Rails - Jul 2008 - belongs_to causing endless loop on first call to save!

Hi,

I have a situation I''m hoping someone out there may be able to shed
some
light on.  I have a Rails app (2.1.0 on Ruby 1.8.7) with a wizard-based sign
up process, that has recently been changed from storing incremental data in
the database to having a medium sized object graph living in the user
session until the user completes the entire sign up process (this is a
business requirement now).  After the user commits all relevant data,
I''m
now calling save! on the top-level object to save all the rows at once.
However, when the call to save! happens--and because I have two objects that
have a belongs_to association, each pointing to other in addition to the
normal bidirectional association--I end up in an endless validation loop.
Funny thing is, when I was incrementally saving the data, this issue never
arose--another way to put it, those relationships never caused a problem
when saving/retrieving already-existing rows.

In the model tier, I have the following classes defined:


class PrimaryAccount < Account
  has_many :payment_methods, :foreign_key => "account_id" #using
single
table inheritance, which is why foreign key is not
"primary_account_id"
  belongs_to :current_payment_method, :class_name =>
"PaymentMethod",
:foreign_key => "current_payment_method_id" #points to same table,
so I can
have many payment_methods, but also mark as being the current one to bill
...


class PaymentMethod < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :account #normal bidirectional association
...


class CreditCard < PaymentMethod
...


In the controller tier, I have a session object that--on the final
step--loads an Account model object based on the current session state, and
then calls save! on that model:


class PrimaryAccountUser < User

  attr_reader :credit_card

  def initialize(service_id)
    @credit_card = {} #hash for storing credit card attributes
  end

  def persist_to_database
    add_session_data_to_account(PrimaryAccount.new)
    account.save!
    @id = account.id
    return account
  end


  private

  def add_session_data_to_account(account) #adds the impl-specific things to
the account

    if(!@credit_card.blank?)
      card = CreditCard.new do |cc|
        cc.account_type = @credit_card[:type]
        cc.account_name = @credit_card[:name]
        cc.account_number = @credit_card[:number]
        cc.cvv = @credit_card[:cvv]
        cc.account_expiration = @credit_card[:expiration]
        cc.address = @credit_card[:address]
        cc.city = @credit_card[:city]
        cc.state = @credit_card[:state]
        cc.zip = @credit_card[:zip]
        cc.country = @credit_card[:country]
        cc.phone = @credit_card[:phone]
      end

      #strange...this won''t populate the account_id on save!
      account.payment_methods << card

      #again, if I don''t do this, then the payment_method
won''t have a
populated account_id on save!
      card.account = account

      #doing this causes the endless validation loop
      account.current_payment_method = card

    end

    return account

  end


Am I crazy for thinking this ought to work?


Thanks in advance,

Ryan Frith
ralafapa-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Ruby on Rails: Talk" group.
To post to this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk-unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

It just seems way too overengineered to me.  When you add a card to the
system, just add the card

In the controller, for example:

  def create
    card = Card.new(params[:card]
    card.account_id = session[:user_id]  # or current_user.id or wherever
you store the id of the currently logged in user.
    if account.save
       ...
    else
      ...
    end
  end

No need to do all that account << card stuff because the web is stateless.
When it''s saved, you''re going to redirect them, a new request
will be made
by your user, and the records get queried again.  Plus you save a ton of
overhead.

just my .02.

Or maybe I''m oversimplifying your situation, but I just like to keep
things
as simple as possible.

On Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 7:28 PM, Ryan Frith
<ralafapa-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have a situation I''m hoping someone out there may be able to
shed some
> light on.  I have a Rails app (2.1.0 on Ruby 1.8.7) with a wizard-based
sign
> up process, that has recently been changed from storing incremental data in
> the database to having a medium sized object graph living in the user
> session until the user completes the entire sign up process (this is a
> business requirement now).  After the user commits all relevant data,
I''m
> now calling save! on the top-level object to save all the rows at once.
> However, when the call to save! happens--and because I have two objects
that
> have a belongs_to association, each pointing to other in addition to the
> normal bidirectional association--I end up in an endless validation loop.
> Funny thing is, when I was incrementally saving the data, this issue never
> arose--another way to put it, those relationships never caused a problem
> when saving/retrieving already-existing rows.
>
> In the model tier, I have the following classes defined:
>
>
> class PrimaryAccount < Account
>   has_many :payment_methods, :foreign_key => "account_id"
#using single
> table inheritance, which is why foreign key is not
"primary_account_id"
>   belongs_to :current_payment_method, :class_name =>
"PaymentMethod",
> :foreign_key => "current_payment_method_id" #points to same
table, so I can
> have many payment_methods, but also mark as being the current one to bill
> ...
>
>
> class PaymentMethod < ActiveRecord::Base
>   belongs_to :account #normal bidirectional association
> ...
>
>
> class CreditCard < PaymentMethod
> ...
>
>
> In the controller tier, I have a session object that--on the final
> step--loads an Account model object based on the current session state, and
> then calls save! on that model:
>
>
> class PrimaryAccountUser < User
>
>   attr_reader :credit_card
>
>   def initialize(service_id)
>     @credit_card = {} #hash for storing credit card attributes
>   end
>
>   def persist_to_database
>     add_session_data_to_account(PrimaryAccount.new)
>     account.save!
>     @id = account.id
>     return account
>   end
>
>
>   private
>
>   def add_session_data_to_account(account) #adds the impl-specific things
> to the account
>
>     if(!@credit_card.blank?)
>       card = CreditCard.new do |cc|
>         cc.account_type = @credit_card[:type]
>         cc.account_name = @credit_card[:name]
>         cc.account_number = @credit_card[:number]
>         cc.cvv = @credit_card[:cvv]
>         cc.account_expiration = @credit_card[:expiration]
>         cc.address = @credit_card[:address]
>         cc.city = @credit_card[:city]
>         cc.state = @credit_card[:state]
>         cc.zip = @credit_card[:zip]
>         cc.country = @credit_card[:country]
>         cc.phone = @credit_card[:phone]
>       end
>
>       #strange...this won''t populate the account_id on save!
>       account.payment_methods << card
>
>       #again, if I don''t do this, then the payment_method
won''t have a
> populated account_id on save!
>       card.account = account
>
>       #doing this causes the endless validation loop
>       account.current_payment_method = card
>
>     end
>
>     return account
>
>   end
>
>
> Am I crazy for thinking this ought to work?
>
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Ryan Frith
> ralafapa-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org
>
>
> >
>
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Ruby on Rails: Talk" group.
To post to this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk-unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Maybe you didn''t see the fine print--I''m saving the entire
object
graph at once; there is no session[:user].id or current_user.  I
greatly simplified the code for the sake of brevity, but all the
objects get assembled in the final sign-up step from state stored in
the session over many screens (wizard) and then all the objects in the
graph get persisted from the call to the top-level object''s save!
method.  This was a design decision to not save session state to DB in
between requests for the sign up process.  Anyways, the issue may be
related to this one:

