait_cache
self.endowments.create!(:trait => new_trait, :position => i)
i += 1
end
end
Then with simple form I add a hidden field
<%= f.hidden :ordered_traits %>
I use jQuery to move the error and hint spans to the correct location inside
the div of five select boxes I build. Then I had a submit event handler on the form and convert the selection from the five text boxes in the order they are in the DOM to an array of comma separated numbers and set the value on the hidden field.
For completeness here is the other classes:
class Trait < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :title
has_many :endowments
has_many :people, :through => :endowments
end
class Endowment < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :person, :trait, :position
belongs_to :person
belongs_to :trait
end

How do I get Index-tank to do conditional indexing?

After a long conversation with the fine people at IndexTank, I was not really sure on how to fix my problem, and I was wondering if anyone could help me.
I have an article model that belongs to a user model. This article model also has a boolean attribute called anonymous, which, if set to true gives the user the option to post the article without his name being shown.
Article
belongs_to :user
attr_accesible :anonymous, :user_id
User
has_many :articles
My problem is that if the article is posted as anonymous. I don't want tanker to search within the author name field, but I want it searching every other field. I tried to do this with an if else statement where I would normally put the "tankit" block, but that does not work.
Is there a way I could put the tankit block into a model method and use a validation call back like this?
def anon_index
if self.anonymous
tankit 'my_index' do
indexes VARIABLES ETC BUT NOT the user_ attributes
end
else # if anonymous is false
tankit 'my_index' do
indexes :title
indexes :body
indexes :user_penname
indexes :user_firstname
indexes :user_lastname
end
end
end
I was thinking either this or putting an if else statement where the "tankit" block declaration goes, but neither of those seem to, unless I'm doing something wrong.
how does this look?:
class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
tankit 'my_index' do
indexes :title
indexes :body
indexes :custom_penname
indexes :custom_firstname
indexes :custom_lastname
end
def custom_penname
if self.anonymous
'anonymous'
else
self.user_penname
end
end
def custom_firstname
#same for first name
end
def custom_lastname
#same for last name
end
end
Same approach, different scenario:
https://github.com/adrnai/rails-3-tanker-demo/blob/master/app/models/comment.rb

associate nested attributes with the ids they get after save

class Member < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :posts
accepts_nested_attributes_for :posts
end
params = { :member => {
:name => 'joe', :posts_attributes => [
{ :title => 'Kari, the awesome Ruby documentation browser!' },
{ :title => 'The egalitarian assumption of the modern citizen' },
]
}}
member = Member.create(params['member'])
After doing this I want is to map the elements in posts_attributes in params hash to the id's (The primary keys) after they are saved. Is there any thing I can do when accepts_nested_attributes_for builds or creates each record
PS: posts_attributes array may not contain index in sequence I mean this array might not contain index like 0,1,2 it can contain index like 0,127653,7863487 as I am dynamically creating form elements through javascript
also, I want is to associate only new records created in Post and not already existing Post
Thanks in Advance
Have you considered refreshing the posts association and grabbing the posts_attributes array in full?
Unfortunately, there is not a reliable way to do what you want. You could try looping over both and finding the IDs associated with the content using string matching, but without a field on the posts that is guaranteed to be a unique value, there's not an effective way to do it.
Although I'm not quite sure about what elements you want to assign with what ids, I think this approach would give you a hint.
You may assign a method name symbol to :reject_if, then put your logic into that method, like this:
class Member < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :posts
accepts_nested_attributes_for :posts, :reject_if => :reject_posts?
def reject_posts?(attrs)
# You can do some assignment here
return true if attrs["title"].blank?
post_exist = self.posts.detect do |p|
p.title == attrs["title"]
end
return post_exist
end
end

Exclude draft articles from Solr index with Sunspot

I have an indexed model called Article and I don't want solr to index unpublished articles.
class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
searchable do
text :title
text :body
end
end
How can I specify that article that is not #published? should not be indexed?
Be sure to index the published status.
class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
searchable do
text :title
text :body
boolean :is_published, :using => :published?
end
end
Then add a filter to your query
Sunspot.search(Article) do |search|
search.with(:is_published, true)
# ...
end
If you want to make sure unpublished articles are never included in the search index, you can do it this way instead:
class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
searchable :if => :published? do
text :title
text :body
end
end
The model will then only be indexed when published.
My approach is less interesting if you also want admins to be able to search for articles, including unpublished ones, however.
Note: calling article.index! will add the instance to the index regardless of the :if => :method param.
A small look into the code base of sunspot_rails reveals a method called maybe_mark_for_auto_indexing which will be added to the models that include solr. You could override that method and set #marked_for_auto_indexing based on your criteria in the specific model. Its monkey patching but can help you solve the problem. The code for ur reference is in lib/sunspot/searchable.rb.

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