i have a need to create a ''virtual'' attribute. Is the following possible? class User < ActiveRecord::Base # user things are owned by user at his selected location has_many :owned_things, :class_name => "Thing", :conditions => ''user_id #{id} and location_id = #{location_id}'' attr_accessor :location_id end class AccountController < ApplicationController def login # load user info and set location @session[:user] = User.find_by_username_and_password(...) @session[:user].location_id = @params[:location_id] end end Chris _______________________________________________ Rails mailing list Rails-1W37MKcQCpIf0INCOvqR/iCwEArCW2h5@public.gmane.org http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails