Deleting all related tuples in all relevant tables

Rails
1

So I have three tables, table_a, table_c, and table_u.

both table_c and table_u reference table_a

so basically these three tables are related

If I delete an entry in table_a, I want all entries in table_c and
table_u that reference table_a deleted as well.

Is there a way to do this? What does the code look like to do something
like this?

Thanks!

Gilles

2

I think you just want something like:

has_many :things, :dependent => :destroy

in your model.

3

I am assuming that you also have the three classes that correspond to
the tables set up with a has_many relationship…

So,

def Table_a < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :table_as, :dependent => :destroy
has_many :table_us, dependent => :destroy
end

def Table_b < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :table_a
end

def Table_u < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :table_a
end

The :dependent => :destroy is all you need in order to be able to do…

Table_a.find(:first).destroy

…and have all Table_u and Table_c entries that reference the first
entry in Table_a destroyed.

Have a look at the options here:

http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/Associations/
ClassMethods.html#M000530

-christos