How to store the result of my algorithm? - ruby-on-rails

I have an algorithm that searches through all of my sites users, finding those which share a common property with the user using the algorithm (by going to a certain page). It can find multiple users, each can have multiple shared properties. The algorithm works fine, in terms of finding the matches, but I'm having trouble working out how to store the data so that later I'll be able to use each unit of information. I need to be able to access both the found users, and each of the respective shared properties, so I can't just build a string. This is an example of the output, being run from the perspective of user 1:
user 4
sharedproperty3
sharedproperty6
user 6
sharedproperty6
sharedproperty10
shareproperty11
What do I need to do to be able to store this data, and have access to any bit of it for further manipulation? I was thinking of a hash of a hash, but I can't really wrap my head around it. I'm pretty new to programming, and Ruby in particular. Thanks for reading!
EDIT - Here's the code. I'm fully expecting this to be the most incorrect way to do this, but it's my first try so be gentle :)
So if I'm understanding you guys correctly, instead of adding the interests to a string, I should be creating an array or a hash, adding each interest as I find it, then storing each of these in an array or hash? Thanks so much for the help.
def getMatchedUsers
matched_user_html = nil
combined_properties = nil
online_user_list = User.logged_in.all
shared_interest = false
online_user_list.each do |n| # for every online user
combined_properties = nil
if n.email != current_user.email # that is not the current user
current_user.properties.each do |o| # go through all of the current users properties
n.properties.each do |p| # go through the online users properties
if p.interestname.eql?(o.interestname) # if the online users property matches the current user
shared_interest = true
if combined_properties == nil
combined_properties = o.interestname
else
combined_properties = combined_properties + ", " + o.interestname
end
end
end
if shared_interest == true
matched_user_html = n.actualname + ": " + combined_properties
end
end
end
end
return matched_user_html
render :nothing => true
end

This returns an array of hashes with all users and their corresponding sharedproperties.
class User
def find_matching_users
returning Array.new do |matching_users|
self.logged_in.each do |other_user|
next if current_user == other_user # jump if current_user
# see http://ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Array.html#M002212 for more details on the & opreator
unless (common_properties = current_user.properties & other_user.properties).empty?
matching_users << { :user => other_user, :common_properties => common_properties }
end
end
end
end
end
In your view you can do something like this:
<%- current_user.find_matching_users.each do |matching_user| -%>
<%-# you can acccess the user with matching_user[:user] -%>
<%-# you can acccess the common properties with matching_user[:common_properties] -%>
<%- end -%>

You can use a hash table with the key being the user object and the value being an array of the shared properties . This is assuming that you first need to do a lookup based on the user .
Something like this :
#user_results = { user1 => [sharedproperty3,sharedproperty7] , user2 => [sharedproperty10,sharedproperty11,sharedproperty12]}
You can then acces the values like :
#user_results[user1]
or you can also iterate over all the keys using #user_results.keys

Related

building a simple search form in Rails?

I'm trying to build a simple search form in Ruby on Rails, my form is simple enough basically you select fields from a series of options and then all the events matching the fields are shown. The problem comes when I leave any field blank.
Here is the code responsible for filtering the parameters
Event.joins(:eventdates).joins(:categories).where
("eventdates.start_date = ? AND city = ? AND categories.name = ?",
params[:event][:date], params[:event][:city], params[:event][:category]).all
From what I get it's that it looks for events with any empty field, but since all of them have them not empty, it wont match unless all 3 are filled, another problem arises when I try to say, look events inside a range or array of dates, I'm clueless on how to pass multiple days into the search.
I'm pretty new to making search forms in general, so I don't even know if this is the best approach, also I'm trying to keep the searches without the need of a secialized model.
Below is probably what you are looking for. (Note: If all fields all blank, it shows all data in the events table linkable with eventdates and categories.)
events = Event.joins(:eventdates).joins(:categories)
if params[:event]
# includes below where condition to query only if params[:event][:date] has a value
events = events.where("eventdates.start_date = ?", params[:event][:date]) if params[:event][:date].present?
# includes below where condition to query only if params[:event][:city] has a value
events = events.where("city = ?", params[:event][:city]) if params[:event][:city].present?
# includes below where condition to query only if params[:event][:city] has a value
events = events.where("categories.name = ?", params[:event][:category]) if params[:event][:category].present?
end
To search using multiple days:
# params[:event][:dates] is expected to be array of dates.
# Below query gets converted into an 'IN' operation in SQL, something like "where eventdates.start_date IN ['date1', 'date2']"
events = events.where("eventdates.start_date = ?", params[:event][:dates]) if params[:event][:dates].present?
It will be more easy and optimised . If you use concern for filter data.
Make one concern in Model.
filterable.rb
module Filterable
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
module ClassMethods
def filter(filtering_params)
results = self.where(nil)
filtering_params.each do |key, value|
if column_type(key) == :date || column_type(key) ==
:datetime
results = results.where("DATE(#{column(key)}) = ?",
Date.strptime(value, "%m/%d/%Y")) if
value.present?
else
results = results.where("#{column(key)} Like ? ", "%#{value}%") if
value.present?
end
end
results
end
def resource_name
self.table_name
end
def column(key)
return key if key.split(".").count > 1
return "#{resource_name}.#{key}"
end
def column_type(key)
self.columns_hash[key].type
end
end
end
Include this concern in model file that you want to filter.
Model.rb
include Filterable
In your controller Add this methods
def search
#resources = Model.filter(class_search_params)
render 'index'
end
def class_search_params
params.slice(:id,:name) #Your field names
end
So, It is global solution. You dont need to use query for filter. just add this concern in your model file.
That's it.

