Ferret talk - Jul 2006 - acts_as_ferret with has_many relationship

Using Ferret and the acts_as_ferret plugin, I would like to retrieve 
results based on models descended from a parent model:

class Post < ActiveRecord::Base

    acts_as_ferret :fields => [ ''title'',
				''body'',
				:post_author,
                                :post_comments
				]
   ...

   has_one  :author
   has_many :comments
end

I would like to search all comments of a post and retrieve Post models 
as search results.  Currently, searching across :author fields is 
achieved using:

def post_author
    self.author.name
end

However, a similiar technique does not seem to work for the has_many 
relationship:

def post_comments
    for comment in self.comments
        @comments << comment.body
        @comments << comment.name
    end
    @comments.join(" ")
end

Searching across author fields finds the correct Post.  However, none of 
the comments seems to be indexed and/or associated with the correct Post 
so no search results are found.  I would appreciate any help on this.

Thanks!

Rami

--------
Note: The post model is saved after comment changes are made in order 
for acts_as_ferret to index the Post.  Also note that multi_search would 
not easily apply here since I know for certain I would like to retrieve 
the Post model, and not the Comment or Author model as search results.

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Hi Rami, 

could you have a look at your development.log and check what values
actuelly gets indexed for the post_comments field when you save the 
post ?

Jens

On Fri, Jul 21, 2006 at 08:51:48AM +0200, Rami Bitar
wrote:
> Using Ferret and the acts_as_ferret plugin, I would like to retrieve 
> results based on models descended from a parent model:
> 
> class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
> 
>     acts_as_ferret :fields => [ ''title'',
> 				''body'',
> 				:post_author,
>                                 :post_comments
> 				]
>    ...
> 
>    has_one  :author
>    has_many :comments
> end
> 
> I would like to search all comments of a post and retrieve Post models 
> as search results.  Currently, searching across :author fields is 
> achieved using:
> 
> def post_author
>     self.author.name
> end
> 
> However, a similiar technique does not seem to work for the has_many 
> relationship:
> 
> def post_comments
>     for comment in self.comments
>         @comments << comment.body
>         @comments << comment.name
>     end
>     @comments.join(" ")
> end
> 
> Searching across author fields finds the correct Post.  However, none of 
> the comments seems to be indexed and/or associated with the correct Post 
> so no search results are found.  I would appreciate any help on this.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Rami
> 
> --------
> Note: The post model is saved after comment changes are made in order 
> for acts_as_ferret to index the Post.  Also note that multi_search would 
> not easily apply here since I know for certain I would like to retrieve 
> the Post model, and not the Comment or Author model as search results.
> 
> -- 
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
> _______________________________________________
> Ferret-talk mailing list
> Ferret-talk at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/ferret-talk
-- 
webit! Gesellschaft f?r neue Medien mbH          www.webit.de
Dipl.-Wirtschaftsingenieur Jens Kr?mer       kraemer at webit.de
Schnorrstra?e 76                         Tel +49 351 46766  0
D-01069 Dresden                          Fax +49 351 46766 66

You might want to try removing the @ symbol from comments and name it
something else to avoid conflict with your relationship.

def post_comments
  self.comments.inject([]) { |ary, c| ary << c.body << c.name
}.join('' '')
end

-Lee

On 7/21/06, Rami Bitar <rbitar at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Using Ferret and the acts_as_ferret plugin, I would like to retrieve
> results based on models descended from a parent model:
>
> class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
>
>     acts_as_ferret :fields => [ ''title'',
>                                 ''body'',
>                                 :post_author,
>                                 :post_comments
>                                 ]
>    ...
>
>    has_one  :author
>    has_many :comments
> end
>
> I would like to search all comments of a post and retrieve Post models
> as search results.  Currently, searching across :author fields is
> achieved using:
>
> def post_author
>     self.author.name
> end
>
> However, a similiar technique does not seem to work for the has_many
> relationship:
>
> def post_comments
>     for comment in self.comments
>         @comments << comment.body
>         @comments << comment.name
>     end
>     @comments.join(" ")
> end
>
> Searching across author fields finds the correct Post.  However, none of
> the comments seems to be indexed and/or associated with the correct Post
> so no search results are found.  I would appreciate any help on this.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Rami
>
> --------
> Note: The post model is saved after comment changes are made in order
> for acts_as_ferret to index the Post.  Also note that multi_search would
> not easily apply here since I know for certain I would like to retrieve
> the Post model, and not the Comment or Author model as search results.
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
> _______________________________________________
> Ferret-talk mailing list
> Ferret-talk at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/ferret-talk
>

Hi Jens,

After looking at the development log, I''ve solved the problem. It turns
out that acts_as_ferret was not indexing ''comments'' since
another table
I was also trying to index was ''null.''  As a result,
acts_as_ferret was
terminating prematurely (due to the null error) before it could even 
index the ''comment'' values.  The code I originally posted,
therefore,
should work fine for others.

Thanks for your help and all your great work!

Rami

@Lee:
Yes, thanks for the suggestion.  I will remove the @ symbol to eliminate 
any possible conflicts.


Jens Kraemer wrote:
> Hi Rami,
> 
> could you have a look at your development.log and check what values
> actuelly gets indexed for the post_comments field when you save the
> post ?
> 
> Jens
> 
> On Fri, Jul 21, 2006 at 08:51:48AM +0200, Rami Bitar wrote:
>>    ...
>>     self.author.name
>>     @comments.join(" ")
>> --------
>> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/ferret-talk
> --
> webit! Gesellschaft f?r neue Medien mbH          www.webit.de
> Dipl.-Wirtschaftsingenieur Jens Kr?mer       kraemer at webit.de
> Schnorrstra?e 76                         Tel +49 351 46766  0
> D-01069 Dresden                          Fax +49 351 46766 66

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.