Rails - Nov 2009 - Strategy for Handling Separate Shipping and Billing Addresses

Hi -  Very new to RoR.  I have looked around at different strategies
for handling shipping and billing addresses for an e-commerce
applications.  What I am trying to do is to have a user registration
form where the user need to also fill out the default shipping
address.  Ultimately, I would like for the users to be able to add
additional shipping address and billing addresses.

I am sort of going down the path outlined by ryanb''s here and using
Single Table Inheritance where the shipping address and billing
address inherits from address class.  Is this the best approach?

ryanb suggested something along the lines below:

    Customer
    has_many :addresses
    has_many :orders

    Address
    belongs_to :customer

    Order
    belongs_to :customer
    belongs_to :billing_address #...
    belongs_to :shipping_address #...

Is this an instance where I need to use both STI and polymorphic
association?

Can someone walk through an example of what is needed to do this or a
strategy to accomplish this?

Here is what I have so far for the registration form:
************************************************
<% title "User Registration" %>

<div id="registration_leftcol">
  <h1>Why Sign Up?</h1>
    <ul>
    <li>Faster checkout</li>
    <li>Track your orders</li>
    <li>View your order history</li>
    <li>Receive email updates</li>
    </ul>

  <p>
    <b>Already registered?  <%= link_to ''Login
here!'', login_path %></
b>
  </p>
</div>
<div id="registration_rightcol">
  <h1>Your Info</h1>
  <% form_for(@user) do |f| %>
    <%= f.error_messages %>
    <%= render :partial => ''form'', :locals => { :f
=> f } %>

    <%= render :partial => "addresses/address", :collection
=>
@user.addresses %>
    <p>
    <%=  image_submit_tag("/images/Register Button.jpg") %>
    </p>
  <% end %>
</div>
************************************************

I haven''t created the order.rb model yet, but ryanb did suggest making
sure that...

    "The billing_address_id column would go in the orders table. Same
with the shipping."

Is this the only table in the database that would contain this
column?  Should they also exist in the address table or is this
handled by Rails through the type column?  All so very confusing.
Here''s my current code but I''m certain I''m missing
some key concepts
here.  I am providing some of the code below. Any help would be
greatly appreciated.

users_controller.rb
************************************************
class UsersController < ApplicationController
  # GET /users
  # GET /users.xml

  before_filter :require_no_user, :only => [:new, :create]
  before_filter :require_user, :only => [:show, :edit, :update]

  @title = ''User Registration''

  def index
    @users = User.all

    respond_to do |format|
      format.html # index.html.erb
      format.xml  { render :xml => @users }
    end
  end

  # GET /users/1
  # GET /users/1.xml
  def show
    #@user = User.find(params[:id])
    @user = @current_user

    respond_to do |format|
      format.html # show.html.erb
      format.xml  { render :xml => @user }
    end
  end

  # GET /users/new
  # GET /users/new.xml
  def new
    @user = User.new
    @user_session = UserSession.new
    @user.addresses.build

    respond_to do |format|
      format.html # new.html.erb
      format.xml  { render :xml => @user }
    end
  end

  # GET /users/1/edit
  def edit
  #  @user = User.find(params[:id])
  @user = @current_user
  end

  # POST /users
  # POST /users.xml
  def create
    @user = User.new(params[:user])

    respond_to do |format|
      if @user.save
        flash[:notice] = ''Registration successful.''
        format.html { redirect_to(@user) }
        format.xml  { render :xml => @user, :status
=> :created, :location => @user }
      else
        format.html { render :action => "new" }
        format.xml  { render :xml => @user.errors, :status
=> :unprocessable_entity }
      end
    end
  end

  # PUT /users/1
  # PUT /users/1.xml
  def update
    #  @user = User.find(params[:id])
    @user = @current_user

    respond_to do |format|
      if @user.update_attributes(params[:user])
        flash[:notice] = ''Account was successfully updated.''
        format.html { redirect_to(@user) }
        format.xml  { head :ok }
      else
        format.html { render :action => "edit" }
        format.xml  { render :xml => @user.errors, :status
=> :unprocessable_entity }
      end
    end
  end

  # DELETE /users/1
  # DELETE /users/1.xml
  def destroy
    @user = User.find(params[:user])
    @user.destroy

    respond_to do |format|
      format.html { redirect_to(users_url) }
      format.xml  { head :ok }
    end
  end
end
************************************************

user.rb model:
************************************************
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  acts_as_authentic
  has_many :addresses
  accepts_nested_attributes_for :addresses, :allow_destroy => true

  def address_attributes=(address_attributes)
    address_attributes.each do |attributes|
      addresses.build(attributes)
    end
  end

How do I make the default registration address be the default
shipping_address?  I am using address here but should it be
shipping_address?  Should I use a hidden field to set the type and
modify the create section of the code?
************************************************

addresses_controller.rb
************************************************
class AddressesController < ApplicationController
  # GET /addresses
  # GET /addresses.xml

  def index
    @addresses = Address.all

    respond_to do |format|
      format.html # index.html.erb
      format.xml  { render :xml => @addresses }
    end
  end

  # GET /addresses/1
  # GET /addresses/1.xml
  def show
    @address = Address.find(params[:id])

    respond_to do |format|
      format.html # show.html.erb
      format.xml  { render :xml => @address }
    end
  end

  # GET /addresses/new
  # GET /addresses/new.xml
  def new
    @address = Address.new

    respond_to do |format|
      format.html # new.html.erb
      format.xml  { render :xml => @address }
    end
  end

  # GET /addresses/1/edit
  def edit
    @address = Address.find(params[:id])
  end

  # POST /addresses
  # POST /addresses.xml
  def create
    @address = Address.new(params[:address])

    respond_to do |format|
      if @address.save
        flash[:notice] = ''Address was successfully created.''
        format.html { redirect_to(@address) }
        format.xml  { render :xml => @address, :status
=> :created, :location => @address }
      else
        format.html { render :action => "new" }
        format.xml  { render :xml => @address.errors, :status
=> :unprocessable_entity }
      end
    end
  end

  # PUT /addresses/1
  # PUT /addresses/1.xml
  def update
    @address = Address.find(params[:id])

    respond_to do |format|
      if @address.update_attributes(params[:address])
        flash[:notice] = ''Address was successfully updated.''
        format.html { redirect_to(@address) }
        format.xml  { head :ok }
      else
        format.html { render :action => "edit" }
        format.xml  { render :xml => @address.errors, :status
=> :unprocessable_entity }
      end
    end
  end

  # DELETE /addresses/1
  # DELETE /addresses/1.xml
  def destroy
    @address = Address.find(params[:id])
    @address.destroy

    respond_to do |format|
      format.html { redirect_to(addresses_url) }
      format.xml  { head :ok }
    end
  end
end
************************************************

address.rb model
************************************************
class Address < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :user
end
************************************************

billing_address.rb
************************************************
class BillingAddress < Address
end
************************************************

shipping_address.rb
************************************************
class ShippingAddress < Address
end
************************************************

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On Sat, Nov 21, 2009 at 4:09 AM, bui
<bui411-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> Hi -  Very new to RoR.  I have looked around at different strategies
> for handling shipping and billing addresses for an e-commerce
> applications.  What I am trying to do is to have a user registration
> form where the user need to also fill out the default shipping
> address.  Ultimately, I would like for the users to be able to add
> additional shipping address and billing addresses.
>
> I am sort of going down the path outlined by ryanb''s here and
using
> Single Table Inheritance where the shipping address and billing
> address inherits from address class.  Is this the best approach?
>
> ryanb suggested something along the lines below:
>
>    Customer
>    has_many :addresses
>    has_many :orders
>
>    Address
>    belongs_to :customer
>
>    Order
>    belongs_to :customer
>    belongs_to :billing_address #...
>    belongs_to :shipping_address #...
>
> Is this an instance where I need to use both STI and polymorphic
> association?
No I don''t think you need either.  You have a case where an Order can
have two different addresses, but they are both always Addresses.
>
> I haven''t created the order.rb model yet, but ryanb did suggest
making
> sure that...
>
>    "The billing_address_id column would go in the orders table. Same
> with the shipping."
>
> Is this the only table in the database that would contain this
> column?  Should they also exist in the address table or is this
> handled by Rails through the type column?
I don''t think that they need to be in the address table, in this case.
 Let''s see.

