I'm building a series of methods in a model to use as scopes. When one of these uses a having clause and that query returns no results, I get an instance of the model returned where all fields are nil, and that breaks most code I'd like to use these scopes in.
The below is a highly simplified example to demonstrate my issue.
class Widget < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :name
has_many :components
def without_components
joins(:components).group('widgets.id')having('COUNT(components.id) = 0')
end
def without_components_and_remove_nil
without_components.select{|i| i.id} # Return objects where i.id is not nil
end
end
Calling Widget.without_components if all Widgets have components assigned returns the non-desirable:
[{id: nil, name: nil, user_id: nil}]
But if I call Widget.without_components_and_remove_nil it converts the ActiveRecord::Relation object that would be returned into an Array, so I can't chain it with other scopes as I need to do.
Is there a way of changing the scopes so that either the nil row is excluded if it appears, or is there a modification that could be made to my ActiveRecord query to allow for this to work?
There were two issues I needed to resolve to get that scope working; one not related to my original question, though the scope I presented above wouldn't have been fixed without it:
First, and directly dealing with the question at hand, since Rails 3.1 you can do this:
.
Widget.where(id: Widget.joins(:components).group('widgets.id').having('COUNT(components.id)'))
Second, the joins(:components) part of it wasn't going to work with the having('COUNT(components.id = 0)') because joins performs an inner join, thus there would never be any results for that query. I had to replace the joins with joins("LEFT OUTER JOIN components ON components.widget_id = widgets.id").
I've got a weird issue... In a model User, that has no relation with the model Interest, I try to call this query:
# file model.rb
def self.my_func
Interest.where('id IN (?)', [1,2])
end
But it's completely ignored... and if I replace by this:
# file model.rb
def self.my_func
Interest.find(1)
end
the .find() method is triggered and I get result.
If I directly call Interest.where('id IN (?)', [1,2]) in rails console it works...
I'm on RoR 3.2.13
Any idea?
Thank you all.
Rails doesn't evaluate the query until you actually try to access the results. Calling Model.where just returns an ActiveRecord::Relation onto which you can chain additional where/order/etc calls.
Try this (.all forces the query to be evaluated and returns an array of results):
def self.my_func
Interest.where(id: [1,2]).all
end
Note that should shouldn't actually do this. It's much better for your model to just allow the ActiveRecord::Relation to be returned from the method, so the calling code can apply additional scoping/ordering methods to it.
Also note that, instead of manually building an id in (?) query, Rails is smart enough to do it for you if you just use where(id: [1,2]).
Bonus notes:
On the terminal, the results get evaluated from Model.where immediately because IRB invokes inspect on the result of each expression you enter so it has something to print, and the returned ActiveRecord::Relation evaluates its query when inspected. You can bypass this to prove the point to yourself by adding ;nil, so that your statement evaluates to nil; note that the SELECT doesn't happen until I manually call x.inspect:
irb(main):008:0> x = User.where("name like 'bob'"); nil
=> nil
irb(main):009:0> x.inspect
User Load (0.5ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE (name like 'bob')
=> "[]"
How do you make the following work...
Beagle.beagles.where(:snount => "short")
...in situations where a snout method id defined for Beagle, but there is no snout column in the beagles table?
If you need a scope (i.e. an ActiveRecord::Relation object) then I think you're out of luck, because where deals with DB query logic, not model instance methods. But if you just need to get an array of results that satisfy the method requirement, then this will work:
Beagle.select { |b| b.snout == "short" }
Note that this will grab all records from the DB, then select the ones you want from them. Here's the generated SQL:
Beagle Load (0.1ms) SELECT "beagles".* FROM "beagles"
See also: instance method in scope
maybe try this
beagles = Beagle.find(:all)
beagles.each do |beagle|
if beagle.snount == "short"
beagles_selected << beagle
end
end
you will then have a beagles_selected array containing all the beagles you need
I am new to rails. What I see that there are a lot of ways to find a record:
find_by_<columnname>(<columnvalue>)
find(:first, :conditions => { <columnname> => <columnvalue> }
where(<columnname> => <columnvalue>).first
And it looks like all of them end up generating exactly the same SQL. Also, I believe the same is true for finding multiple records:
find_all_by_<columnname>(<columnvalue>)
find(:all, :conditions => { <columnname> => <columnvalue> }
where(<columnname> => <columnvalue>)
Is there a rule of thumb or recommendation on which one to use?
where returns ActiveRecord::Relation
Now take a look at find_by implementation:
def find_by
where(*args).take
end
As you can see find_by is the same as where but it returns only one record. This method should be used for getting 1 record and where should be used for getting all records with some conditions.
