Given the fact that I have models like this:
class Person
has_many :owned_groups, :class_name => "Group", :foreign_key => :owner_id
has_many :owned_group_memberships, :through => :owned_groups,
:source => :group_memberships
has_many :group_memberships, :foreign_key => "member_id"
has_many :groups, :through => :group_memberships
end
class GroupMembership
belongs_to :member, :class_name => 'Person'
belongs_to :group
end
class Group
belongs_to :owner, :class_name => "Person"
has_many :group_memberships
has_many :members, :through => :group_memberships
end
How can I access the members a group has? Always I do #group.members or things like that, gives me an error saying that the relation can't be found in the model.
Thanks in advance.
##EDIT##
The error I'm getting is: Could not find the association "group_memberships" in model Group
I do a similar thing on a site I'm working on but the associations are a little different to how you're doing it but maybe it'll help. I think you need to use the has_and_belongs_to_many association to join up your many-to-many's.
In my database I have Users, Members and UsersMembers
You don't need to create a UsersMembers model (GroupMembership in your case) but you do need a database table to link the two.
#Migration
create_table :bands_users, :id => false, :force => true do |t|
t.integer :band_id, :null => false
t.integer :user_id, :null => false
end
#Models
class Band < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :members, :class_name => 'User'
end
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :bands
end
From this I can now call #band.members or #user.bands
You may need to specify :class_name => 'Person' in your has_many :members statement.
Related
The app I'm developing has 3 main models and many single table inheritance models:
Question
User
Professional
Representant
Taxonomy
Category
Topic
Profession
Locality
Region
Country
There are multiple kinds of users (User, Professional < User, Representant < User) which all inherit from the User class with single table inheritance.
There are multiple kinds of taxonomies (Category < Taxonomy, Topic < Taxonomy, Profession < Taxonomy, Locality < Taxonomy, Region < Taxonomy, Country < Taxonomy) which all inherit from the Taxonomy class with single table inheritance.
Questions, as well as professionals are also under taxonomies via many to many relationships (they can have many topics, many professions, many categories, etc...)
Now, I'm looking for a way to establish that many to many relationship between those polymorphic objects. I've tried the has_many :through solution and created a Classification class.
Migration file:
class CreateClassifications < ActiveRecord::Migration
def change
create_table :classifications, :id => false do |t|
t.references :classifiable, :null => false, :default => 0, :polymorphic => true
t.references :taxonomy, :null => false, :default => 0, :polymorphic => true
end
add_index :classifications, [:classifiable_id, :taxonomy_id]
add_index :classifications, [:taxonomy_id, :classifiable_id]
end
end
Model file:
class Classification < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :classifiable, :classifiable_id, :classifiable_type,
:taxonomy, :taxonomy_id, :taxonomy_type
belongs_to :classifiable, :polymorphic => true
belongs_to :taxonomy, :polymorphic => true
end
I've then added has_many :through associations for Questions, Professionals, and Taxonomies.
Taxonomy.rb
has_many :classifications, :as => :taxonomy, :foreign_key => :taxonomy_id
has_many :classifiables, :through => :classifications, :source => :classifiable
has_many :users, :through => :classifications, :source => :classifiable, :source_type => "User"
has_many :professionals, :through => :classifications, :source => :classifiable, :source_type => "Professional"
has_many :representants, :through => :classifications, :source => :classifiable, :source_type => "Representant"
has_many :questions, :through => :classifications, :source => :classifiable, :source_type => "Question"
has_many :guides, :through => :classifications, :source => :classifiable, :source_type => "Guide"
Question.rb
has_many :classifications, :as => :classifiable, :foreign_key => :classifiable_id, :dependent => :destroy
has_many :taxonomies, :through => :classifications, :source => :taxonomy
has_many :topics, :through => :classifications, :source => :taxonomy, :source_type => "Topic"
Professional.rb
has_many :classifications, :as => :classifiable, :foreign_key => :classifiable_id, :dependent => :destroy
has_many :taxonomies, :through => :classifications, :source => :taxonomy
has_many :topics, :through => :classifications, :source => :taxonomy, :source_type => "Topic"
has_many :professions, :through => :classifications, :source => :taxonomy, :source_type => "Profession"
Now, after setting up all this, things do not work very well...
I can't seem to assign taxonomies to Professionals or Questions (i.e. Question.create(:title => "Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit Amet", :author => current_user, :topics => [list of topics,...]) works well except for topics which are not saved.)
Where clauses don't work as they should (i.e. Question.joins(:topics).where(:conditions => {:topics => {:id => [list of topics,...]}}) fails with a no such column: "Topics"."id" error.
