# Search Function **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [March 12, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/search-function/162615 "2009-03-12T00:06:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@pal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pal)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/search-function/162615/1 "2009-03-12T00:06:24Z")
Hi I have two tables Stores and Categories Relationship of these tables are: Many to Many Store can have many categories Category can also have many stores Now in the stores table I have a store\_name and category\_id attributes that links the category table to the store table via its Category\_ID attribute. The Category table only has category\_id and category\_description attributes. I want to be able to perform a search on Categories index.html.erb page to find stores which fall into that particular category. Therefore I need the search function to look into the stores table and match the category\_id to the category\_id in categories table, and return the store names with those categories. I have tried some example but they don’t seem to be working. Can someone please help!!! ---
**Author:** ![pal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@pal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pal)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 10:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/search-function/162615/2 "2009-03-12T10:52:25Z")
hi Brian, thanx for repylin back, its v.much appriciated. yes your absolutely right. i have used a has\_and\_belongs\_to\_many with a join table being created called categoriesstores. this join “categoriesstores” has the attributes category\_id and store\_id. ---
**Author:** ![pal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@pal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pal)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 11:04am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/search-function/162615/3 "2009-03-12T11:04:31Z")
The join table should be called categories\_stores Having setup the relationships and the tables, then, for example, if you have a store object from the database then you can use store.categories to get a collection of categories for that store. 2009/3/12 Inderpal B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![pal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@pal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pal)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 12:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/search-function/162615/4 "2009-03-12T12:30:03Z")
hi colin, does the join table have to be called categories\_stores. when this table was created i just called it categoriesstores (without the underscore\_). does that cause problems. i have a button that when clicked it should look into stores table and match the store with the category it relates to and then takes the user to tht particular store page. i have tried form\_for and tag methods but have been useless so far. i am quite new to ruby on rails and have been teaching myself for the last 3 months. is it possible for you provide sum sort of code that could help me.something which i can look at and implement into my system. Many Thanks for replying Colin. ---
**Author:** ![pal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@pal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pal)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 4:28am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/search-function/162615/5 "2009-03-12T04:28:57Z")
In general, a many-to-many relationship involves three tables. Can you describe how you’ve done this relationship with Rails? Did you use a has\_and\_belongs\_to\_many with a categories\_stories table? Or did you use a has\_many :through association with a different through table? On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 6:06 PM, Inderpal B. ---
**Author:** ![pal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@pal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pal)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 12:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/search-function/162615/6 "2009-03-12T12:43:05Z")
Have you worked through the guides at [http://guides.rubyonrails.org/](http://guides.rubyonrails.org/)? I can highly recommend the book Agile Development with Rails ( > **[Pragmatic Bookshelf: By Developers, For Developers](https://pragprog.com)** > > We improve the lives of professional developers. We create timely, practical books on classic and cutting-edge topics to help you learn and practice your craft, and accelerate your career. Come learn with us. ) The railscasts at [http://railscasts.com/](http://railscasts.com/) are excellent A bit of googling will reveal numerous other guides and tutorials. Make sure any you work through are for rails 2 as otherwise you will get horribly confused when the tutorials don’t work. Good luck Colin 2009/3/12 Inderpal B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)