Interpolating an attribute's key before save

I'm using Rails 4 and have an Article model that has answer, side_effects, and benefits as attributes.
I am trying to create a before_save method that automatically looks at the side effects and benefits and creates links corresponding to another article on the site.
Instead of writing two virtually identical methods, one for side effects and one for benefits, I would like to use the same method and check to assure the attribute does not equal answer.
So far I have something like this:
before_save :link_to_article
private
def link_to_article
self.attributes.each do |key, value|
unless key == "answer"
linked_attrs = []
self.key.split(';').each do |i|
a = Article.where('lower(specific) = ?', i.downcase.strip).first
if a && a.approved?
linked_attrs.push("<a href='/questions/#{a.slug}' target=_blank>#{i.strip}</a>")
else
linked_attrs.push(i.strip)
end
end
self.key = linked_attrs.join('; ')
end
end
end
but chaining on the key like that gives me an undefined method 'key'.
How can I go about interpolating in the attribute?
in this bit: self.key you are asking for it to literally call a method called key, but what you want, is to call the method-name that is stored in the variable key.
you can use: self.send(key) instead, but it can be a little dangerous.
If somebody hacks up a new form on their browser to send you the attribute called delete! you don't want it accidentally called using send, so it might be better to use read_attribute and write_attribute.
Example below:
def link_to_article
self.attributes.each do |key, value|
unless key == "answer"
linked_attrs = []
self.read_attribute(key).split(';').each do |i|
a = Article.where('lower(specific) = ?', i.downcase.strip).first
if a && a.approved?
linked_attrs.push("<a href='/questions/#{a.slug}' target=_blank>#{i.strip}</a>")
else
linked_attrs.push(i.strip)
end
end
self.write_attribute(key, linked_attrs.join('; '))
end
end
end
I'd also recommend using strong attributes in the controller to make sure you're only permitting the allowed set of attributes.
OLD (before I knew this was to be used on all attributes)
That said... why do you go through every single attribute and only do something if the attribute is called answer? why not just not bother with going through the attributes and look directly at answer?
eg:
def link_to_article
linked_attrs = []
self.answer.split(';').each do |i|
a = Article.where('lower(specific) = ?', i.downcase.strip).first
if a && a.approved?
linked_attrs.push("<a href='/questions/#{a.slug}' target=_blank>#{i.strip}</a>")
else
linked_attrs.push(i.strip)
end
end
self.answer = linked_attrs.join('; ')
end

Return all user profile except current users'

