# Pagination with HABTM relationship **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [December 19, 2006, 11:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pagination-with-habtm-relationship/79862 "2006-12-19T23:48:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kim)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 11:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pagination-with-habtm-relationship/79862/1 "2006-12-19T23:48:33Z")
I am wondering how to do pagination on a model that has a HABTM relationship through a join model. ## The models User has\_many :resources has\_many :pages, :through =\> :resources … Page has\_many :resources has\_many :users, :through =\> :resources … Resource belongs\_to :user belongs\_to :page … Then in the PageController I have a list method: def list @pages = @user.pages # @user is set with a before\_filter end This works fine - but I want to be able to paginate the @pages list So how do I do this? I have read all that I can find regarding pagination and still am not getting it. Code is always helpful. Thanks in advance – K ---
**Author:** ![kim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kim)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pagination-with-habtm-relationship/79862/2 "2006-12-20T19:16:30Z")
Is this impossible or just not challenging enough to get a responce? Please enlighten me if you know how to do this. Thanks in advance – K ---
**Author:** ![kim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kim)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pagination-with-habtm-relationship/79862/3 "2006-12-20T20:15:26Z")
Kim, Here are 2 links to plug-ins that others have recommended. I tried the first one about a month ago and never quite got it working (I can’t remember what the problem was). > **[Welcome cardboardrocket.com - BlueHost.com](http://cardboardrocket.com/pages/paginating_find)** > > Bluehost - Top rated web hosting provider - Free 1 click installs For blogs, shopping carts, and more. Get a free domain name, real NON-outsourced 24/7 support, and superior speed. web hosting provider php hosting cheap web hosting, Web hosting,... [http://codefluency.com/2006/10/24/paginator-released](http://codefluency.com/2006/10/24/paginator-released) -Paul ---
**Author:** ![kim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kim)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pagination-with-habtm-relationship/79862/4 "2006-12-20T20:31:36Z")
On Dec 19, 5:47 pm, “Kim” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Page > def list > > Thanks in advance – K Is the “Custom Pagination” section here helpful? [http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/HowtoPagination](http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/HowtoPagination) Best, -r – Ryan R. [http://raaum.org](http://raaum.org) [http://rails.raaum.org](http://rails.raaum.org) – Rails docs [http://locomotive.raaum.org](http://locomotive.raaum.org) – Self contained Rails for Mac OS X ---
**Author:** ![kim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kim)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pagination-with-habtm-relationship/79862/5 "2006-12-20T20:41:38Z")
The cardboardrocket paginating\_find works great for me. Although I had to make some small changes to get it to work properly… here’s an example from my code: @products = Product.find(:all, :conditions =\> [“category\_id = ?”, params[:id]], :order =\> “name”, :page =\> {:size =\> 20, :first =\> 1, :current =\> params[:page] || 1 }) Notice the way I handle the :current. anyways hope it helps if you go that route. good luck, Chad ---
**Author:** ![kim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kim)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pagination-with-habtm-relationship/79862/6 "2006-12-20T23:02:31Z")
Chad - that sounds good. Would you mind sharing a code snippet from your view as to how you handle the paging? I think that may have been what I was missing. Thanks, Paul ---
**Author:** ![kim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kim)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 11:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pagination-with-habtm-relationship/79862/7 "2006-12-20T23:46:48Z")
Thank you Ryan! The custom pagination worked perfectly. Here is the code I added to the list method in the controller: # step 1: read and set the variables you’ll need ``` page = (params[:page] ||= 1).to_i items_per_page = 8 offset = (page - 1) * items_per_page ``` # step 2: do your custom find without doing any kind of limits or offsets @pages = @user.pages # step 3: create a Paginator, the second variable has to be the number of ALL items on all pages @which\_pages = Paginator.new(self, @pages.length, items\_per\_page, page) # step 4: only send a subset of @pages to the view ``` @pages = @pages[offset..(offset + items_per_page - 1)] ``` ---
**Author:** ![kim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kim)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pagination-with-habtm-relationship/79862/8 "2006-12-21T00:34:55Z")
On Dec 20, 5:45 pm, “Kim” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > ``` > @pages = @user.pages > > ``` > > # step 3: create a Paginator, the second variable has to be the > > number of ALL items on all pages > @which\_pages = Paginator.new(self, @pages.length, > items\_per\_page, page) > > # step 4: only send a subset of @pages to the view > > ``` > @pages = @pages[offset..(offset + items_per_page - 1)] > > ``` Mind you, this is not a super efficient method, but as long as the number of user.pages is not too large it should not impact performance. Now if users have thousands of pages … Best, -r – Ryan R. [http://raaum.org](http://raaum.org) [http://rails.raaum.org](http://rails.raaum.org) – Rails docs [http://locomotive.raaum.org](http://locomotive.raaum.org) – Self contained Rails for Mac OS X