> Here''s my current code but I''m certain I''m
missing some key concepts
> here.  I am providing some of the code below. Any help would be
> greatly appreciated.
>
> users_controller.rb
> ************************************************
> class UsersController < ApplicationController
> user.rb model:
> ************************************************
> class User < ActiveRecord::Base
>  acts_as_authentic
>  has_many :addresses
>  accepts_nested_attributes_for :addresses, :allow_destroy => true
>
>  def address_attributes=(address_attributes)
>    address_attributes.each do |attributes|
>      addresses.build(attributes)
>    end
>  end
>
> How do I make the default registration address be the default
> shipping_address?  I am using address here but should it be
> shipping_address?  Should I use a hidden field to set the type and
> modify the create section of the code?
This isn''t really an issue with the user model.  User''s
don''t have a
shipping address, they just have one or more addresses.  Now they
might have one of those addresses be the one they normal want orders
shipped to.

I''ll get to setting the defaults for a order at the end.
> ************************************************
>
> addresses_controller.rb
> ************************************************
> class AddressesController < ApplicationController
>  # GET /addresses
>  # GET /addresses.xml
>
>  def index
>    @addresses = Address.all
>
>    respond_to do |format|
>      format.html # index.html.erb
>      format.xml  { render :xml => @addresses }
>    end
>  end
>
>  # GET /addresses/1
>  # GET /addresses/1.xml
>  def show
>    @address = Address.find(params[:id])
>
>    respond_to do |format|
>      format.html # show.html.erb
>      format.xml  { render :xml => @address }
>    end
>  end
>
>  # GET /addresses/new
>  # GET /addresses/new.xml
>  def new
>    @address = Address.new
>
>    respond_to do |format|
>      format.html # new.html.erb
>      format.xml  { render :xml => @address }
>    end
>  end
>
>  # GET /addresses/1/edit
>  def edit
>    @address = Address.find(params[:id])
>  end
>
>  # POST /addresses
>  # POST /addresses.xml
>  def create
>    @address = Address.new(params[:address])
>
>    respond_to do |format|
>      if @address.save
>        flash[:notice] = ''Address was successfully
created.''
>        format.html { redirect_to(@address) }
>        format.xml  { render :xml => @address, :status
> => :created, :location => @address }
>      else
>        format.html { render :action => "new" }
>        format.xml  { render :xml => @address.errors, :status
> => :unprocessable_entity }
>      end
>    end
>  end
>
>  # PUT /addresses/1
>  # PUT /addresses/1.xml
>  def update
>    @address = Address.find(params[:id])
>
>    respond_to do |format|
>      if @address.update_attributes(params[:address])
>        flash[:notice] = ''Address was successfully
updated.''
>        format.html { redirect_to(@address) }
>        format.xml  { head :ok }
>      else
>        format.html { render :action => "edit" }
>        format.xml  { render :xml => @address.errors, :status
> => :unprocessable_entity }
>      end
>    end
>  end
>
>  # DELETE /addresses/1
>  # DELETE /addresses/1.xml
>  def destroy
>    @address = Address.find(params[:id])
>    -Jbz+COfnBigqAwPp7cWvug@public.gmane.org
>
>    respond_to do |format|
>      format.html { redirect_to(addresses_url) }
>      format.xml  { head :ok }
>    end
>  end
> end
> ************************************************
The main comment I''ve got about this, is that if every address belongs
to a user, then the address controller should be scoped to a user, and
instead of Address.find, Address.new, Address.create you should find
instantiate and create addresses using the addresses association of
user.
>
> address.rb model
> ************************************************
> class Address < ActiveRecord::Base
>  belongs_to :user
> end
> ************************************************
>
> billing_address.rb
> ************************************************
> class BillingAddress < Address
> end
> ************************************************
>
> shipping_address.rb
> ************************************************
> class ShippingAddress < Address
> end
> ************************************************
You don''t need subclasses unless there is a behavioral difference
between billing and shipping addresses.  I doubt that there is, they
are both addresses, it''s just that they are playing different roles.


