Acts_as_taggable and foreign keys

Rails
#1

Hi,

I’ve developed an application last year with rails 1.2.3 and it worked
fine on the web server till recently. Not sure what started the
problem but I am having trouble with acts_as_taggable gem (which I
know has been depreciated).

It was suggested to look into has_many_polymorphs but I ran into
problems with updating my database. The database has 3 tables
(:products, :tags, :products_tags) and uses foreign keys.
The application is based on “Beginning RoR e_commerce”. Tags table has
2 columns: id and name.

So, I gave that up on that one and tried to find an easier solution.
Other things I looked at:

  • I installed acts_as_taggable as plugin instead of a gem – but I’m
    just not sure what to change in the application in order to get it to
    work
  • I installed acts_as_taggable_on_steroids – but again, I think I ran
    into the same problem with the foreign keys. This is the error message
    I get when I try “rake db:migrate”
Mysql::Error: Table 'tags' already exists: CREATE TABLE tags (`id`
int(11) DEFAULT NULL auto_increment PRIMARY KEY, `name` varchar(255)
DEFAULT NULL) ENGINE=InnoDB

Would anyone have a solution on how to fix my problem?
Thanks in advance,
Elle

#2

On 14 Jul 2008, at 10:32, elle wrote:

Mysql::Error: Table 'tags' already exists: CREATE TABLE tags (`id`
> int(11) DEFAULT NULL auto_increment PRIMARY KEY, `name` varchar(255)
> DEFAULT NULL) ENGINE=InnoDB

I assume acts_as_taggable_on_steroids is trying to create a tags table
that you already have. I’d just blow away that migration (after
checking that the table it was trying to create matches the one you
already have.

Fred

#3

Thanks Fred. I did just that. I also dropped my products_tags table
because as I understand the ‘taggings’ table created by the plugin
acts as the connector. Now, I don’t care about losing that data in
this case, I can always enter it manually (and I am happy not to be
using a depreciated gem)… but I feel hopeless as I am not sure how
to make it work from now on.

What I’ve done so far is:

  1. Installed plugin
  2. Added db table: taggings. Already had tags with id and name column.
  3. Added acts_as_taggable to my Product class

When I login as admin to try and tag the products manually, I get this
error message (when I have both acts_as_taggable and
acts_as_taggable_on_steroids plugins installed):

NoMethodError in ProductController#update
undefined method `tag_collection_name’ for Product:Class

My update method includes the following:

def update
@product = Product.find(params[:id])
@product.tag(params[:tags], :separator => ‘,’, :clear => true)

if @product.update_attributes(params[:product])
  flash[:notice] = 'Product was successfully updated.'
  redirect_to :action => 'show', :id => @product
else
  load_data
  render :action => 'edit'
end

end

private

def load_data
  @categories = Category.find(:all)
  @tags = Tag.find(:all)
end

I am just not sure how to make the connection between the tag and the
product.
Help. Please.

Elle

On Jul 14, 9:37 pm, Frederick C. [email protected]

#4

On Jul 15, 7:41 am, elle [email protected] wrote:

  1. Added acts_as_taggable to my Product class

When I login as admin to try and tag the products manually, I get this
error message (when I have both acts_as_taggable and
acts_as_taggable_on_steroids plugins installed):

First off, you’re probably asking for trouble by having both installed

Secondly, have you tried just looking at the examples in the
acts_as_taggable_on_steroids documentation ?

Fred

#5

I don’t have tag_list method. I haven’t used it with the gem. My tag
controller has:

def list
@page_title = ‘Listing tags’
@tags = Tag.find(:all)
@tag_pages, @tags = paginate :tags, :order => :name, :per_page =>
10
end
def show
# tag = params[:id]
@tag = Tag.find(params[:id])
@page_title = “Products tagged with ‘#{tag}’”
@products = Product.find_tagged_with(:any => tag, :separator =>
‘,’)
end

and Tag class has:

has_and_belongs_to_many :products

Any suggestions to how I could fix this?