Edit:
This answer is very old and other, better answers have come up since this post was made. I'd advise looking at the one posted below by #Hossam Khamis for more details.
Use whichever one you feel suits your needs best.
The find method is usually used to retrieve a row by ID:
Model.find(1)
It's worth noting that find will throw an exception if the item is not found by the attribute that you supply. Use where (as described below, which will return an empty array if the attribute is not found) to avoid an exception being thrown.
Other uses of find are usually replaced with things like this:
Model.all
Model.first
find_by is used as a helper when you're searching for information within a column, and it maps to such with naming conventions. For instance, if you have a column named name in your database, you'd use the following syntax:
Model.find_by(name: "Bob")
.where is more of a catch all that lets you use a bit more complex logic for when the conventional helpers won't do, and it returns an array of items that match your conditions (or an empty array otherwise).
Model.find
1- Parameter: ID of the object to find.
2- If found: It returns the object (One object only).
3- If not found: raises an ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound exception.
Model.find_by
1- Parameter: key/value
Example:
User.find_by name: 'John', email: 'john#doe.com'
2- If found: It returns the object.
3- If not found: returns nil.
Note: If you want it to raise ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound use find_by!
Model.where
1- Parameter: same as find_by
2- If found: It returns ActiveRecord::Relation containing one or more records matching the parameters.
3- If not found: It return an Empty ActiveRecord::Relation.
There is a difference between find and find_by in that find will return an error if not found, whereas find_by will return null.
Sometimes it is easier to read if you have a method like find_by email: "haha", as opposed to .where(email: some_params).first.
Since Rails 4 you can do:
User.find_by(name: 'Bob')
which is the equivalent find_by_name in Rails 3.
Use #where when #find and #find_by are not enough.
The accepted answer generally covers it all, but I'd like to add something,
just incase you are planning to work with the model in a way like updating, and you are retrieving a single record(whose id you do not know), Then find_by is the way to go, because it retrieves the record and does not put it in an array
irb(main):037:0> #kit = Kit.find_by(number: "3456")
Kit Load (0.9ms) SELECT "kits".* FROM "kits" WHERE "kits"."number" =
'3456' LIMIT 1
=> #<Kit id: 1, number: "3456", created_at: "2015-05-12 06:10:56",
updated_at: "2015-05-12 06:10:56", job_id: nil>
irb(main):038:0> #kit.update(job_id: 2)
(0.2ms) BEGIN Kit Exists (0.4ms) SELECT 1 AS one FROM "kits" WHERE
("kits"."number" = '3456' AND "kits"."id" != 1) LIMIT 1 SQL (0.5ms)
UPDATE "kits" SET "job_id" = $1, "updated_at" = $2 WHERE "kits"."id" =
1 [["job_id", 2], ["updated_at", Tue, 12 May 2015 07:16:58 UTC +00:00]]
(0.6ms) COMMIT => true
but if you use where then you can not update it directly
irb(main):039:0> #kit = Kit.where(number: "3456")
Kit Load (1.2ms) SELECT "kits".* FROM "kits" WHERE "kits"."number" =
'3456' => #<ActiveRecord::Relation [#<Kit id: 1, number: "3456",
created_at: "2015-05-12 06:10:56", updated_at: "2015-05-12 07:16:58",
job_id: 2>]>
irb(main):040:0> #kit.update(job_id: 3)
ArgumentError: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)
in such a case you would have to specify it like this
irb(main):043:0> #kit[0].update(job_id: 3)
(0.2ms) BEGIN Kit Exists (0.6ms) SELECT 1 AS one FROM "kits" WHERE
("kits"."number" = '3456' AND "kits"."id" != 1) LIMIT 1 SQL (0.6ms)
UPDATE "kits" SET "job_id" = $1, "updated_at" = $2 WHERE "kits"."id" = 1
[["job_id", 3], ["updated_at", Tue, 12 May 2015 07:28:04 UTC +00:00]]
(0.5ms) COMMIT => true
Apart from accepted answer, following is also valid
Model.find() can accept array of ids, and will return all records which matches.
