Rails - Dec 2005 - Dynamic order on has_many relationship?

I was wondering if it''s possible to some how control the :order given  
on a has_many depending on another attribute?

Or do I need to just create multiple has_many relationships pointing  
to the same table but with different orders and then select which one  
I use in the controller instead?

e.g

class Category < AR::B
	has_many :products, :order => //something magical?//
end

class Category < AR:B
	has_many :products, :order => "product_id"
	has_many :products_by_desc, :class_name => "Product", :order =>
"description"
	has_many :products_by_gtin, :class_name => "Product", :order =>
"gtin"
end

If I had a column that was default_order on the Category, could it  
evaluate it and set the :order at the model level, or do I go in and  
get my record set and hardcode which relationship matches which value  
of the column?

Thanks,
Chris Nolan.ca
http://kekova.ca/

Chris Nolan.ca wrote:
> I was wondering if it''s possible to some how control the :order
given
> on a has_many depending on another attribute?

I have been wondering about the same.  It did occur to me that when you 
are using a has_many you aren''t really enforcing some relationship so 
much as adding a convenience finder method.  So it is probably just as 
valid to create some function which runs find_by_sql and returns the 
results you are after?  There are some convenience methods added as a 
result of has_many, so you may want to check you don''t rely on those.

Local sorting of your object is probably also possible (or can be emulated)

In my case I wanted to have subsets of the has_many relation, eg find 
all completed orders, find all orders, find orders not yet shipped, etc, 
etc.  Grateful for any better suggestions on doing this than just adding 
methods to the model which return the appropriate results?

Ed W

> class Category < AR::B
>         has_many :products
> end
The reason you can''t put anything in the has_many() method call is
it''s executed when the class is loaded.  Luckily you can use the full
power of the find() method.

@category.products.find(:all, :order => ''something
magical'')

--
rick
http://techno-weenie.net