two belongs_to same model assign id using name - ruby-on-rails

Question

I am new to RoR and am working on creating a database. Each host has two system admin. I am trying to associate the name given while creating a host with their respective system admin. How would I go about doing that?
If a user inputs the name of the system admin then how can I get the id using that name and insert that id into primary_sadmin_id field ?
Systemadmin.rb
class Systemadmin < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :id, :email, :location, :name, :netid, :priphone, :secphone
has_many :primary_sysadmin, :class_name => 'Host', :foreign_key => 'primary_sadmin_id'
has_many :seconday_sysadmin, :class_name => 'Host', :foreign_key => 'seconary_sadmin_id'
end
host.rb
class Host < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :iogroup, :ip, :location, :name, :opsystem, :primary_sadmin_id, :purpose, :secondary_sadmin_id, :host_type
belongs_to :primary_sadmin, :class_name => 'Systemadmin', :foreign_key => 'primary_sadmin_id'
belongs_to :secondary_sadmin, :class_name => 'Systemadmin', :foreign_key => 'secondary_sadmin_id'
end
host_controller.rb
def create
#host = Host.new(params[:host])
#host.primary_sadmin_id = Systemadmin.find_by_name(:sa_name1)
#host.secondary_sadmin_id = Systemadmin.find_by_name(:sa_name2)
respond_to do |format|
if #host.save
format.html { redirect_to #host, notice: 'Host was successfully created.' }
format.json { render json: #host, status: :created, location: #host }
else
format.html { render action: "new" }
format.json { render json: #host.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
schema.rb
create_table "hosts", :force => true do |t|
t.string "name"
t.integer "ip", :precision => 38, :scale => 0
t.string "location"
t.string "host_type"
t.string "opsystem"
t.string "iogroup"
t.integer "primary_sadmin_id", :precision => 38, :scale => 0
t.integer "secondary_sadmin_id", :precision => 38, :scale => 0
t.string "purpose"
t.datetime "created_at", :null => false
t.datetime "updated_at", :null => false
end
create_table "systemadmins", :force => true do |t|
t.string "name"
t.string "netid"
t.integer "priphone", :precision => 38, :scale => 0
t.integer "secphone", :precision => 38, :scale => 0
t.string "email"
t.string "location"
t.datetime "created_at", :null => false
t.datetime "updated_at", :null => false
end

Answer 1

Solved it using find_or_create_by_name.
class Host 'Systemadmin', :foreign_key => 'primary_sadmin_id'
belongs_to :secondary_sadmin, :class_name => 'Systemadmin', :foreign_key => 'secondary_sadmin_id'
has_many :database, :class_name => 'Host'
def sa_name1
primary_sadmin.try(:sa_name1)
end
def sa_name1=(sa_name1)
self.primary_sadmin = Systemadmin.find_or_create_by_name(sa_name1) if sa_name1.present?
end
def sa_name2
secondary_sadmin.try(:sa_name2)
end
def sa_name2=(sa_name2)
self.secondary_sadmin = Systemadmin.find_or_create_by_name(sa_name2) if sa_name2.present?
end
end