Thanks,
Elle

On Jul 15, 8:11 pm, Frederick C. [email protected]

#6

First off, you’re probably asking for trouble by having both installed

Well, when I deleted acts_as_taggable, I got an error of:

Processing ProductController#update (for 127.0.0.1 at 2008-07-15
18:35:50) [POST]
Parameters: {“commit”=>“Edit”, “tags”=>“LS750”, “product”=>{…},
“action”=>“update”, “id”=>“1”, “controller”=>“product”}
[…]
NoMethodError (undefined method `tag’ for #Product:0x26064fc):

Secondly, have you tried just looking at the examples in the
acts_as_taggable_on_steroids documentation ?

Yes I have but I guess I’m just too new to easily know how to
implement it all :slight_smile:

Advice?

Thanks,
Elle

On Jul 15, 7:58 pm, Frederick C. [email protected]

#7

On Jul 15, 9:05 am, elle [email protected] wrote:

Secondly, have you tried just looking at the examples in the
acts_as_taggable_on_steroids documentation ?

Yes I have but I guess I’m just too new to easily know how to
implement it all :slight_smile:

Well accordeing to those docs tag doesn’t exists: all those examples
show manipulation of tag_list (tag_list.add, tag_list.remove etc…)

Fred

#8

On Jul 15, 9:20 am, elle [email protected] wrote:

I don’t have tag_list method. I haven’t used it with the gem. My tag
controller has:

If you look at acts_as_taggable_with_steroids, it adds that method to
your models (when you call acts_as_taggable).
I think you’re getting confused because you think
acts_as_taggable_with_steroids is a drop in replacement for
acts_as_taggable which it would appear it isn’t.
The examples in its documentation look pretty straightforward, I
suggest you forget what you know about acts_as_taggable and look at
those instead.

Fred

#9

One more question. When I am still in console, I added a tag to
p.tag_list, then when I want to save the product (p.save) I get the
following error:

NoMethodError: undefined method find_or_create_with_like_by_name' for Tag:Class from ./script/../config/../config/../vendor/rails/activerecord/ lib/active_record/base.rb:1235:inmethod_missing’
from ./script/…/config/…/config/…/vendor/plugins/
acts_as_taggable_on_steroids/lib/acts_as_taggable.rb:182:in
save_tags' from ./script/../config/../config/../vendor/plugins/ acts_as_taggable_on_steroids/lib/acts_as_taggable.rb:181:ineach’
from ./script/…/config/…/config/…/vendor/plugins/
acts_as_taggable_on_steroids/lib/acts_as_taggable.rb:181:in
`save_tags’
…

Would anyone know why I get this error?

Thanks,
Elle

#10

I agree the examples do look straightforward. But as usual, I still
have questions:
I started the console and did the following:

p = Product.find(:first)
=>#<Product:0x2285ad0 @attributes=…

p.tag_list.add(“tagnamehere”)
=> [“tagnamehere”]

p
=>#<Product:0x2285ad0 @tag_list=[“tagnamehere”], @tags=[], …

Now, I don’t understand what is the difference between @tag_list and
@tags.

I’ve also looked at http://taggable.rubyforge.org/ and tried to use:
p.tag --> error: NoMethodError: undefined method tag_model' for Product:Class p.tag_with --> error: NoMethodError: undefined methodtag_with’ for
#Product:0x2285ad0
p.tag.add --> ArgumentError: wrong number of arguments (0 for 1)
from (irb):7:in `tag’
from (irb):7

Elle

On Jul 15, 9:13 pm, Frederick C. [email protected]

#11

On 16 Jul 2008, at 07:46, elle wrote:

Now, I don’t understand what is the difference between @tag_list and
@tags.

internal implemenation details

I’ve also looked at http://taggable.rubyforge.org/ and tried to use:
p.tag --> error: NoMethodError: undefined method tag_model' for Product:Class p.tag_with --> error: NoMethodError: undefined methodtag_with’ for
#Product:0x2285ad0
p.tag.add --> ArgumentError: wrong number of arguments (0 for 1)
from (irb):7:in `tag’
from (irb):7

I think you will definitely confuse things by chopping and changing
between multiple tagging libraries all with slightly different
semantics (and which could easily conflict when used simultaneously)

Fred

#12

On 16 Jul 2008, at 08:32, elle wrote:

One more question. When I am still in console, I added a tag to
p.tag_list, then when I want to save the product (p.save) I get the
following error:

That implies that you’ve got your own tag model in app/models which is
taking precedence over the one bundled in the plugin.