Any help? Thanks!
UPDATE
I have installed the gem 'store_base_sti_class' as indicated. It had the desired effect on the Classification model.
#<Classification classifiable_id: 1, classifiable_type: "Professional", taxonomy_id: 17, taxonomy_type: "Topic">
However, when I query topics (Professional.find(1).topics), ActiveRecord is still looking for the class "User" instead of "Professional"...
SELECT "taxonomies".* FROM "taxonomies" INNER JOIN "classifications" ON "taxonomies"."id" = "classifications"."taxonomy_id" WHERE "taxonomies"."type" IN ('Topic') AND "classifications"."classifiable_id" = 1 AND "classifications"."classifiable_type" = 'User' AND "classifications"."taxonomy_type" = 'Topic'
Any idea how to fix it for both?
For question #2, the keys in the where clause should map to table names, not association names. So I think you would want:
Question.joins(:topics).where(Topic.table_name => {:id => [...]})
For question #1, it appears that when you set question.topics = [...], the Classification objects which Rails creates are being set with a taxonomy_type of "Taxonomy" (instead of "Topic"). That appears to be due to Rails' through_association.rb:51, which takes the base_class of the model being stored, instead of just the actual class name.
I was able to get around this with a before_validation callback on the Classification model. It seems to me that the alternative is a patch to the actual Rails associations code, to make this behavior configurable.
class Classification < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :classifiable, :classifiable_id, :classifiable_type,
:taxonomy, :taxonomy_id, :taxonomy_type
belongs_to :classifiable, polymorphic: true
belongs_to :taxonomy, polymorphic: true
before_validation :set_valid_types_on_polymorphic_associations
protected
def set_valid_types_on_polymorphic_associations
self.classifiable_type = classifiable.class.model_name if classifiable
self.taxonomy_type = taxonomy.class.model_name if taxonomy
end
end
UPDATE
There appears to be another Rails decision (in preloader/association.rb:113) to use the model.base_class.sti_name instead of the model.sti_name when setting scope for associations.
That gem should take care of this for you. See store_base_sti_class_for_3_1_and_above.rb:135 for how it wraps the has_many :as option. In my local environment, this works as expected:
$ bundle exec rails console
irb(main):001:0> topics = 3.times.map { Topic.create }
irb(main):002:0> p = Professional.new
irb(main):003:0> p.topics = topics
irb(main):004:0> p.save!
irb(main):005:0> exit
$ bundle exec rails console
irb(main):001:0> puts Professional.find(1).topics.to_sql
SELECT "taxonomies".* FROM "taxonomies" INNER JOIN "classifications" ON "taxonomies"."id" = "classifications"."taxonomy_id" WHERE "taxonomies"."type" IN ('Topic') AND "classifications"."classifiable_id" = 2 AND "classifications"."classifiable_type" = 'Professional' AND "classifications"."taxonomy_type" IN ('Topic')
irb(main):002:0> Professional.find(1).topics.count
=> 3
I have two models: Company and User
This is the situation:
Company can follow another company
User can follow a company
User can follow another user
What is the best way to define the relationships and how will the join model look like?
Also, are there any best practises when addressing such situations?
Update
Sorry, to have not mentioned this earlier. I am aware of the various relationship types available. My question is 'which is the best fit'?
Regarding your question I would suggest you to go through couple of Railscasts videos:
http://railscasts.com/episodes/47-two-many-to-many
http://railscasts.com/episodes/154-polymorphic-association
And this is described very well on RubyonRails website
http://guides.rubyonrails.org/association_basics.html
I would say look these for your case:
http://guides.rubyonrails.org/association_basics.html#the-has_many-through-association
http://guides.rubyonrails.org/association_basics.html#the-has_and_belongs_to_many-association
I hope this will help you.
Thanks to polymorphic associations, we can put all relations into one table which like this:
create_table :follows do |t|
t.references :followable, :polymorphic => true
t.references :followed_by, :polymorphic => true
end
Then the models are:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :following_objects, :class_name => 'Follow', :as => :followed_by
has_many :followed_objects, :class_name => 'Follow', :as => :followable
end
class Company < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :following_objects, :class_name => 'Follow', :as => :followed_by
has_many :followed_objects, :class_name => 'Follow', :as => :followable
end
class Follow < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :followable, :polymorphic => true
belongs_to :followed_by, :polymorphic => true
end
Sorry for the ugly names.
