How to create multiple relations between the same models - ruby-on-rails

I have a User model
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :projects
end
and I have a Project model
class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :user
end
Obviously right now each project is owned by a user and there can only be one user per project. I now want to make my models represent another relation between the two models. I want a User to be able to follow multiple Projects, no matter who owns the Project. I know that I am going to have to use a has_many :through and create a join, but I cant wrap my head around how to change the model to keep my current relationship and add the new relationship.

Well, in that case, in your show/index action display all the projects (Project.all) in your project table. This way all users have access to all the projects. Now, in your edit action, use user.projects.all to display projects of that particular user. That should solve your problem, I don't see the need of any further association here.
Update:
This should suffice:
class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :user
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :projects_followed, :through => :projects
user has_many :projects_owned, :through => :projects
If you don't wish to create two more relations, create just one:class ProjectsSubscribed
belongs_to :project with three fields: project_id, is_owned, is_followed

Try following relation.
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :followers
has_many :projects, :through => :followers
end
class Follower < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :user
belongs_to :project
end
class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :followers
has_many :users, :through => :followers
end
Note it:
You can use has_many :through relationship if you need to work with the relationship model as an independent entity. If you don’t need to do anything with the relationship model, it may be simpler to set up a has_and_belongs_to_many relationship.
Hope it is helpful.

Related

multiple has_many through with the same model rails

I am trying to set up the model structure that has a User model Project model along with two join tables setup as has_many through to manage two specific aspects of the Project, ProjectManagers and ProjectMembers.
I can setup two has_and_belongs_to_many but it doesn't feel very railsy.
Right now, this is what I have and I'm unsure of how to proceed to use multiple has_many through (Project Manager, Project Member) both referencing User model.
Would a nested through be the way to go even if a Project Manager will not always be part of the Project User table?
project.rb
class Project < ApplicationRecord
has_many :project_members
has_many :users, through: :project_manager
end
user.rb
class User < ApplicationRecord
has_many :project_managers
has_many :users, through: :project_managers
end
project_manager.rb
class ProjectManager < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :project
belongs_to :user
end
project_member.rb
class ProjectMember < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :project
belongs_to :user
end
I don't see any problems with what you're doing. There are other options, but this approach should work as you want. Have you tried it? I'd do something like this.
class Project < ApplicationRecord
has_many :project_members
has_many :project_managers
has_many :members, through: :project_members, :class_name => User.to_s
has_many :managers, through: :project_manager, :class_name => User.to_s
end
Another approach, since the join tables are similar is to subclass them and add a type column to the join table. Not necessarily better than what you're doing.
You could also create a project_users table (don't separate members and managers) and include a "role" column. A scope on project_user.rb would bring back managers or members.
Personally, I would go with your approach. Managers will likely have different auth and have relationships with other objects. It's simpler to query and less likely to make a mistake.
And, I wouldn't recommend a has_and_belongs_to_many, you're likely to add other columns to the join table and you'll be glad you have the model.

Which Association Should I Use?

My app has 5 core models. I'm trying to figure out the best way to associate the models. How many tables should I build and which kind etc?
Here are the associations I would like to include and their respective models:
User
Has many boards
Has many lists
Has many cards
Has many comments
Board
Has many users
Has many lists
Has many cards
List
Belongs to board
Has many cards
Card
Belongs to board
Belongs to list
Has many comments
Comment
Belongs to card
Belongs to user
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :boards
has_many :lists, as: listable
has_many :cards, as: cardable
has_may :comments, as: commentable
end
class Board < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :users
has_many :lists, as: listable
has_many :cards, as: cardable
end
class Comment < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :commentable, :polymorphic => true
end
class List < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :listable, :polymorphic => true
has_many :cards, as: cardable
end
class Card < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :cardable, :polymorphic => true
has_many :comments, as:commentable
end
To establish HABTM relation you have to create a table named 'users_boards'
As Board and User are having many to many relationship, there will be a new table for it, if you want HABTM you can use it.
User(id, name, other_attributes...)
Board(id, name,...)
List(id, name, user_id(fk),...)
Card(id, name, user_id(fk), list_id(fk), board_id(fk),...)
Comment(id, comment_msg, user_id(fk), card_id(fk),...)
Board_User(board_id(fk), user_if(fk)) --- M-M relation
Few attributes might change if there is a has_many through relation.
FK-- Foreign key, you can use has_many through depending on your requirements.
Using polymorphic associations has some limitations, so please do through it then decide to use a polymorphic association
http://codeblow.com/questions/pros-and-cons-for-ruby-on-rails-polymorphic-associations/

