# Is there a way to use @today in a model? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [April 18, 2010, 7:31am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-use-today-in-a-model/187136 "2010-04-18T07:31:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![adistarmid](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@adistarmid](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adistarmid)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 7:31am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-use-today-in-a-model/187136/1 "2010-04-18T07:31:14Z")
I’m trying to get records from a has\_many that are only from this year. has\_many :visit, :conditions =\> “year = #{@today.year}”, :dependent =\> :destroy This has trouble. it thinks @today is null… Any other ideas? Bob ---
**Author:** ![adistarmid](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@adistarmid](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adistarmid)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 8:50am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-use-today-in-a-model/187136/2 "2010-04-18T08:50:16Z")
On Apr 17, 2010, at 10:30 PM, Bob S. wrote: > I’m trying to get records from a has\_many that are only from this > year. > > has\_many :visit, :conditions =\> “year = #{@today.year}”, :dependent > =\> :destroy > > This has trouble. it thinks @today is null… Any other ideas? Don’t you want :visits (with an s?) has\_many :visits, :conditions =\> “year = SQL\_FUNCTION\_THAT\_RETURNS\_CURRENT\_YEAR”,… Replacing “SQL\_FUNCTION…YEAR” with whatever works for your database. If you want to specify the year, look into using a lambda for the conditions… -philip ---
**Author:** ![adistarmid](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@adistarmid](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adistarmid)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-use-today-in-a-model/187136/3 "2010-04-18T16:01:34Z")
On Sun, Apr 18, 2010 at 2:46 AM, Philip H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Don’t you want :visits (with an s?) > > has\_many :visits, :conditions =\> “year = > SQL\_FUNCTION\_THAT\_RETURNS\_CURRENT\_YEAR”,… > > Replacing “SQL\_FUNCTION…YEAR” with whatever works for your database. > > If you want to specify the year, look into using a lambda for the > conditions… I don’t think you can use a lambda on the :conditions option to find/has\_many… but you can do it with a named scope has\_many :visits, :dependent =\> destroy named\_scope :this\_year, lambda { { :conditions =\> { :year =\> Date.today.year } }} Then to get the visits this year for a model referred to by the variable model model.visits.this\_year Alternatively, you could have a slightly different named scope which would let you specify the year at run-time, assuming that @today might not always Date.today, e.g. if you are using the user’s timezone. named\_scope :in\_year, lambda { |year| {:conditions =\> {:year =\> year}} Then you could use model.visits.in\_year(@today.year) The reason you need to express this a a lambda is twofold: 1. has\_many and named\_scope are evaluated in the context of the active record class, so @today is not an instance variable but a class instance variable, which is probably why it is nil. 2. more importantly, @today is being evaluated at the time the association declaration is executed (during class definition time). If you want to use the value at the time you make the query, it needs to be a lambda so that the value gets evaluated each time. ## HTH Rick DeNatale Blog: [http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/](http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/) Github: [rubyredrick (Rick DeNatale) · GitHub](http://github.com/rubyredrick) Twitter: @RickDeNatale WWR: [http://www.workingwithrails.com/person/9021-rick-denatale](http://www.workingwithrails.com/person/9021-rick-denatale) LinkedIn: [http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickdenatale](http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickdenatale) ---
**Author:** ![adistarmid](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@adistarmid](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adistarmid)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 10:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-use-today-in-a-model/187136/4 "2010-04-18T10:20:59Z")
On 18 April 2010 06:30, Bob S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I’m trying to get records from a has\_many that are only from this > year. > > has\_many :visit, :conditions =\> “year = #{@today.year}”, :dependent > =\> :destroy > > This has trouble. it thinks @today is null… Any other ideas? What is @today? Colin ---
**Author:** ![adistarmid](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@adistarmid](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adistarmid)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-use-today-in-a-model/187136/5 "2010-04-18T17:49:52Z")
try using a range in the condition… Post.all(:conditions=\>{:created\_at=\>Time.now.beginning\_of\_year…Time.now.end\_of\_year}) you can also create a named scope (rails 2.3) in the belongs\_to end of the relationship class Post \< ActiveRecord::Base named\_scope :from\_this\_year, lambda { { :conditions=\>{:created\_at =\> Time.now.beginning\_of\_year…Time.now.end\_of\_year}} end …you need to use a lambda, otherwise the time value from app load is used… which obviously wouldn’t be what you want. you would use it like so User.first.posts.from\_this\_year or you could set up a has\_many class User \< ActiveRecord::Base has\_many :posts\_from\_this\_year, :class\_name=\>“Post”, :conditions=\>{:created\_at=\>Time.now.beginning\_of\_year…Time.now.end\_of\_year} end @user.posts\_from\_this\_year