A basic idea would be to use two self-referencing assocations:
User -> Friendship <- User
Company -> Partnership <- Company
models/user.rb
has_many :friendships
has_many :friends, :through => :friendships
has_many :inverse_friendships, :class_name => "Friendship", :foreign_key => "friend_id"
has_many :inverse_friends, :through => :inverse_friendships, :source => :user
models/friendship.rb
belongs_to :user
belongs_to :friend, :class_name => "User"
models/company.rb
has_many :partnerships
has_many :partners, :through => :partnerships
has_many :inverse_partnerships, :class_name => "Partnership", :foreign_key => "partner_id"
has_many :inverse_partners, :through => :inverse_partnerships, :source => :company
models/partnership.rb
belongs_to :company
belongs_to :partner, :class_name => "Company"
And one many-to-many assocation:
User -> CompanyUser <- Company
models/user.rb
has_and_belongs_to_many :companies
models/company.rb
has_and_belongs_to_many :users
So for this implementation you will need 5 tables (users, friendships, companies, partnerships and companies_users) if you are using a RDBMS.
You can get a nice example in this screencast:
http://railscasts.com/episodes/163-self-referential-association
I am trying to add a "following" like functionality to my site but I am having trouble finding the right way to use a polymorphic association. A user needs to be able to follow 3 different classes, these 3 classes do not follow the user back. I have created a user following user in the past but this is proving to be more difficult.
My Migration was
class CreateRelationships < ActiveRecord::Migration
def change
create_table :relationships do |t|
t.integer :follower_id
t.integer :relations_id
t.string :relations_type
t.timestamps
end
end
end
My Relationship model is
class Relationship < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :relations_id
belongs_to :relations, :polymorphic => true
has_many :followers, :class_name => "User"
end
In my User model
has_many :relationships, :foreign_key => "supporter_id", :dependent => :destroy
and in the other 3 models
has_many :relationships, :as => :relations
Am I missing something with setting up this association?
You basically have it right, except for a few minor errors:
attr_accessible :relations_id is redundant. Remove it from your Relationship model.
Both Relationship and User models call has_many to associate with each other. Relationship should call belongs_to because it contains the foreign key.
In your User model, set :foreign_key => "follower_id".
Here is how I would do it.
Have a Follow middle class with polymorphic association on the followable content side and has_many on the follower user side (user has many follows).
First, create a follows table:
class CreateFollows < ActiveRecord::Migration
def change
create_table :follows do |t|
t.integer :follower_id
t.references :followable, :polymorphic => true
t.timestamps
end
end
end
Replace Relationship model with a Follow model:
class Follow < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :followable, :polymorphic => true
belongs_to :followers, :class_name => "User"
end
Include in User model:
has_many :follows, :foreign_key => :follower_id
Include in your three followable classes:
has_many :follows, :as => :followable
You can now do this:
TheContent.follows # => [Follow,...] # Useful for counting "N followers"
User.follows # => [Follow,...]
Follow.follower # => User
Follow.followable # => TheContent
I am trying to implement multiple relations between records of the same model via self-joins (based on #Shtééf's answer). I have the following models
create_table :relations, force: true do |t|
t.references :employee_a
t.string :rel_type
t.references :employee_b
end
class Relation < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :employee_a, :class_name => 'Employee'
belongs_to :employee_b, :class_name => 'Employee'
end
class Employee < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :relations, foreign_key: 'employee_a_id'
has_many :reverse_relations, class_name: 'Relation', foreign_key: 'employee_b_id'
has_many :subordinates, through: :relations, source: 'employee_b', conditions: {'relations.rel_type' => 'manager of'}
has_many :managers, through: :reverse_relations, source: 'employee_a', conditions: {'relations.rel_type' => 'manager of'}
end
With this setup I can successfully access the lists of subordinates and managers for each record. However, I have difficulties to create relations in the following way
e = Employee.create
e.subordinates.create
e.subordinates #=> []
e.managers.create
e.managers #=> []
The problem is that it does not set type of relations, so I have to write
e = Employee.create
s = Employee.create
e.relations.create employee_b: s, rel_type: 'manager of'
e.subordinates #=> [#<Employee id:...>]
Am I doing something wrong?
