# A simple problem, please help **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [November 17, 2006, 1:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/a-simple-problem-please-help/76302 "2006-11-17T13:19:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pingu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pingu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pingu)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 1:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/a-simple-problem-please-help/76302/1 "2006-11-17T13:19:38Z")
I have a recipe and a category table, as per > **[Radar - O’Reilly](https://www.oreilly.com/radar/?page=5)** > > Now, next, and beyond: Tracking need-to-know trends at the intersection of business and technology recipe belongs to a category a category has many recipes in my controller, how do i get an instance variable that contains all recipes that belong to the category ‘sweet’? please please help thanks ---
**Author:** ![pingu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pingu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pingu)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 1:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/a-simple-problem-please-help/76302/2 "2006-11-17T13:23:57Z")
Hi – On Fri, 17 Nov 2006, pingu wrote: > I have a recipe and a category table, as per > [Radar – O’Reilly](http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2005/01/20/rails.html?page=5) > > recipe belongs to a category > a category has many recipes > > in my controller, how do i get an instance variable that contains all > recipes that belong to the category ‘sweet’? Probably something like this: @recipes = Category.find\_by\_name(“sweet”).recipes David – David A. Black | removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid Author of “Ruby for Rails” [1] | Ruby/Rails training & consultancy [3] DABlog (DAB’s Weblog) [2] | Co-director, Ruby Central, Inc. [4] [1] [Ruby for Rails](http://www.manning.com/black) | [3] [http://www.rubypowerandlight.com](http://www.rubypowerandlight.com) [2] [http://dablog.rubypal.com](http://dablog.rubypal.com) | [4] [http://www.rubycentral.org](http://www.rubycentral.org) ---
**Author:** ![pingu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pingu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pingu)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 1:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/a-simple-problem-please-help/76302/3 "2006-11-17T13:29:38Z")
Thanks very much David, but i get the followng error, any idea? undefined method `find\_by\_name’ for Category:Class ---
**Author:** ![pingu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pingu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pingu)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 1:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/a-simple-problem-please-help/76302/4 "2006-11-17T13:34:38Z")
Just figured it out, replace the ‘name’ part, with the field in the database, thats great, thank you so much. ---
**Author:** ![pingu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pingu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pingu)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/a-simple-problem-please-help/76302/5 "2006-11-17T18:56:36Z")
With @recipes = Category.find\_by\_name(“sweet”).recipes what would i do if i wanted to pass in “sweet” as a variable? can i use :id with this? ---
**Author:** ![pingu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pingu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pingu)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 5:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/a-simple-problem-please-help/76302/6 "2006-11-18T05:25:21Z")
pingu wrote: > With > > @recipes = Category.find\_by\_name(“sweet”).recipes > > what would i do if i wanted to pass in “sweet” as a variable? can i use > :id with this? If you are using the normal ID field of a model then you on need @recipes = Category.find(@params[:id]).recipes .find works with the ID. The others basically extend the .find\_by\_ pattern. ---
**Author:** ![pingu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pingu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pingu)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 11:17am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/a-simple-problem-please-help/76302/7 "2006-11-18T11:17:22Z")
thankyou