I am iterating over all user profiles to get their country. I wish not to include the current user's profile. If I have a total of 10 users, I want only 9 user's country:
# helper function
def method_name
Profile.all.select do |m|
n = m.country.class == String # Because most countries will be nil. A shorter way to not include nil profiles?
return n.reject! {|x| x == current_user.profile.user_id }
end
end
The method above should return all user's profile except for the current user.
The error I got is
undefined method `reject!' for false:FalseClass
The reason? In my views I could:
<%= method_name.map do |p| p.country end %>
Beware of using Profile.all here, because you will potentially use a lot of memory instantiating a profile object for every row in your database.
I think the best way to do this is to create a method within your Profile model, which performs the query, and uses pluck() to return an array containing just the countries you want.
def self.countries_except_for(user)
where.not(user_id: user.id, country: nil).pluck(:country)
end
Now you can just call:
Profile.countries_except(current_user)
To get the array of countries. This approach is much more efficient than looping through as in your question.
The line n = m.country.class == String sets n to true or false, thefore the next line fails, because you try to call reject! {|x| x == current_user.profile.user_id } on that boolean value.
One way to solve the problem might be to fix your code like this:
def method_name
Profile.all.select do |p|
p.country.present? && p != current_user.profile
end
end
Another way - and my preferred one - would be to only load matching record from the database:
def method_name
Profile.where.not(user_id: current_user.id).where.not(country: nil)
end

removing objects from an array during a loop

I am trying to filter the results of an user search in my app to only show users who are NOT friends. My friends table has 3 columns; f1 (userid of person who sent request), f2 (userid of friend who received request), and confirmed (boolean of true or false). As you can see, #usersfiltered is the result of the search. Then the definition of the current user's friend is established. Then I am trying to remove the friends from the search results. This does not seem to be working but should be pretty straight forward. I've tried delete (not good) and destroy.
def index
#THIS IS THE SEARCH RESULT
#usersfiltered = User.where("first_name LIKE?", "%#{params[:first_name]}%" )
#THIS IS DEFINING ROWS ON THE FRIEND TABLE THAT BELONG TO CURRENT USER
#confirmedfriends = Friend.where(:confirmed => true)
friendsapproved = #confirmedfriends.where(:f2 => current_user.id)
friendsrequestedapproved = #confirmedfriends.where(:f1 => current_user.id)
#GOING THROUGH SEARCH RESULTS
#usersfiltered.each do |usersfiltered|
if friendsapproved.present?
friendsapproved.each do |fa|
if usersfiltered.id == fa.f1
#NEED TO REMOVE THIS FROM RESULTS HERE SOMEHOW
usersfiltered.remove
end
end
end
#SAME LOGIC
if friendsrequestedapproved.present?
friendsrequestedapproved.each do |fra|
if usersfiltered.id == fra.f2
usersfiltered.remove
end
end
end
end
end
I would flip it around the other way. Take the logic that is loop-invariant out of the loop, which gives a good first-order simplification:
approved_ids = []
approved_ids = friendsapproved.map { |fa| fa.f1 } if friendsapproved.present?
approved_ids += friendsrequestedapproved.map { |fra| fra.f2 } if friendsrequestedapproved.present?
approved_ids.uniq! # (May not be needed)
#usersfiltered.delete_if { |user| approved_ids.include? user.id }
This could probably be simplified further if friendsapproved and friendsrequestedapproved have been created separately strictly for the purpose of the deletions. You could generate a single friendsapproval list consisting of both and avoid unioning id sets above.
While I agree that there may be better ways to implement what you're doing, I think the specific problem you're facing is that in Rails 4, the where method returns an ActiveRecord::Relation not an Array. While you can use each on a Relation, you cannot in general perform array operations.
However, you can convert a Relation to an Array with the to_a method as in:
#usersfiltered = User.where("first_name LIKE?", "%#{params[:first_name]}%" ).to_a
This would then allow you to do the following within your loop:
usersfiltered.delete(fa)

Iterating through every record in a database - Ruby on Rails / ActiveRecord

n00b question. I'm trying to loop through every User record in my database. The pseudo code might look a little something like this:
def send_notifications
render :nothing => true
# Randomly select Message record from DB
#message = Message.offset(rand(Message.count)).first
random_message = #message.content
#user = User.all.entries.each do
#user = User.find(:id)
number_to_text = ""
#user.number = number_to_text #number is a User's phone number
puts #user.number
end
end
Can someone fill me in on the best approach for doing this? A little help with the syntax would be great too :)
Here is the correct syntax to iterate over all User :
User.all.each do |user|
#the code here is called once for each user
# user is accessible by 'user' variable
# WARNING: User.all performs poorly with large datasets
end
To improve performance and decrease load, use User.find_each (see doc) instead of User.all. Note that using find_each loses the ability to sort.
Also a possible one-liner for same purpose:
User.all.map { |u| u.number = ""; puts u.number }

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