Rails - Oct 2009 - nested models when id is unavailable

I have a controller that''s creating model objects from XML input.
Something like:

<status-report>
  <completed type="boolean">true</completed>
  <person>
    <name>Scott</name>
  </person>
</status-report>

I have two models, StatusReport and Person.

I want to create a new Person iff there is not already one with that
name. Then, link that Person to this StatusReport.

The built-in accept_nested_attributes_for doesn''t work for me since it
will always create a new Person unless I provide an id to an existing
one.

I have full control over the XML input. What I don''t have is a good
way for it to include the id of an existing Person.

Right now I have a fat controller explicitly looking for a Person,
then doing Person.create! if needed. I''m sure there''s a better
way.

Just in case anybody cares about the resolution of this, I''ll answer
my own post.

In my StatusReport model, I added:

def person_attributes(params = {})
  self.person = Person.find_or_initialize_by_name(params[:name])
end

Then I changed the XML to:
<status-report>
  <completed type="boolean">true</completed>
  <person-attributes>
    <name>Scott</name>
  </person-attributes>
</status-report>

This works much like accepts_nested_attributes_for.


On Oct 1, 6:44 pm, Scott Johnson
<sc...-wIW8SF+lElu2kH9Ulgv/9g@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> I have a controller that''s creating model objects from XML input.
> Something like:
>
> <status-report>
>   <completed type="boolean">true</completed>
>   <person>
>     <name>Scott</name>
>   </person>
> </status-report>
>
> I have two models, StatusReport and Person.
>
> I want to create a new Person iff there is not already one with that
> name. Then, link that Person to this StatusReport.
>
> The built-in accept_nested_attributes_for doesn''t work for me
since it
> will always create a new Person unless I provide an id to an existing
> one.
>
> I have full control over the XML input. What I don''t have is a
good
> way for it to include the id of an existing Person.
>
> Right now I have a fat controller explicitly looking for a Person,
> then doing Person.create! if needed. I''m sure there''s a
better way.