Complex Relations / Avoid deletion of join model objects?

Rails
1

Hello,

I have two models Host and Check connected through a join model
CheckConfig with has_many :through relations both ways. I now have a
third model Result, objects of which I’d like to attach to a give
check of a given host. My idea would be to attach the Result model to
the CheckConfig model through a belongs_to, but that brings two
problems:

  • if an object from the join model is deleted and recreated with the
    same host_id and check_id, it still gets another id, which breaks the
    belongs_to relation. Is there an option to avoid deletion of the join
    model objects and only mark them as not active or something, so that I
    can retain the simple interface of the has_many :through relationship?
  • how would I have to configure the relationships to be able e.g. to
    call some_host.checks[1].results.last to get the last result for a
    give check of a given host?

I’m afraid that I won’t be able to tackle that one with the standard
built-ins, but I would be glad for any hints or help on how to best
configure rails for that.

Thanks,

Felix

2

Make the join model temporal if you never want to delete your Result
data.

class CheckConfig
host_id
check_id
start_date_time
end_date_time
other_data

where a null/nil end date indicates that the CheckConfig is current.
Rather than deleting the record, stamp the end_date_time.