Rails - Dec 2005 - Has_Many - Saving Child Rows

I have read extensively on has_many but cannot find an explicit example 
on how to do what I need. I am a newbie, but can grasp it if I see it in 
a working example. Here is my scenario...

I have a form which I can add a TODO item (patterned after 
http://darkhost.mine.nu:81/~vince/rails/tutorial.html). I have the form 
working perfectly so I decided to modify it a bit to add more 
functionality. So I created a table called TODO_Notifications. This 
table is the "child" table and will contain users who were
"emailed"
regarding each TODO item.

So, I added a list of check boxes in the form. The check boxes are a 
list of emails that I can send the new TODO item to. When I click SAVE 
TODO, the app should save the TODO item and then add each user that I 
want emailed to the TODO_Notifications table.

What I am having trouble with is getting the TODO id returned so I can 
write the child table...

Here is the code I have so far:
##########################################
  item = Todo.new  # Create a new instance of Todo, so create a new item
  item.attributes = @params["new_item"]

#  item.todo_notifications << ToDoNotification.new(????????):

  if item.save  # Try to save our item into the database
    redirect_to(:action => "list")  # Return to the list page if it
suceeds
  else
    render_text "Couldn''t add new item"  # Print an error
message
otherwise
  end
##########################################

So, I am just not sure where to put the code to save the child records 
AND how I should handle getting the TODO id back...

Any help would be appreciated.

Marty

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

Assuming your check_box is something like this

check_box("todo_notification",user_to_notify.id)

your code would look something like this (there''s a much more concise 
way to create the notification and set the attributes, i should know it 
but I don''t, I''m sure someone will chime in)

item = Todo.new  # Create a new instance of Todo, so create a new item
  item.attributes = params["new_item"]

  @users.each do |user|
    user_check_value = params["todo_notification"][user.id.to_s]
    if user_check_value
      notification = TodoNotification.new
      notification.user = user
      item.notifications << notification
    end
  end

  if item.save  # Try to save our item into the database
    redirect_to(:action => "list")  # Return to the list page if it
suceeds
  else
    render_text "Couldn''t add new item"  # Print an error
message otherwise
  end



M. Smith wrote:
>I have read extensively on has_many but cannot find an explicit example 
>on how to do what I need. I am a newbie, but can grasp it if I see it in 
>a working example. Here is my scenario...
>
>I have a form which I can add a TODO item (patterned after 
>http://darkhost.mine.nu:81/~vince/rails/tutorial.html). I have the form 
>working perfectly so I decided to modify it a bit to add more 
>functionality. So I created a table called TODO_Notifications. This 
>table is the "child" table and will contain users who were
"emailed"
>regarding each TODO item.
>
>So, I added a list of check boxes in the form. The check boxes are a 
>list of emails that I can send the new TODO item to. When I click SAVE 
>TODO, the app should save the TODO item and then add each user that I 
>want emailed to the TODO_Notifications table.
>
>What I am having trouble with is getting the TODO id returned so I can 
>write the child table...
>
>Here is the code I have so far:
>##########################################
>  item = Todo.new  # Create a new instance of Todo, so create a new item
>  item.attributes = @params["new_item"]
>
>#  item.todo_notifications << ToDoNotification.new(????????):
>
>  if item.save  # Try to save our item into the database
>    redirect_to(:action => "list")  # Return to the list page
if it
>suceeds
>  else
>    render_text "Couldn''t add new item"  # Print an error
message
>otherwise
>  end
>##########################################
>
>So, I am just not sure where to put the code to save the child records 
>AND how I should handle getting the TODO id back...
>
>Any help would be appreciated.
>
>Marty
>
>  
>