Fred

#13

On 16 Jul 2008, at 09:57, elle wrote:

Q1. I’ve been having problems trying to update a product. My
product_controller.rb#update has:
@product.tag(params[:tags], :separator => ‘,’, :clear => true)

When I try to update a product I get this error:
NoMethodError in ProductController#update
undefined method `tag’ for #Product:0x23e6dd4

according to the plugin docs you should be using tag_list (ie
tag_list=, tag_list.add etc…

@page_title = “Products tagged with ‘#{tag}’”
@products = Product.find_tagged_with(:any => tag, :separator =>
‘,’)
end

But when I try to view all other products with the same tag I get an
error:
You’ve just got a syntax error there - it should be @tag not tag

NameError in TagController#show
undefined local variable or method `tag’ for #<TagController:
0x2514c4c>

Should I even have a tag controller?
The plugin docs use Product.find_tagged_with(‘tag’). How could I use
that?

Product.find_tagged_with @tag
should work (assuming @tag contains a tag)

I’d encourage you to look closely at the docs, all i’ve done here is
repeat them to you

Fred

#14

Thanks Fred. That helped. I looked at a couple tutorials and none
mentioned having a tag model (or the original plugin).
One tutorial that was very helpful was:
http://dagobart.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/for-purpose-of-reference-enable-tagging-in-a-rails-model/
Removing my tag model let’s me save the product :slight_smile:

When I go to view product, I can see my assigned tag. But I still have
questions/problems:

Q1. I’ve been having problems trying to update a product. My
product_controller.rb#update has:
@product.tag(params[:tags], :separator => ‘,’, :clear => true)

When I try to update a product I get this error:
NoMethodError in ProductController#update
undefined method `tag’ for #Product:0x23e6dd4

Q2. To display the tags and links to show tags I use a helper method
in application_helper.rb:
def display_tags(product)
product.tags.collect{|tag| link_to tag.name, :controller => ‘/
tag’, :action => ‘show’, :id => tag.name }.join(", ") if product.tags
end

My tag_controller.rb#show is:
def show
@tag = Tag.find(params[:id])
@page_title = “Products tagged with ‘#{tag}’”
@products = Product.find_tagged_with(:any => tag, :separator =>
‘,’)
end

But when I try to view all other products with the same tag I get an
error:
NameError in TagController#show
undefined local variable or method `tag’ for #<TagController:
0x2514c4c>

Should I even have a tag controller?
The plugin docs use Product.find_tagged_with(‘tag’). How could I use
that?

Thanks again so much,
Elle

On Jul 16, 7:43 pm, Frederick C. [email protected]

#15

Sorry to be a bother and thank you so much for your help Fred. Almost
all is fixed. Got one last problem/question.

On every product page, there is a section for recommended products –
which really are products tagged with similar tags.
In my catalog_controller.rb#show I have:
@tag = Tag.find(params[:id])
@tagged_related = Product.find_tagged_with (@tag, :match_all =>
true)

But instead of picking on the tag’s id, it gets the product’s id. This
causes two problems:

  1. It doesn’t really show related products
  2. If the id it gets doesn’t exists in the tags table, i get an error.
    I’m just not sure how to pick up the tag id instead.

Thanks,
Elle

On Jul 16, 10:34 pm, Frederick C. [email protected]

#16

On Jul 19, 9:49 am, elle [email protected] wrote:

  1. It doesn’t really show related products
  2. If the id it gets doesn’t exists in the tags table, i get an error.
    I’m just not sure how to pick up the tag id instead.

If problem is that params[:id] is a product id then surely the problem
is just with whatever bit of code produces the link to this page?

Fred