# Knowing the parent of an object

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/knowing-the-parent-of-an-object/176629>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [October 3, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/knowing-the-parent-of-an-object/176629 "2009-10-03T14:12:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dddennisdennis734](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@dddennisdennis734](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dddennisdennis734)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/knowing-the-parent-of-an-object/176629/1 "2009-10-03T14:12:29Z")

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Hi,

Considering this:

@article = Article.first(:joins =\> :category)

Does ActiveRecord provides a generique method such as .parent to call  
the @article category? Something like @article.parent which is the same  
as @article.category

Thx

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dddennisdennis734](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@dddennisdennis734](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dddennisdennis734)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/knowing-the-parent-of-an-object/176629/2 "2009-10-03T14:37:13Z")

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2009/10/3 Denis D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid):

> Hi,
> 
> Considering this:
> 
> @article = Article.first(:joins =\> :category)
> 
> Does ActiveRecord provides a generique method such as .parent to call  
> the @article category? Something like @article.parent which is the same  
> as @article.category

An Article could belong\_to several models, so you could have  
@article.category and @article.magazine. How would @article.parent  
know which ‘parent’ to use?

Colin

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dddennisdennis734](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@dddennisdennis734](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dddennisdennis734)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/knowing-the-parent-of-an-object/176629/3 "2009-10-03T14:51:18Z")

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Colin L. wrote:

> 2009/10/3 Denis D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid):  
> An Article could belong\_to several models, so you could have  
> @article.category and @article.magazine. How would @article.parent  
> know which ‘parent’ to use?
> 
> Colin

I totally agree, but it would be convenient to obtain an array of  
multiple parents. Something like:

parents = @article.belongs\_to  
parents # =\> [“Magazine”, “Category”]

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dddennisdennis734](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@dddennisdennis734](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dddennisdennis734)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/knowing-the-parent-of-an-object/176629/4 "2009-10-03T21:57:22Z")

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> I totally agree, but it would be convenient to obtain an array of  
> multiple parents. Something like:
> 
> parents = @article.belongs\_to  
> parents # =\> [“Magazine”, “Category”]

Look into reflections, there should be something in there you can rely  
on.

-eric