If you change the Order model slightly

Order
   belongs_to :customer
   belongs_to :billing_address, :class_name => ''Address''
   belongs_to :shipping_address, :class_name => ''Address''

Then you can use the Address class for both roles.

Now having gotten here, you could also model the notion of a customer
having a preferred shipping address (and even a preferred billing
address) in a similar way

 User
   ...
  belongs_to :preferred_billing_address, :class_name => "Address"
  belongs_to :preferred_shipping_address, :class_name => "Address"


It might seem odd to have a User ''belonging to'' two particular
addresses, but you can alternatively thing of belongs_to as
has_a_pointer_to, and has_many as has_many_pointing_to_me.


Now about the order. I think that there are at least two ways of
dealing with the billing and shipping addresses:

1) in the OrdersController

     def new
          @order = current_user.orders.build(
                               :billing_address =>
current_user.preferred_billing_address,
                               :shipping_address =>
current_user.preferred_shipping_address
                         )
        #...
      end

2) in the OrderModel

   class Order < ActiveRecord::Base
          belongs_to :customer
          belongs_to :billing_address, :class_name =>
''Address''
          belongs_to :shipping_address, :class_name =>
''Address''

          def after_initialize
              if new_record?
                 self.billing_address customer.preferred_billing_address unless
billing_address
                  self.shipping_address customer.preferred_shipping_address
unless shipping_address
              end
          end
    end

The first approach is probably more conventional.


HTH


-- 
Rick DeNatale

Blog: http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/RickDeNatale
WWR: http://www.workingwithrails.com/person/9021-rick-denatale
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickdenatale

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>
> Order
>   belongs_to :customer
>   belongs_to :billing_address, :class_name =>
''Address''
>   belongs_to :shipping_address, :class_name =>
''Address''
> ....snip....
> 1) in the OrdersController
>
>     def new
>          @order = current_user.orders.build(
>                               :billing_address =>
> current_user.preferred_billing_address,
>                               :shipping_address =>
> current_user.preferred_shipping_address
>                         )
>        #...
>      end
One thing that popped into my head while reading this is that given  
the above, if I update my shipping/billing address, any orders I''ve  
previously placed will have their addresses updated as well.  Which  
may not be what you want -- since you''d lose the ability to tell where
an order was shipped should I do that.

So, you might want to add some logic to the Address model that if the  
address currently being changed is associated with any orders that  
instead a new address should be created and the old one set to some  
sort of "archived, but need to keep around as it relates to an order"
status.

This is similar to needing to store the price of the product in the  
order itself so that if you later change the price you aren''t  
retroactively changing the order information...

-philip

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On Sat, Nov 21, 2009 at 8:12 PM, Philip Hallstrom
<philip-LSG90OXdqQE@public.gmane.org> wrote:
>>
>> Order
>>   belongs_to :customer
>>   belongs_to :billing_address, :class_name =>
''Address''
>>   belongs_to :shipping_address, :class_name =>
''Address''
>> ....snip....
>> 1) in the OrdersController
>>
>>     def new
>>          @order = current_user.orders.build(
>>                               :billing_address =>
>> current_user.preferred_billing_address,
>>                               :shipping_address =>
>> current_user.preferred_shipping_address
>>                         )
>>        #...
>>      end
>
> One thing that popped into my head while reading this is that given
> the above, if I update my shipping/billing address, any orders
I''ve
> previously placed will have their addresses updated as well.
No they won''t.

When the order is saved, then it will have a shipping_address_id and
billing_address_id set to either the values intialized by the
controller in the new method (which is used as a template for the
values posted back to the create method by the form) or whatever the
user changed it to on the order form.

If the user changes his preferences later, it won''t affect existing
orders.

I think you might be better off just to write some code and test it
and see what happens, rather than continuing with what seem to be
gedanken experiments.


