Rails 3 and has_many :through: automagically set/initialize attributes on join model

Question

I deeply searched the web in order to find a clean and simple way to deal with attributes initialization on the join model of a has_many :through relation, but I did not find a best solution for my need.

In the exaple I provide below, I need to automatically set the attribute role of the Training join model when I create or update a Course object.

This is my model:

QUALIFICATIONS = ["Theoretical Instructor", "Practical Instructor"]

class Course < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :trainings, dependent: :destroy

  has_many :theoretical_instructors, through: :trainings, source: :trainer, conditions: { "trainings.role" => "Theoretical Instructor" }
  accepts_nested_attributes_for :theoretical_instructors

  has_many :practical_instructors, through: :trainings, source: :trainer, conditions: { "trainings.role" => "Practical Instructor" }
  accepts_nested_attributes_for :practical_instructors
end

class Trainer < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :trainings, dependent: :destroy
  has_many :courses, through: :trainings
end

class Training < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :trainer
  belongs_to :course

  # Join model has the :role attribute, that I wish I could validate this way:  
  # validates :role, presence: true, inclusion: { in: QUALIFICATIONS }
end

The rationale behind this model is that I want to save Training objects in a single table. I don't want to create the TheoreticalInstructor and the PracticalInstructor join models (potentially exploding the number of tables) to solve this problem.

This view provides the form to submit a new Course:

<%= form_for @course do |course_form| %>
  <%- # fields for course attributes, as usual... %>

  <%= course_form.label :theoretical_instructor_ids %><br />
  <%= course_form.select :theoretical_instructor_ids, Trainer.all.map { |x| [[x.name, x.surname].join(" "), x.id] }, {  }, { multiple: true } %>

  <%= course_form.label :practical_instructor_ids %><br />
  <%= course_form.select :practical_instructor_ids, Trainer.all.map { |x| [[x.name, x.surname].join(" "), x.id] }, {  }, { multiple: true } %>

  <%= course_form.submit %>
<% end%>

The question is: what can I do in order to make @course = Course.new(params[:course]) the only line of code in the Course controller needed to save this association on submit of the previous form?

Differently from this question I don't want to create new Trainer objects when I create a new Course: I want to choose them from those already present in the DB (through a multiselect input field).

What I need is that something like @course.theoretical_instructor_ids = [1, 2] creates two Training objects with the role attribute set to Theoretical Instructor

I'm thinking on an after_initialize callback on Training that set role basing on the relation name (:theoretical_instructors and :practical_instructors), but I really don't know how to do it. Any advice? Am I missing some point?

Thank you guys!

EDIT 1 from oli-g

This question deals with a similar problem: the difference is that I don't want to build Trainer objects when I create a new Course, but I simply want to associate existing Trainer objects to a new Course.

EDIT 2 from oli-g

Basing on this (a 5 years old post) and this blog posts, I've changed the Course model in this way:

class Course < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :trainings, dependent: :destroy

  has_many :theoretical_instructors, through: :trainings, source: :trainer, conditions: ["trainings.role = ?", "Theoretical Instructor"] do
    def <<(theoretical_instructor)
      Training.send(:with_scope, create: { role: "Theoretical Instructor" }) { self.concat theoretical_instructor }
    end
  end
  accepts_nested_attributes_for :theoretical_instructors

  has_many :practical_instructors, through: :trainings, source: :trainer, conditions: ["trainings.role = ?", "Practical Instructor"] do
    def <<(practical_instructor)
      Training.send(:with_scope, create: { role: "Practical Instructor" }) { self.concat practical_instructor }
    end
  end
  accepts_nested_attributes_for :practical_instructors
end

This code enables me to do a thing like this

:001 > c = Course.first
=> #<Course id: 1>
:002 > t1 = Trainer.first
=> #<Trainer id: 1, name: "Tom">
:003 > c.theoretical_instructors << t1
=> #<Trainer id: 1, name: "Tom">
:004 > Training.all
=> [#<Training id: 1, role: "Theoretical Instructor", trainer_id: 1, course_id: 1>]

This is an acceptable workaround, even if in my controller I still can't do just @course = Course.new(params[:course]), but I have to create Training objects iterating on params[:course][:theoretical_instructor_ids] and params[:course][:practical_instructor_ids].

But I am curious, so the question remains open: what can I do in order to enable @course = Course.new(params[:course]) to build Training objects along with the Course?

Now... I think I discovered a bug in Rails:

:005 > c.practical_instructors
=> []        # correct
:006 > c.practical_instructor_ids
=> []        # obviously
:007 > c.reload
=> #<Course id: 1>
:008 > c.practical_instructor_ids
=> [1]       # WRONG!!!
:009 > c.practical_instructors
=> []        # now it's correct...
:010 > c.practical_instructor_ids
=> []        # WTF!?

I think I will report this at github issues...

EDIT 3 by oli-g

Bug reported at github

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 11 '11 at 01:03

Your issue is that you won't be able to add associations until after your record has been created. In this case, the Training associations are stored using the Course record id, and the Course id isn't defined until after the Course is saved for the first time. What you'll want to do is to use the after_create callback to call a function after the record has been created.

Add this to the end of your Course model:

# Use attr accessors to store the initial values so they won't conflict with the *_instructor_ids methods defined above 
attr_accessor :create_theoretical_instructors
attr_accessor :create_practical_instructors
# This will call the create_training_records function after the record is created
after_create :create_training_records

private
def create_training_records
  create_theoretical_instructors.each do |instructor_id|
    self.theoretical_instructors << Instructor.find(instructor_id)
  end
  create_practical_instructors.each do |instructor_id|
    self.practical_instructors << Instructor.find(instructor_id)
  end
  save!
end

And change the form in your view to use the new attr_accessors:

<%= course_form.label :create_theoretical_instructors %><br />
<%= course_form.select :create_theoretical_instructors, Trainer.all.map { |x| [[x.name, x.surname].join(" "), x.id] }, {  }, { multiple: true } %>

<%= course_form.label :create_practical_instructors %><br />
<%= course_form.select :create_practical_instructors, Trainer.all.map { |x| [[x.name, x.surname].join(" "), x.id] }, {  }, { multiple: true } %>

Now when you submit the form, it will write the instructor ids to the new Course instance variables; after the Course has been validated and saved, it will automatically create the new associations.

Rails 3 and has_many :through: automagically set/initialize attributes on join model

1 Answers1