How to add condition on rails4-autocomplete gem, something like ( where user_id is user.id)

Question

I have User model and users have they own customers. In rails4-autocomplete I want the user to have autocomplete(:name, :address, :zip, :phone ....) only from they own customers. So I need a condition somewhere in Customer controller where I have :

autocomplete :customer, :customer_name, :extra_data => [:phone, :address, :zip_code, :email]

I've tried in customer model :

default_scope where(:user_id => current_user.id)

but rails4-autocomplete doesn't work anymore.

I have customer.rb

    belongs_to :job, optional: true
    belongs_to :user, optional: true

And user.rb

   has_many :customers

And _customers_fields.html.erb:

<%= f.autocomplete_field :customer_name, autocomplete_customer_customer_name_customers_path, 
      :update_elements => { :id => '#id_element',
                            :phone => '#phone-number',
                            :address => '#address_element',
                            :zip_code => '#zip_code_element',
                            :email => '#email_element'
                          }, class: "form-control", :required => true, placeholder: "Company Name", autocomplete: 'off' %>

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 01 '19 at 18:09

I've checked the gem and it does not look easy or at least is a bit tricky. There's an undocumented where option that you can use when you declare the autocomplete feature on the controller, but I guess it's evaluated at that moment and you define it, I don't think it can be defined dinamically.

I can think of three options:

1) there's a "scopes" option, so you could define an scope on the model that does where(user_id: <the current user's id>) but you'll need a way to get the current user's id from a model (personally I don't like that, it breakes the idea of MVC) like this Access current_user in model

Pros: it does not patch the gem

Cons: it breaks the MVC patter (but you can do that if you want)

2) add a little 'hacky' override of the get_autocomplete_items function called here https://github.com/peterwillcn/rails4-autocomplete/blob/440a2f0ba6456f87119675b2b703f56dc54dffec/lib/rails4-autocomplete/autocomplete.rb#L54 to add a dimanically generated 'where' option (though it will only work for activerecord, the mongo code on that gem does not use that 'where' option)

# after the `autocomplete :customer, :customer_name.... line
alias_method :original_get_autocomplete_items, :get_autocomplete_items # save the original method so you can call it inside your override method

def get_autocomplete_items(*parameters)
  parameters['options'] ||= {} # in case you have no options defined
  parameters['options']['where'] = "user_id: #{current_user.id}" # add the 'where' option to use that undocumented feature
  original_get_autocomplete_items(parameters) # call the original method
end

Pros: no need to break MVC pattern

Cons: the 'where' option is undocumented and only used on the ActiveRecord method

3) Just override the get_autocomplete_items method defined on your controller by the gem, copy the code from the ORM you are using https://github.com/peterwillcn/rails4-autocomplete/tree/master/lib/rails4-autocomplete/orm and just add the where condition you need

Pros: no need break MVC patter, no need to use an undocumented feature

Cons: you are overriding the whole method, if the gem changes on an update you'll need to check if the custom method works fine with those chenges

Thanks Ariel for your complex answer. I've tried all solution but still not working. Right now I'm still struggling on solution No. 2 but I'm getting a error on server log. TypeError (no implicit conversion of String into Integer): app/controllers/customers_controller.rb:14:in `[]' app/controllers/customers_controller.rb:14:in `get_autocomplete_items' . And I don't understand why. — ovi_tsb, Feb 04 '19 at 19:01
sorry, try replacing `*parameters` with `parameters` wihout the * — arieljuod, Feb 04 '19 at 19:13
an also use `*parameters` instead of `parameters` on the call to the original method — arieljuod, Feb 04 '19 at 19:13
we getting close !!! now it saying " ArgumentError (wrong number of arguments (given 5, expected 1)): " which is normal because I have 5 parameters ( :name, :address, :zip, :email, :phone) but why is expecting 1 argument ? — ovi_tsb, Feb 05 '19 at 03:23

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 12 '19 at 15:26

0

After couple days of searching I found the solution:

    def get_autocomplete_items(parameters)
      super(parameters).where(:user_id => current_user.id)
    end

maybe somebody else will use this solution in future.

answered Feb 12 '19 at 15:26

ovi_tsb

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How to add condition on rails4-autocomplete gem, something like ( where user_id is user.id)

2 Answers2