-- 
Rick DeNatale

Blog: http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/RickDeNatale
WWR: http://www.workingwithrails.com/person/9021-rick-denatale
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickdenatale

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> On Sat, Nov 21, 2009 at 8:12 PM, Philip Hallstrom
<philip-LSG90OXdqQE@public.gmane.org>
> wrote:
>>>
>>> Order
>>>   belongs_to :customer
>>>   belongs_to :billing_address, :class_name =>
''Address''
>>>   belongs_to :shipping_address, :class_name =>
''Address''
>>> ....snip....
>>> 1) in the OrdersController
>>>
>>>     def new
>>>          @order = current_user.orders.build(
>>>                               :billing_address =>
>>> current_user.preferred_billing_address,
>>>                               :shipping_address =>
>>> current_user.preferred_shipping_address
>>>                         )
>>>        #...
>>>      end
>>
>> One thing that popped into my head while reading this is that given
>> the above, if I update my shipping/billing address, any orders
I''ve
>> previously placed will have their addresses updated as well.
>
> No they won''t.
>
> When the order is saved, then it will have a shipping_address_id and
> billing_address_id set to either the values intialized by the
> controller in the new method (which is used as a template for the
> values posted back to the create method by the form) or whatever the
> user changed it to on the order form.
>
> If the user changes his preferences later, it won''t affect
existing
> orders.
>
> I think you might be better off just to write some code and test it
> and see what happens, rather than continuing with what seem to be
> gedanken experiments.
I think you misunderstood or I didn''t make it clear...  if the user  
changes his preferred address, everything will be fine.  If there is  
functionality that lets a user update his old addresses then there  
will be a problem in that the order will be updated too.  Say the user  
ships things to his work address.  Then he changes jobs and updates  
his work address... any order that had a shipping address of that same  
id will now have the new address, not the old.

class Address < ActiveRecord::Base
end
class Customer < ActiveRecord::Base
   belongs_to :preferred_billing_address, :class_name => "Address"
   belongs_to :preferred_shipping_address, :class_name => "Address"
   has_many :orders
end
class Order < ActiveRecord::Base
   belongs_to :customer
   belongs_to :billing_address, :class_name => ''Address''
   belongs_to :shipping_address, :class_name => ''Address''
end

   create_table "addresses", :force => true do |t|
     t.string   "street"
     t.datetime "created_at"
     t.datetime "updated_at"
   end

   create_table "customers", :force => true do |t|
     t.string   "name"
     t.integer  "preferred_billing_address_id"
     t.integer  "preferred_shipping_address_id"
     t.datetime "created_at"
     t.datetime "updated_at"
   end

   create_table "orders", :force => true do |t|
     t.integer  "customer_id"
     t.integer  "billing_address_id"
     t.integer  "shipping_address_id"
     t.datetime "created_at"
     t.datetime "updated_at"
   end

 >> c = Customer.create(:name => ''Philip'')
 >> a1 = Address.create(:street => ''123 Maple St'')
 >> a2 = Address.create(:street => ''456 Syrup St'')
 >> c.preferred_shipping_address = a1
 >> c.preferred_billing_address = a2
 >> c.save
 >> o = c.orders.build(:shipping_address =>  
c.preferred_shipping_address,
                       :billing_address => c.preferred_billing_address)
 >> c.preferred_shipping_address.street
=> "123 Maple St"
 >> c.preferred_billing_address.street
=> "456 Syrup St"
 >> o.shipping_address.street
=> "123 Maple St"
 >> o.billing_address.street
=> "456 Syrup St"
 >> a1.street = ''789 Blueberry St''
=> "789 Blueberry St"
 >> a1.save
 >> c.preferred_shipping_address.street
=> "789 Blueberry St"
 >> o.shipping_address.street
=> "789 Blueberry St"

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Rick, thanks for responding. I appreciate the help.

I wasn''t familiar with scoping but after re



On Nov 21, 4:27 pm, Rick DeNatale
<rick.denat...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 21, 2009 at 4:09 AM, bui
<bui...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> wrote:
> > Hi -  Very new to RoR.  I have looked around at different strategies
> > for handling shipping and billing addresses for an e-commerce
> > applications.  What I am trying to do is to have a user registration
> > form where the user need to also fill out the default shipping
> > address.  Ultimately, I would like for the users to be able to add
> > additional shipping address and billing addresses.
>
> > I am sort of going down the path outlined by ryanb''s here and
using
> > Single Table Inheritance where the shipping address and billing
> > address inherits from address class.  Is this the best approach?
>
> > ryanb suggested something along the lines below:
>
> >    Customer
> >    has_many :addresses
> >    has_many :orders
>
> >    Address
> >    belongs_to :customer
>
> >    Order
> >    belongs_to :customer
> >    belongs_to :billing_address #...
> >    belongs_to :shipping_address #...
>
> > Is this an instance where I need to use both STI and polymorphic
> > association?
>
> No I don''t think you need either.  You have a case where an Order
can
> have two different addresses, but they are both always Addresses.
>
How do I distinguish between when an address is a shipping and when it
is a billing address? How does it get stored in the database?

