Rails - Apr 2009 - STI with the type data depending on the association

Hello list,

I have the following entities:
 Product, Supplier. Manufacturer < Supplier and Vendor < Supplier.

Product has_many suppliers through products_suppliers

The thing is, the type of the supplier will depend on the product -- this is
the requirement. So, that''s why I though the type information should be
in
the products_suppliers entity.

What I would like to happen is, when a supplier is retrieved using the
following command:

@suppliers = @product.suppliers.all

Somehow hook up AR and look into the type attribute of the
products_suppliers association and for each record, instantiate the correct
class (either Vendor or Manufacturer).

It''s STI, only that the type data is in another realm and is
"variable"
(depending on the product).

Is there a way to do that with the current STI implementation in Rails
2.2.2? If not, how could I hook up AR to make it happen? Or do you suggest
something simpler?

Any suggestions appreciated.

Marcelo.

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
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
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

On Apr 2, 7:05 pm, Marcelo de Moraes Serpa
<celose...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> What I would like to happen is, when a supplier is retrieved using the
> following command:
>
> @suppliers = @product.suppliers.all
>
> Somehow hook up AR and look into the type attribute of the
> products_suppliers association and for each record, instantiate the correct
> class (either Vendor or Manufacturer).
>
So for any given row in product_suppliers,  there''s a supplier_id.
Surely the row in the suppliers table with that id is either a
Manufacturor or a Vendor ?

Fred


> It''s STI, only that the type data is in another realm and is
"variable"
> (depending on the product).
>
> Is there a way to do that with the current STI implementation in Rails
> 2.2.2? If not, how could I hook up AR to make it happen? Or do you suggest
> something simpler?
>
> Any suggestions appreciated.
>
> Marcelo.
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
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
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Hi Fred, thanks for the reply,

So for any given row in product_suppliers,  there''s a
supplier_id.
> Surely the row in the suppliers table with that id is either a
> Manufacturor or a Vendor ?

The relationship is like that:

class ProductsSupplier < ActiveRecord::Base
 belongs_to :product
 belongs_to :supplier
end

class Supplier < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :product_suppliers
  has_many :products, through => :product_suppliers
end

The first though I had was to use STI **but** somehow make AR instantiate
the object based on a type attribute in a different model/table (in this
case in the products_suppliers table) so as to make the type vary based on
the relationship between product and supplier (as a a supplier might be a
vendor for a product and/or maybe a manufacturer).

The thing is, I tried to monkeypatch AR to add this support to STI, but the
thing is that I ended up by loosing too much time. I think that I will just
keep a type field in products_suppliers and save a string value there (maybe
coming from an enumeration) and define a method in the supplier model to get
its type (is_vendor?, is_manufacturer)... KIS[S] :)

But of course, any suggestions appreciated!

Thanks,

Marcelo.





On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 3:32 PM, Frederick Cheung
<frederick.cheung-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org
> wrote:
>
>
>
> On Apr 2, 7:05 pm, Marcelo de Moraes Serpa
<celose...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
> wrote:
>
> > What I would like to happen is, when a supplier is retrieved using the
> > following command:
> >
> > @suppliers = @product.suppliers.all
> >
> > Somehow hook up AR and look into the type attribute of the
> > products_suppliers association and for each record, instantiate the
> correct
> > class (either Vendor or Manufacturer).
> >
>
> So for any given row in product_suppliers,  there''s a supplier_id.
> Surely the row in the suppliers table with that id is either a
> Manufacturor or a Vendor ?
>
> Fred
>
>
>
> > It''s STI, only that the type data is in another realm and is
"variable"
> > (depending on the product).
> >
> > Is there a way to do that with the current STI implementation in Rails
> > 2.2.2? If not, how could I hook up AR to make it happen? Or do you
> suggest
> > something simpler?
> >
> > Any suggestions appreciated.
> >
> > Marcelo.
> >
>
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
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
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

On Apr 3, 7:14 pm, Marcelo de Moraes Serpa
<celose...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
>
> The first though I had was to use STI **but** somehow make AR instantiate
> the object based on a type attribute in a different model/table (in this
> case in the products_suppliers table) so as to make the type vary based on
> the relationship between product and supplier (as a a supplier might be a
> vendor for a product and/or maybe a manufacturer).
>
> The thing is, I tried to monkeypatch AR to add this support to STI, but the
> thing is that I ended up by loosing too much time. I think that I will just
> keep a type field in products_suppliers and save a string value there
(maybe
> coming from an enumeration) and define a method in the supplier model to
get
> its type (is_vendor?, is_manufacturer)... KIS[S] :)
>
It wouldn''t really be STI - it''s a pretty basic that a given
row in
the database (ie object) has one type - feels like you;d be jumping
through hoops to make AR believe you''re doing STI. You might actually
be able to sort of make this work if you did
has_many :suppliers, :through => :product_suppliers, :select =>
''suppliers.*, product_suppliers.type'' but you might run into
odd
sideeffects.

Fred
> But of course, any suggestions appreciated!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Marcelo.
>
> On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 3:32 PM, Frederick Cheung
<frederick.che...@gmail.com
>
> > wrote:
>
> > On Apr 2, 7:05 pm, Marcelo de Moraes Serpa
<celose...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
> > wrote:
>
> > > What I would like to happen is, when a supplier is retrieved
using the
> > > following command:
>
> > > @suppliers = @product.suppliers.all
>
> > > Somehow hook up AR and look into the type attribute of the
> > > products_suppliers association and for each record, instantiate
the
> > correct
> > > class (either Vendor or Manufacturer).
>
> > So for any given row in product_suppliers,  there''s a
supplier_id.
> > Surely the row in the suppliers table with that id is either a
> > Manufacturor or a Vendor ?
>
> > Fred
>
> > > It''s STI, only that the type data is in another realm
and is "variable"
> > > (depending on the product).
>
> > > Is there a way to do that with the current STI implementation in
Rails
> > > 2.2.2? If not, how could I hook up AR to make it happen? Or do
you
> > suggest
> > > something simpler?
>
> > > Any suggestions appreciated.
>
> > > Marcelo.
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
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
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---