Model.find_by_id(123) also accept array but will only process first id value present in array
Model.find([1,2,3])
Model.find_by_id([1,2,3])
The answers given so far are all OK.
However, one interesting difference is that Model.find searches by id; if found, it returns a Model object (just a single record) but throws an ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound otherwise.
Model.find_by is very similar to Model.find and lets you search any column or group of columns in your database but it returns nil if no record matches the search.
Model.where on the other hand returns a Model::ActiveRecord_Relation object which is just like an array containing all the records that match the search. If no record was found, it returns an empty Model::ActiveRecord_Relation object.
I hope these would help you in deciding which to use at any point in time.
Suppose I have a model User
User.find(id)
Returns a row where primary key = id. The return type will be User object.
User.find_by(email:"abc#xyz.com")
Returns first row with matching attribute or email in this case. Return type will be User object again.
Note :- User.find_by(email: "abc#xyz.com") is similar to User.find_by_email("abc#xyz.com")
User.where(project_id:1)
Returns all users in users table where attribute matches.
Here return type will be ActiveRecord::Relation object. ActiveRecord::Relation class includes Ruby's Enumerable module so you can use it's object like an array and traverse on it.
Both #2s in your lists are being deprecated. You can still use find(params[:id]) though.
Generally, where() works in most situations.
Here's a great post: https://web.archive.org/web/20150206131559/http://m.onkey.org/active-record-query-interface
The best part of working with any open source technology is that you can inspect length and breadth of it.
Checkout this link
find_by ~> Finds the first record matching the specified conditions. There is no implied ordering so if order matters, you should specify it yourself. If no record is found, returns nil.
find ~> Finds the first record matching the specified conditions , but if no record is found, it raises an exception but that is done deliberately.
Do checkout the above link, it has all the explanation and use cases for the following two functions.
I will personally recommend using
where(< columnname> => < columnvalue>)
How do I define a model attribute as an expression of another attribute?
Example:
Class Home < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :address, :phone_number
Now I want to be able to return an attribute like :area_code, which would be an sql expression like "substr(phone_number, 1,3)".
I also want to be able to use the expression / attribute in a group by query for a report.
This seems to perform the query, but does not return an object with named attributes, so how do I use it in a view?
Rails Console:
#ac = Home.group("substr(phone_number, 1,3)").count
=> #<OrderedHash {"307"=>3, "515"=>1}>
I also expected this to work, but not sure what kind of object it is returning:
#test = Home.select("substr(phone_number, 1,3) as area_code, count(*) as c").group("substr(phone_number, 1,3)")
=> [#<Home>, #<Home>]
To expand on the last example. Here it is with Active Record logging turned on:
>Home.select("substr(phone_number, 1,3) as area_code, count(*) as c").group("substr(phone_number, 1,3)")
Output:
Home Load (0.3ms) SELECT substr(phone_number, 1,3) as area_code, count(*) as c FROM "homes" GROUP BY substr(phone_number, 1,3)
=> [#<Home>, #<Home>]
So it is executing the query I want, but giving me an unexpected data object. Shouldn't I get something like this?
[ #<area_code: "307", c: 3>, #<area_code: "515", c: 1> ]
you cannot access to substr(...) because it is not an attribute of the initialized record object.
See : http://guides.rubyonrails.org/active_record_querying.html "selecting specific fields"
you can workaround this this way :
#test = Home.select("substr(phone_number, 1,3) as phone_number").group(:phone_number)
... but some might find it a bit hackish. Moreover, when you use select, the records will be read-only, so be careful.
if you need the count, just add .count at the end of the chain, but you will get a hash as you already had. But isn't that all you need ? what is your purpose ?
You can also use an area_code column that will be filled using callbacks on create and update, so you can index this column ; your query will run fast on read, though it will be slower on insertion.