>
> > I haven''t created the order.rb model yet, but ryanb did
suggest making
> > sure that...
>
> >    "The billing_address_id column would go in the orders table.
Same
> > with the shipping."
>
> > Is this the only table in the database that would contain this
> > column?  Should they also exist in the address table or is this
> > handled by Rails through the type column?
>
> I don''t think that they need to be in the address table, in this
case.
>  Let''s see.
>
So, I''m assuming the type column will be used.

>
> > Here''s my current code but I''m certain I''m
missing some key concepts
> > here.  I am providing some of the code below. Any help would be
> > greatly appreciated.
>
> > users_controller.rb
> > ************************************************
> > class UsersController < ApplicationController
> > user.rb model:
> > ************************************************
> > class User < ActiveRecord::Base
> >  acts_as_authentic
> >  has_many :addresses
> >  accepts_nested_attributes_for :addresses, :allow_destroy => true
>
> >  def address_attributes=(address_attributes)
> >    address_attributes.each do |attributes|
> >      addresses.build(attributes)
> >    end
> >  end
>
> > How do I make the default registration address be the default
> > shipping_address?  I am using address here but should it be
> > shipping_address?  Should I use a hidden field to set the type and
> > modify the create section of the code?
>
> This isn''t really an issue with the user model.  User''s
don''t have a
> shipping address, they just have one or more addresses.  Now they
> might have one of those addresses be the one they normal want orders
> shipped to.
>
> I''ll get to setting the defaults for a order at the end.
>
>
>
> > ************************************************
>
> > addresses_controller.rb
> > ************************************************
> > class AddressesController < ApplicationController
> >  # GET /addresses
> >  # GET /addresses.xml
>
> >  def index
> >    @addresses = Address.all
>
> >    respond_to do |format|
> >      format.html # index.html.erb
> >      format.xml  { render :xml => @addresses }
> >    end
> >  end
>
> >  # GET /addresses/1
> >  # GET /addresses/1.xml
> >  def show
> >    @address = Address.find(params[:id])
>
> >    respond_to do |format|
> >      format.html # show.html.erb
> >      format.xml  { render :xml => @address }
> >    end
> >  end
>
> >  # GET /addresses/new
> >  # GET /addresses/new.xml
> >  def new
> >    @address = Address.new
>
> >    respond_to do |format|
> >      format.html # new.html.erb
> >      format.xml  { render :xml => @address }
> >    end
> >  end
>
> >  # GET /addresses/1/edit
> >  def edit
> >    @address = Address.find(params[:id])
> >  end
>
> >  # POST /addresses
> >  # POST /addresses.xml
> >  def create
> >    @address = Address.new(params[:address])
>
> >    respond_to do |format|
> >      if @address.save
> >        flash[:notice] = ''Address was successfully
created.''
> >        format.html { redirect_to(@address) }
> >        format.xml  { render :xml => @address, :status
> > => :created, :location => @address }
> >      else
> >        format.html { render :action => "new" }
> >        format.xml  { render :xml => @address.errors, :status
> > => :unprocessable_entity }
> >      end
> >    end
> >  end
>
> >  # PUT /addresses/1
> >  # PUT /addresses/1.xml
> >  def update
> >    @address = Address.find(params[:id])
>
> >    respond_to do |format|
> >      if @address.update_attributes(params[:address])
> >        flash[:notice] = ''Address was successfully
updated.''
> >        format.html { redirect_to(@address) }
> >        format.xml  { head :ok }
> >      else
> >        format.html { render :action => "edit" }
> >        format.xml  { render :xml => @address.errors, :status
> > => :unprocessable_entity }
> >      end
> >    end
> >  end
>
> >  # DELETE /addresses/1
> >  # DELETE /addresses/1.xml
> >  def destroy
> >    @address = Address.find(params[:id])
> >    -Jbz+COfnBigqAwPp7cWvug@public.gmane.org
>
> >    respond_to do |format|
> >      format.html { redirect_to(addresses_url) }
> >      format.xml  { head :ok }
> >    end
> >  end
> > end
> > ************************************************
>
> The main comment I''ve got about this, is that if every address
belongs
> to a user, then the address controller should be scoped to a user, and
