Allow Hash to be passed into AssociationProxy setters and AssociationCollections

Refactored the patch to add ActiveRecord::Base#attr_creatable to permit this functionality

Also found at http://github.com/ddollar/rails/...

Reworked as has_many :foo, :accessible => true

(from [e0750d6a5c7f621e4ca12205137c0b135cab444a]) Add :accessible option to Associations for allowing mass assignments using hash. [#474 state:resolved]

Allows nested Hashes (i.e. from nested forms) to hydrate the appropriate

ActiveRecord models.

class Post < ActiveRecord::Base

belongs_to :author, :accessible => true

has_many :comments, :accessible => true

end

post = Post.create({

:title => 'Accessible Attributes',

:author => { :name => 'David Dollar' },

:comments => [

{ :body => 'First Post!' },

{ :body => 'Nested Hashes are great!' }

]

})

post.comments << { :body => 'Another Comment' }

Signed-off-by: Pratik Naik

http://github.com/rails/rails/co...

Okay, I'm a bit in a hurry now and just want to make a quick note before I forgot. I will go into more detail about this later.

If we now also allow attributes for has_many associations, wouldn't it make sense to do it in the way that AttributeFu does it, in order to make it possible to create/update both, existing and new records?

I actually see few cases were only creation is useful.

I'm not sure what you mean. Updating currently works with this change.

class Author < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :posts, :accessible => true
end

class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :author, :accessible => true
end


> Post.create({:title => 'Foo', :author => { :name => 'David' }})
=> #<Post id: 1, author_id: 1, title: "Foo", created_at: "2008-07-14 12:42:39", updated_at: "2008-07-14 12:42:39">

> p = Post.find(1)
=> #<Post id: 1, author_id: 1, title: "Foo", created_at: "2008-07-14 12:42:39", updated_at: "2008-07-14 12:42:39">

> p.author = { :name => 'Joe' }
=> {:name=>"Joe"}> p.save
=> true

> p
=> #<Post id: 1, author_id: 2, title: "Foo", created_at: "2008-07-14 12:42:39", updated_at: "2008-07-14 12:43:11">

> p.author
=> #<Author id: 2, name: "Joe", created_at: "2008-07-14 12:43:11", updated_at: "2008-07-14 12:43:11">

> a = Author.find(2)
=> #<Author id: 2, name: "Joe", created_at: "2008-07-14 12:43:11", updated_at: "2008-07-14 12:43:11">

> a.posts
=> [#<Post id: 1, author_id: 2, title: "Foo", created_at: "2008-07-14 12:42:39", updated_at: "2008-07-14 12:43:11">]

> a.posts << { :title => 'Another Post' }
=> [#<Post id: 1, author_id: 2, title: "Foo", created_at: "2008-07-14 12:42:39", updated_at: "2008-07-14 12:43:11">, #<Post id: 2, author_id: 2, title: "Another Post", created_at: "2008-07-14 12:45:49", updated_at: "2008-07-14 12:45:49">]

> a.posts.last
=> #<Post id: 2, author_id: 2, title: "Another Post", created_at: "2008-07-14 12:45:49", updated_at: "2008-07-14 12:45:49">

Sure, it works for has_one and belongs_to, but not so well for has_many.

It will only create a new record and delete the old one which I don't think is a good behavior.

I think I see what you mean. Let me see what I can come up with.

--

David Dollar

ddollar@gmail.com

On Jul 14, 2008, at 9:02 AM, Lighthouse

wrote:

Adds the ability to update existing entries on :accessible => true associations

# create from a basic hash
> p = Post.create(:title => 'Test Post', :author => { :name => 'David' })
=> #<Post id: 8, author_id: 8, title: "Test Post", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:22:53", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:22:53">

# update a singular reference
> p.author = { :name => 'Joe' }
=> {:name=>"Joe"}

# it 'updates' the row in sql, notice the id is still the same
> p.author
=> #<Author id: 8, name: "Joe", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:22:53", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:23:03">


# create an author with posts from a hash
>  a = Author.create(:name => 'David', :posts => [ { :title => 'Post 1' }, { :title => 'Post 2' } ])
=> #<Author id: 14, name: "David", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18">

# show the posts
> a.posts
=> [#<Post id: 17, author_id: 14, title: "Post 1", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18">, #<Post id: 18, author_id: 14, title: "Post 2", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18">]

# use << to update existing entries (as well as add new ones, demonstrated later)
> a.posts << { :id => 17, :title => 'Post 1 Updated' }
=> [#<Post id: 17, author_id: 14, title: "Post 1 Updated", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:53">, #<Post id: 18, author_id: 14, title: "Post 2", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18">]

# show posts to verify the update
> a.posts
=> [#<Post id: 17, author_id: 14, title: "Post 1 Updated", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:53">, #<Post id: 18, author_id: 14, title: "Post 2", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18">]

# can't update posts that don't belong to the author
> a.posts << { :id => 1, :title => 'Not Allowed' }
ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound: Couldn't find Post with ID=1 AND ("posts".author_id = 14)
        from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb:1393:in `find_one'
        from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb:1376:in `find_from_ids'
        from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb:537:in `find'
        from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb:47:in `find'
        from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb:103:in `<<'
        from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb:99:in `each'
        from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb:99:in `<<'
        from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/database_statements.rb:66:in `transaction'
        from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:79:in `transaction'
        from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:98:in `transaction'
        from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb:98:in `<<'
        from (irb):12
        
# use = to outright replace all posts
> a.posts = [ { :title => 'Replace Posts' } ]
=> [#<Post id: 19, author_id: 14, title: "Replace Posts", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:40:30", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:40:30">]

# can even 'replace' using existing posts, the post attributes will be updated
> a.posts = [ { :id => 19, :title => 'Can Replace This Way Too' } ]
=> [#<Post id: 19, author_id: 14, title: "Can Replace This Way Too", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:40:30", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:40:49">]

# use << also for adding brand new items
> a.posts << { :title => 'New Post' }
=> [#<Post id: 19, author_id: 14, title: "Replace Posts", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:40:30", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:40:30">, #<Post id: 20, author_id: 14, title: "New Post", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:43:18", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:43:18">]

This approach seems fairly limited.

We couldn't have a form, for example, that would be able to update, and create new child models at once.

My plugin, attribute_fu (mentioned earlier), does the same thing, but supports all the cases where there are both new and saved objects in the hash of hashes. It is a fully transparent solution for creating multi-model forms, including form helpers.

Is there any chance of extending this syntax to support those situations, or sucking attribute_fu down in to core?

If you're unfamiliar with the plugin, checkout this screencast

The second patch mentioned here adds all of the features you are looking for. To mix both creating and updating simply specify some elements of the hash with :id keys and others without.

(from [9994f0d90248db7d7eae36f0b597a15e8a427612]) Revert "Add :accessible option to Associations for allowing mass assignments using hash. [#474 Allow Hash to be passed into AssociationProxy setters and AssociationCollections state:resolved]"

This reverts commit e0750d6a5c7f621e4ca12205137c0b135cab444a.

Conflicts:

activerecord/CHANGELOG
activerecord/lib/active_record/associations.rb
activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb

http://github.com/rails/rails/co...

Any word on what might replace this functionality or is it gone for the time being?

Continued in #1031 handle parameterized associations and here: http://groups.google.com/group/r...

Why is this ticket marked "resolved" if the feature was pulled?