# Newbie - Grouping of items **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [April 25, 2006, 11:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-grouping-of-items/58728 "2006-04-25T11:21:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/aftershock)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 11:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-grouping-of-items/58728/1 "2006-04-25T11:21:24Z")
I’m trying to build a dashboard type page (similar in function to basecamp’s) where I can show the last 5 updated items from my 3 differing models, then grouped together by project. Solution ideas: (1) Is it best to create a log model where everytime I add or update another model (like messages, comments, lists etc) an enrty gets added to the log along with the project. I can see this being an overkill and the duplication of data is not correct. (2) In my controller perform a query that searches every model for every item against a given project\_id. The order the results by “updated\_on”. Then select the last 5 for each result. This seems really complicated and perfoms many SQL queries Does rails/ruby have a better way of achieving this? What have you done in your projects that works reliably and quickly? Many thanks ---
**Author:** ![aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/aftershock)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-grouping-of-items/58728/2 "2006-04-25T16:11:31Z")
this is how I would do it: - add a new array for your Project model, it would be called “last\_updates”. THEN - create an observer that append the updates to the last\_updates array every time there is an update. OR -overwrite the ‘after\_save’ (dont remember the exact name of the callback) callback from each model that you want to track to add the change to the last\_updates array. finaly, your model should have a method that returns the last X updates as an array to the view. It would also be a good idea to restrict the size of the array. Or replace the array with a new DB table to log all the updates… Anyways, I am new ot RoR so I cant wait to see what others are going to say! ---
**Author:** ![aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/aftershock)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-grouping-of-items/58728/3 "2006-04-25T16:44:57Z")
I think your second approach is best. It should only require one find for each model, which probably isn’t that bad. Object.find\_by\_project(project\_id, :order=\>‘updated\_on DESC’, :limit=\>5) or more likely… user.items(:order=\>‘updated\_on DESC’, :conditions=\>“updated\_on \> #{Time.now-24.hours}”) if you have a user has\_many :items, :through=\>:projects this will give you the most flexibility. If you create a ‘log’ object, you could use a polymorphic association to make it efficient, but you would either have to duplicate information in the log table (project\_id, etc) or you would only be able to sort it by time _disclaimer_ - code not tested On Tuesday, April 25, 2006, at 11:21 AM, James W. wrote: > (2) In my controller perform a query that searches every model for every > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). > > * * * > > Rails mailing list > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) \_Kevin ---
**Author:** ![aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/aftershock)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-grouping-of-items/58728/4 "2006-04-25T17:03:50Z")
Kevin O. wrote: > I think your second approach is best. > It should only require one find for each model, which probably isn’t > that bad. > > Object.find\_by\_project(project\_id, :order=\>‘updated\_on DESC’, :limit=\>5) > or more likely… > > user.items(:order=\>‘updated\_on DESC’, :conditions=\>“updated\_on \> > #{Time.now-24.hours}”) > > if you have a user has\_many :items, :through=\>:projects > > this will give you the most flexibility. > > If you create a ‘log’ object, you could use a polymorphic association to > make it efficient, but you would either have to duplicate information in > the log table (project\_id, etc) or you would only be able to sort it by > time > > _disclaimer_ - code not tested > > On Tuesday, April 25, 2006, at 11:21 AM, James W. wrote: > > > (2) In my controller perform a query that searches every model for every > > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). > > > > * * * > > > > Rails mailing list > > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) > > \_Kevin Thanks all, I have not looked at the through=\> yet sounds promising. I have a slight issue with case statements in my view (for my menu items) (only on osx see other post) at the moment so I will test soon. Thanks for your help. ---
**Author:** ![aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/aftershock)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 11:38am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-grouping-of-items/58728/5 "2006-05-09T11:38:35Z")
James W. wrote: > Kevin O. wrote: > > > I think your second approach is best. > > It should only require one find for each model, which probably isn’t > > that bad. > > > > Object.find\_by\_project(project\_id, :order=\>‘updated\_on DESC’, :limit=\>5) > > or more likely… > > > > user.items(:order=\>‘updated\_on DESC’, :conditions=\>“updated\_on \> > > #{Time.now-24.hours}”) > > > > if you have a user has\_many :items, :through=\>:projects > > > > this will give you the most flexibility. > > > > If you create a ‘log’ object, you could use a polymorphic association to > > make it efficient, but you would either have to duplicate information in > > the log table (project\_id, etc) or you would only be able to sort it by > > time > > > > _disclaimer_ - code not tested > > > > On Tuesday, April 25, 2006, at 11:21 AM, James W. wrote: > > > > > (2) In my controller perform a query that searches every model for every > > > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). > > > > > > * * * > > > > > > Rails mailing list > > > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > > > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) > > > > \_Kevin > > Thanks all, I have not looked at the through=\> yet sounds promising. I > have a slight issue with case statements in my view (for my menu items) > (only on osx see other post) at the moment so I will test soon. Thanks > for your help. Sorry to bring this back to the front, but I still have major problems getting this to work. What I am trying to get is like this: Project 1 todo item 12 - 03/05/06 12:33 message 22 - 03/05/06 12:21 message 66 - 03/05/06 10:55 todo item 18 - 02/05/06 09:33 milestone 2 - 02/05/06 09:20 todo item 4 - 01/05/06 09:20 Project 2 message 31 - 03/05/06 12:15 todo item 13 - 02/05/06 11:48 milestone 28 - 02/05/06 09:20 Project 3 … I a client has many projects. A project has many messages, tickets, todo\_lists, milestones. A todo\_list has many todo\_list\_items. I am trying to get a homepage that will group the latest updated items (that could be a milestone, message or todo\_list item) by project ordered by date. I have looked at the group\_by Rails 1.1 but that does not achieve what I need like above. I can’t think how to best do this can anyone else give me an idea?