> instead of Address.find, Address.new, Address.create you should find
> instantiate and create addresses using the addresses association of
> user.
>
Yes, you are correct.  I was not familiar with the scoping aspect of
rails and after some reading it appears that it is probably good
practice since without it any user can change another users address.
That''s sort of what I gathered from reading about
it.
>
>
>
> > address.rb model
> > ************************************************
> > class Address < ActiveRecord::Base
> >  belongs_to :user
> > end
> > ************************************************
>
> > billing_address.rb
> > ************************************************
> > class BillingAddress < Address
> > end
> > ************************************************
>
> > shipping_address.rb
> > ************************************************
> > class ShippingAddress < Address
> > end
> > ************************************************
>
> You don''t need subclasses unless there is a behavioral difference
> between billing and shipping addresses.  I doubt that there is, they
> are both addresses, it''s just that they are playing different
roles.
>
> If you change the Order model slightly
>
> Order
>    belongs_to :customer
>    belongs_to :billing_address, :class_name =>
''Address''
>    belongs_to :shipping_address, :class_name =>
''Address''
>
> Then you can use the Address class for both roles.
>
Again, I understand what you are saying here, but where (i.e. - in the
address table and using the type column or in their own tables) would
the shipping and billing addresses be stored or designated in the
database?
> Now having gotten here, you could also model the notion of a customer
> having a preferred shipping address (and even a preferred billing
> address) in a similar way
>
>  User
>    ...
>   belongs_to :preferred_billing_address, :class_name =>
"Address"
>   belongs_to :preferred_shipping_address, :class_name =>
"Address"
>
> It might seem odd to have a User ''belonging to'' two
particular
> addresses, but you can alternatively thing of belongs_to as
> has_a_pointer_to, and has_many as has_many_pointing_to_me.
>
> Now about the order. I think that there are at least two ways of
> dealing with the billing and shipping addresses:
>
> 1) in the OrdersController
>
>      def new
>           @order = current_user.orders.build(
>                                :billing_address =>
> current_user.preferred_billing_address,
>                                :shipping_address =>
> current_user.preferred_shipping_address
>                          )
>         #...
>       end
>
> 2) in the OrderModel
>
>    class Order < ActiveRecord::Base
>           belongs_to :customer
>           belongs_to :billing_address, :class_name =>
''Address''
>           belongs_to :shipping_address, :class_name =>
''Address''
>
>           def after_initialize
>               if new_record?
>                  self.billing_address >
customer.preferred_billing_address unless billing_address
>                   self.shipping_address >
customer.preferred_shipping_address unless shipping_address
>               end
>           end
>     end
>
> The first approach is probably more conventional.
>
> HTH
>
> --
> Rick DeNatale
>
> Blog:http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/
> Twitter:http://twitter.com/RickDeNatale
> WWR:http://www.workingwithrails.com/person/9021-rick-denatale
> LinkedIn:http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickdenatale
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Hi Philip - Thanks for responding.  Yeah, I thought about what happens
when they go to change an old address.  Not sure how to handle it at
this point.  I did find a plugin written by Ryan Bates that at least
handled "freezing" an association.

http://github.com/ryanb/association-freezer/blob/4691b3247332ac9a5d534206e80080a54ff0a48d/association-freezer.gemspec

Seems like an interesting piece of code and I''ll have to learn more
about it.

I see that you ran a test but I noticed that you used:
> class Customer < ActiveRecord::Base
>    belongs_to :preferred_billing_address, :class_name =>
"Address"
>    belongs_to :preferred_shipping_address, :class_name =>
"Address"
>    has_many :orders
> end
What happens if you use has_many instead of belongs_to?  It just makes
more sense to me that a Customer can have many addresses regardless of
whether they are of type shipping or billing.