You can use before_add and before_remove callback on the has_many association :
class Employee < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :relations, foreign_key: 'employee_a_id'
has_many :reverse_relations, class_name: 'Relation', foreign_key: 'employee_b_id'
has_many :subordinates,
through: :relations,
source: 'employee_b',
conditions: {'relations.rel_type' => 'manager of'}
:before_add => Proc.new { |employe,subordinate| employe.relations.create(employe_b: subordinate, rel_type: 'manager of') },
:before_remove => Proc.new { |employe,subordinate| employe.relations.where(employe_b: subordinate, rel_type: 'manager of').first.destroy }
has_many :managers,
through: :reverse_relations,
source: 'employee_a',
conditions: {'relations.rel_type' => 'manager of'}
:before_add => Proc.new { |employe,manager| employe.reverse_relations.create(employe_a: manager, rel_type: 'manager of') },
:before_remove => Proc.new { |employe,manager| employe.reverse_relations.where(employe_b: subordinate, rel_type: 'manager of').first.destroy }
This should works and make you able to use employe.managers.create
You may want to use build instread of create in the callback
Also you can read this question about this solution
In order to create a multiple many-to-many self-join association, I would recommend that it might make more sense to have multiple tables to manage the connection. That way it's very clear from a data standpoint as to exactly what is going on, and it's also clear from a logic standpoint. So something along these lines:
create_table :manage_relation do |t|
t.references :employee_id
t.references :manager_id
end
create_table :subordinate_relation do |t|
t.references :employee_id
t.references :subordinate_id
end
class Employee < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :subordinates,
:through => :subordinate_relation,
:class_name => "Employee",
:foreign_key => "subordinate_id"
has_many :managers,
:through => :manage_relation,
:class_name => "Employee",
:foreign_key => "manager_id"
belongs_to :employee,
:class_name => "Employee"
end
This way it doesn't get any more convoluted than necessary from a coding standpoint, and you can access it using the standard collections and it will appropriately set up your connections for you without you having to manage them. So, both of these collections should work..
employee.managers
employee.subordinates
And you could not have to manage any other variables. Make sense? It adds a table, but improves clarity.
I would redo your models as follows:
class ManagerRelation < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :manager, :class_name => 'Employee'
belongs_to :subordinate, :class_name => 'Employee'
end
class Employee < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :manager_relations, :class_name => "ManagerRelation",
:foreign_key => :subordinate_id
has_many :subordinate_relations, :class_name => "ManagerRelation",
:foreign_key => :manager_id
has_many :managers, :source => :manager,
:through => :manager_relations
has_many :subordinates, :source => :subordinate,
:through => :subordinate_relations
end
Now you can do the following:
employee.managers
employee.subordinates
employee.managers << employee2
employee.subordinates << employee3
Note: It is usually a sign for one to leave the company when they are made to report to two managers :-)
Given the presented relation
create_table :relations, force: true do |t|
t.references :employee_a
t.string :rel_type
t.references :employee_b
end
class Employee < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :subordinate_relations, :class_name => "Relation", :conditions => {:rel_type => 'manager of'}, :foreign_key => :employee_a
has_many :subordinates, :through => :subordinate_relations, :source => :subordinate, :foreign_key => :employee_b
has_many :manager_relations, :class_name => "Relation", :conditions => {:rel_type => 'manager of'}, :foreign_key => :employee_b
has_many :managers, :through => :manager_relations, :source => :manager, :foreign_key => :employee_a
end
class Relation < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :manager, :class_name => "Employee", :foreign_key => :employee_a
belongs_to :subordinate, :class_name => "Employee", :foreign_key => :employee_b
end
e = Employee.create
e.subordinates.create #Employee ...
e.subordinates #[<Employee ...]
e2 = Employee.create
e2.managers.create #Employee
e2.managers #[<Employee ...]
Although the solution works - I'm a bit confused by tying the associations with "rel_type". In this case - I'd say the rel_type is redundant and the relation should be mapped as follows:
create_table :relations do |t|
t.reference :manager
t.reference :subordinate
end
In such case, the association mapping should be a tad simpler.
class CreateMatches < ActiveRecord::Migration
def self.up
create_table :matches do |t|
t.integer :result_home
t.integer :result_away
t.references :clan, :as => :clan_home
t.references :clan, :as => :clan_away
t.references :league
t.timestamps
end
end
def self.down
drop_table :matches
end
end
I think code clears everything, I need to reference result_home to one clan and result_away to another.
What is the best way to do so? I could create has_and_belongs_to_many but i think it's not good way in this case.
This looks like a join association call it Match, and
class Clan < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :home_matches, :class_name => 'Match', :foreign_key => :clan_home
has_many :away_matches, :class_name => 'Match', :foreign_key => :clan_away
has_many :opponents_at_home, :through => :home_matches, :source => :clan
has_many :opponents_away, :through => :away_matches, :source => :clan
end
class Match < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :clan_home, :class_name => 'Clan'
belongs_to :clan_away, :class_name => 'Clan'
end
This is a little beyond my personal experience and I'm not 100% clear on the interpretation of the documentation for :source (check http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/Associations/ClassMethods.html). However, I think this will be along the right lines. YMMV.
Comments and improvements are welcome!