Rails Many-to-Many Relantionship Dilemma

I have a User model:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :projects, dependent: :destroy
end
and a Project model:
class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :user
end
What should I do if I want a User to be able to fund Projects, and a Project can be funded by many Users?
This would mean I get a Many-to-many relationship, and I would need an additional intermediate table. Call it user_projects:
class UserProject < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :user
belongs_to :project
end
But how do I cope with the previous relationship I had between the models before I implemented the third one?
How do I know which project belongs to which user if I have the intermediate table?
Would I modify the tables the following way?
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :projects, through: :user_project, dependent: :destroy
has_many :user_projects
end
class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :user_projects
has_many :users, through: user_project
end
Whether or not you need an intermediate table depends on if there is any associated data you need to store with the user/project pair -- such as a dollar amount or date info or role, etc.
If you don't need to store anything else, then just use a HABTM relationship. Otherwise, your final solution would be the way to go.
I personally don't like the choice of 'user_project' as it's too close to the HABTM's 'users_projects'. Perhaps something like ProjectMember or ProjectFunder or Funding would be better, but it kind of depends on what extra data you need to store.

Creating a many-to-many relation in Rails

So I'm Rails n00b and I want to create a "favorites" relationship such that a User can have many favorite Item. I'm not entirely sure how to do this, this is how I'm going to try but I'm not sure if this is a good practice at all:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :favorites
//other code
end
class Favorite < ActiveRecord::Base
belong_to :user
has_one :item
end
class Item < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :item
end
Is this a good way to do it? Should I be using has_and_belongs_to_many ?
I'm specially concerned in the following scenario: Say a user has 100 favorite items.
When I do a User.find(id) will I also be retrieving the 100 favorites and the 100 Items?
In case it's important: ruby version 1.9.3, rails version 3.2.11
Can you try has_many => :through?
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :favorites
has_many :items, :through => :favorites
//other code
end
In your case has_many :through is definitely the way to go. I would recommend reading: http://guides.rubyonrails.org/association_basics.html
Of particular interest with regard to your question:
2.8 Choosing Between has_many :through and has_and_belongs_to_many
Rails offers two different ways to declare a many-to-many relationship between models. The simpler way is to use has_and_belongs_to_many, which allows you to make the association directly:
class Assembly < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :parts
end
class Part < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :assemblies
end
The second way to declare a many-to-many relationship is to use has_many :through. This makes the association indirectly, through a join model:
class Assembly < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :manifests
has_many :parts, :through => :manifests
end
class Manifest < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :assembly
belongs_to :part
end
class Part < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :manifests
has_many :assemblies, :through => :manifests
end
The simplest rule of thumb is that you should set up a has_many :through relationship if you need to work with the relationship model as an independent entity. If you don’t need to do anything with the relationship model, it may be simpler to set up a has_and_belongs_to_many relationship (though you’ll need to remember to create the joining table in the database).
You should use has_many :through if you need validations, callbacks, or extra attributes on the join model.
It is better than using has_and_belongs_to_many.
When I do a User.find(id) will I also be retrieving the 100 favorites
and the 100 Items?
No. You'll just get the user object.
Update:
Calling User.include(:favourites, :items).find(id) will get you joined tables in case you want to make many calls to items table from user object.

has_many :through relationships explained

I'm new to Rails and have some doubts about the kind of relationship do I need to use. Here is the case.
I have two models Offer and User, a user could belong to to many offers and offers can have many user. Also the users create the offers.
I think I have to use a has_many :through ralationship. For example I've created another model "Applicant". Applicant belongs_to user and belongs_to offer. But how is the relationship from the user and offer model? For example:
User Model
has_many :offer, :through => :applicant
Offer Model
has_many :user, :through => :applicant
My doubt is because I already have this two relationship
User Model
has_many :offers, :dependent => :destroy
Offer Model
belongs_to :user
After solve this, I guest I have to save the record in the applicant model from the applicanst_controller, right?
Thanks in advance
What you have described is a many-to-many relationship using a join table. You're actually pretty close but you just need to remove the has_many :offers, :dependent => :destroy from your user model and the blongs_to :user in your offer model. It should look something like this:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :offers, :through => :applicants
end
class Applicant < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :users
belongs_to :offers
end
class Offer < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :users, :through => :applicants
end
You don't have to worry about the dependent destroy part as associations are automatically removed as the corresponding objects are removed. With a many to many association it doesn't really matter how you go about building the relationship. Either of the following will work:
#user.offers << #offer
#offers.users << #user
If you don't need to store any information specific to your applicant join table (e.g., time stamps, descriptions) you might instead want to look at a has_and_belongs_to_many relationship. Check out choosing between has_many_through and has_and_belongs_to_many for reference.
Edit
Heres the code for a HABTM relationship:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :offers
end
class Offer < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :users
end

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