On Nov 22, 8:50 am, Philip Hallstrom <phi...-LSG90OXdqQE@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> > On Sat, Nov 21, 2009 at 8:12 PM, Philip Hallstrom
<phi...-LSG90OXdqQE@public.gmane.org>  
> > wrote:
>
> >>> Order
> >>>   belongs_to :customer
> >>>   belongs_to :billing_address, :class_name =>
''Address''
> >>>   belongs_to :shipping_address, :class_name =>
''Address''
> >>> ....snip....
> >>> 1) in the OrdersController
>
> >>>     def new
> >>>          @order = current_user.orders.build(
> >>>                               :billing_address =>
> >>> current_user.preferred_billing_address,
> >>>                               :shipping_address =>
> >>> current_user.preferred_shipping_address
> >>>                         )
> >>>        #...
> >>>      end
>
> >> One thing that popped into my head while reading this is that
given
> >> the above, if I update my shipping/billing address, any orders
I''ve
> >> previously placed will have their addresses updated as well.
>
> > No they won''t.
>
> > When the order is saved, then it will have a shipping_address_id and
> > billing_address_id set to either the values intialized by the
> > controller in the new method (which is used as a template for the
> > values posted back to the create method by the form) or whatever the
> > user changed it to on the order form.
>
> > If the user changes his preferences later, it won''t affect
existing  
> > orders.
>
> > I think you might be better off just to write some code and test it
> > and see what happens, rather than continuing with what seem to be
> > gedanken experiments.
>
> I think you misunderstood or I didn''t make it clear...  if the
user  
> changes his preferred address, everything will be fine.  If there is  
> functionality that lets a user update his old addresses then there  
> will be a problem in that the order will be updated too.  Say the user  
> ships things to his work address.  Then he changes jobs and updates  
> his work address... any order that had a shipping address of that same  
> id will now have the new address, not the old.
>
> class Address < ActiveRecord::Base
> end
> class Customer < ActiveRecord::Base
>    belongs_to :preferred_billing_address, :class_name =>
"Address"
>    belongs_to :preferred_shipping_address, :class_name =>
"Address"
>    has_many :orders
> end
> class Order < ActiveRecord::Base
>    belongs_to :customer
>    belongs_to :billing_address, :class_name =>
''Address''
>    belongs_to :shipping_address, :class_name =>
''Address''
> end
>
>    create_table "addresses", :force => true do |t|
>      t.string   "street"
>      t.datetime "created_at"
>      t.datetime "updated_at"
>    end
>
>    create_table "customers", :force => true do |t|
>      t.string   "name"
>      t.integer  "preferred_billing_address_id"
>      t.integer  "preferred_shipping_address_id"
>      t.datetime "created_at"
>      t.datetime "updated_at"
>    end
>
>    create_table "orders", :force => true do |t|
>      t.integer  "customer_id"
>      t.integer  "billing_address_id"
>      t.integer  "shipping_address_id"
>      t.datetime "created_at"
>      t.datetime "updated_at"
>    end
>
>  >> c = Customer.create(:name => ''Philip'')
>  >> a1 = Address.create(:street => ''123 Maple
St'')
>  >> a2 = Address.create(:street => ''456 Syrup
St'')
>  >> c.preferred_shipping_address = a1
>  >> c.preferred_billing_address = a2
>  >> c.save
>  >> o = c.orders.build(:shipping_address =>  
> c.preferred_shipping_address,
>                        :billing_address => c.preferred_billing_address)
>  >> c.preferred_shipping_address.street
> => "123 Maple St"
>  >> c.preferred_billing_address.street
> => "456 Syrup St"
>  >> o.shipping_address.street
> => "123 Maple St"
>  >> o.billing_address.street
> => "456 Syrup St"
>  >> a1.street = ''789 Blueberry St''
> => "789 Blueberry St"
>  >> a1.save
>  >> c.preferred_shipping_address.street
> => "789 Blueberry St"
>  >> o.shipping_address.street
> => "789 Blueberry St"
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