Hey all,
I have an n:m relationship between lpl_short_form_apps and
practice_areas. The joining table is called practices. The definitions
are as follows (minus validation/business logic):
LPLSFAs Model:
class LPLShortFormApp < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :practices
has_many :practice_areas, :through => :practices
has_many :attorneys
end
Table:
class CreateLplShortFormApps < ActiveRecord::Migration
def self.up
create_table :lpl_short_form_apps do |t|
t.string :applicant_name, :null => false
t.string :principal_business_address
…
t.string :email_address, :null => false
t.datetime :effective_date_requested
…
t.timestamps
end
end
def self.down
drop_table :lpl_short_form_apps
end
end
Practice Areas Model:
class PracticeArea < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :practices
has_many :lpl_short_form_apps, :through => :practices
end
Table:
class CreatePracticeAreas < ActiveRecord::Migration
def self.up
create_table :practice_areas do |t|
t.string :area
t.integer :specialty
t.timestamps
end
end
def self.down
drop_table :practice_areas
end
end
Model:
class Practice < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :lpl_short_form_app, :class_name => “LPLShortFormApp”
belongs_to :practice_areas
end
Table:
class Practices < ActiveRecord::Migration
def self.up
create_table :practices, :id => false do |t|
t.integer :lplsfa_id, :null => false, :options => “CONSTRAINT
fk_practices_lplsfas REFERENCES lpl_short_form_apps(id)”
t.integer :practice_area_id, :null => false, :options =>
“CONSTRAINT fk_practices_areas_of_practice REFERENCES practice_area
(id)”
t.decimal :percentage, :null => false
end
end
def self.down
drop_table :practices
end
end
I think that’s the proper way to setup the relationships. If it isn’t,
can someone guide me along the right method?
What I want to do, what I’m having an issue doing, is generating the
new records in the n:m relationship. By business rules, we have 30
Practice Areas set up. Each LPLSFA can have a percentage of those
areas up to 100%; so, I have a practices_controller defined with an
index that generates a form with all of the areas of practice and a
percentage field.
This is the controller code:
def index
@lpl_short_form_app = LPLShortFormApp.find(session
[:lplsfa_id])
@practice = Practice.new
@practice_areas = PracticeArea.all
respond_to do |format|
format.html # index.html.erb
format.xml { render :xml => @practice }
end
end
This is the index page:
So, my questions are as follows:
- How do I have the submit button go to the “Set” action defined in
the practices_controller? - How do I collect/scrape each of the individual percentages from the
form so that I can validate them against a total of 100%? - How do I take that collection and generate a new record in the
practices table such that it joins the LPLSFA with the Practice Area?
Each LPLSFA will have all 30 practice areas, so 30 practices records,
most of which will probably be at a 0 percentage. I’m imagining
something like this:
def set
@practice_areas = PracticeArea.all
@lpl_short_form_app = LPLShortFormApp.find(session[:lplsfa_id])
@practice_areas.each do |practice_area|
@practice_areas.lpl_short_form_apps << @lpl_short_form_app
end
end
I know this is a long message, but I hope it gets a fair evaluation.
It breaks down to my lack of understanding of many to many
relationships in Ruby, my lack of understanding of the form_for in
Rails, and my lack of understanding of both ruby/rails general syntax.
I have the Ruby 1.9 Pickaxe book as well as the Agile Web Dev with
Rail, 3rd ed. but having read through the beginning sections of both
books hasn’t cleared this up for me.
