One model active at a time

Rails
1

I’m not sure if there is a term for this (which is why I can’t find
anything on google) but I want to be able to set one of my models
active, where the rest will be set to inactive.

I would guess to write a method that sets all the records to inactive,
then set the selected object to active. That seems like it’s pretty
messy though. Is there some sort of built-in functionality with rails
that will only allow one column to be true at a time?

2

No, there isn’t. Maybe you’re approaching the problem from the wrong
point of view.

Try to explain what is your problem that someone else might give you a
better idea.

Maurício Linhares
http://alinhavado.wordpress.com/ (pt-br) | http://blog.codevader.com/
(en)

3

Hey Maurício,

I have a project model. What I’d like to do is set a project to
“featured” so I can display that on the homepage. By marking a project
as featured, I’d want all the other projects to automatically have
their “featured” column set to false.

On Feb 17, 8:55 pm, Maurício Linhares [email protected]

4

Why not have a:

class FeaturedProject < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :project

before_create :only_have_one
validates_associated :project

def only_have_one
self.class.count < 1
end
end

Then you can FeaturedProduct.find(:first) and be sure that there is
only one. No need to mess with the projects when the featured one
changes. However, you might want to do:

class Project
after_destroy :clean_up_if_featured

def clean_up_if_featured
fp = FeaturedProject.find(:first)
if fp && fp.project_id == self.id
fp.destroy
else
true
end
end
end

Although that might be equivalent to:

class Project
has_one :featured_project, :dependent => :destroy
end

-Rob

On Feb 18, 2009, at 12:43 PM, yaphi wrote:

point of view.

I’m not sure if there is a term for this (which is why I can’t find
anything on google) but I want to be able to set one of my models
active, where the rest will be set to inactive.

I would guess to write a method that sets all the records to
inactive,
then set the selected object to active. That seems like it’s pretty
messy though. Is there some sort of built-in functionality with
rails
that will only allow one column to be true at a time?

Rob B. http://agileconsultingllc.com
[email protected]

5

Well, I don’t know if a Project makes itself featured, but that’s your
dilemma.

In any case, it would be something that a controller action calls on
either a Project instance (@project.feature_me) or the FeaturedProduct
model (FeaturedProject.is_now(@project)).

Where you might have:

class FeaturedProject
def self.is_now(a_project)
fp = find(:first) || new
fp.project = a_project
fp.save
end
end

-Rob

On Feb 18, 2009, at 4:16 PM, yaphi wrote:

class FeaturedProject < ActiveRecord::Base
Then you can FeaturedProduct.find(:first) and be sure that there is
else

project

you a

anything on google) but I want to be able to set one of my models
Rob B. http://agileconsultingllc.com
[email protected]

Rob B. http://agileconsultingllc.com
[email protected]

6

I’ve been thinking more about this, and instead of doing a whole new
model, couldn’t I do something like this in my Project model?

before_save :set_if_featured

def set_if_featured
articles = Article.find(:first, :conditions => [“featured = ?”,
true])
article.featured = false
featured = true
end

On Feb 18, 4:49 pm, Rob B. [email protected]

7

Interesting…So I’d have a method in my Project model that sets the
FeaturedProject.

I’ll play with this and see how it goes. Thanks!

On Feb 18, 2:08 pm, Rob B. [email protected]

8

How about a class method that takes the to-become-featured project as an
argument? Something like:

class Project < AR:Base
validates_uniqueness_of :featured

def self.make_featured(this_project)
self.update_all(“featured = false”)
this_project.featured = true
this_project.save!
end
end

9

that’s exactly what I want…didn’t know about update_all! Thanks I’ll
try it when I get back tonight.

10

yaphi wrote:

that’s exactly what I want…didn’t know about update_all! Thanks I’ll
try it when I get back tonight.

That sucks.

You can only have one featured row in your table.

Why would you identify this row by marking all your rows one way or
another (you will need to index this column (at some point) also) when
all you need to store (somewhere) is the id of the current featured row
? This is an heavyweight solution to a flyweight problem.

Create a control/settings table/model that has an attribute
“current_featured_project_id” and access it via that (as shown already).
You might find other single settings values etc… that you can add to
this table later.

11

OK I see what you’re saying. That’s much simpler and more future
proof. Thanks again!