  http://dev.rubyonrails.org/ticket/1796

Anyone else have any ideas?

Thanks,

Ryan

On Jul 15, 11:16 pm, "Brian Hogan"
<bpho...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> It just seems way too overengineered to me.  When you add a card to the
> system, just add the card
>
> In the controller, for example:
>
>   def create
>     card = Card.new(params[:card]
>     card.account_id = session[:user_id]  # or current_user.id or wherever
> you store the id of the currently logged in user.
>     if account.save
>        ...
>     else
>       ...
>     end
>   end
>
> No need to do all that account << card stuff because the web is
stateless.
> When it''s saved, you''re going to redirect them, a new
request will be made
> by your user, and the records get queried again.  Plus you save a ton of
> overhead.
>
> just my .02.
>
> Or maybe I''m oversimplifying your situation, but I just like to
keep things
> as simple as possible.
>
> On Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 7:28 PM, Ryan Frith
<ralaf...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> wrote:
> > Hi,
>
> > I have a situation I''m hoping someone out there may be able
to shed some
> > light on.  I have a Rails app (2.1.0 on Ruby 1.8.7) with a
wizard-based sign
> > up process, that has recently been changed from storing incremental
data in
> > the database to having a medium sized object graph living in the user
> > session until the user completes the entire sign up process (this is a
> > business requirement now).  After the user commits all relevant data,
I''m
> > now calling save! on the top-level object to save all the rows at
once.
> > However, when the call to save! happens--and because I have two
objects that
> > have a belongs_to association, each pointing to other in addition to
the
> > normal bidirectional association--I end up in an endless validation
loop.
> > Funny thing is, when I was incrementally saving the data, this issue
never
> > arose--another way to put it, those relationships never caused a
problem
> > when saving/retrieving already-existing rows.
>
> > In the model tier, I have the following classes defined:
>
> > class PrimaryAccount < Account
> >   has_many :payment_methods, :foreign_key => "account_id"
#using single
> > table inheritance, which is why foreign key is not
"primary_account_id"
> >   belongs_to :current_payment_method, :class_name =>
"PaymentMethod",
> > :foreign_key => "current_payment_method_id" #points to
same table, so I can
> > have many payment_methods, but also mark as being the current one to
bill
> > ...
>
> > class PaymentMethod < ActiveRecord::Base
> >   belongs_to :account #normal bidirectional association
> > ...
>
> > class CreditCard < PaymentMethod
> > ...
>
> > In the controller tier, I have a session object that--on the final
> > step--loads an Account model object based on the current session
state, and
> > then calls save! on that model:
>
> > class PrimaryAccountUser < User
>
> >   attr_reader :credit_card
>
> >   def initialize(service_id)
> >     @credit_card = {} #hash for storing credit card attributes
> >   end
>
> >   def persist_to_database
> >     add_session_data_to_account(PrimaryAccount.new)
> >     account.save!
> >     @id = account.id
> >     return account
> >   end
>
> >   private
>
> >   def add_session_data_to_account(account) #adds the impl-specific
things
> > to the account
>
> >     if(!@credit_card.blank?)
> >       card = CreditCard.new do |cc|
> >         cc.account_type = @credit_card[:type]
> >         cc.account_name = @credit_card[:name]
> >         cc.account_number = @credit_card[:number]
> >         cc.cvv = @credit_card[:cvv]
> >         cc.account_expiration = @credit_card[:expiration]
> >         cc.address = @credit_card[:address]
> >         cc.city = @credit_card[:city]
> >         cc.state = @credit_card[:state]
> >         cc.zip = @credit_card[:zip]
> >         cc.country = @credit_card[:country]
> >         cc.phone = @credit_card[:phone]
> >       end
>
> >       #strange...this won''t populate the account_id on save!
> >       account.payment_methods << card
>
> >       #again, if I don''t do this, then the payment_method
won''t have a
> > populated account_id on save!
> >       card.account = account
>
> >       #doing this causes the endless validation loop
> >       account.current_payment_method = card
>
> >     end
>
> >     return account
>
> >   end
>
> > Am I crazy for thinking this ought to work?
>
> > Thanks in advance,
>
> > Ryan Frith
> > ralaf...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Ruby on Rails: Talk" group.
To post to this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---