Association proxies in Active Record are middlemen between the object that
holds the association, known as the @owner
, and the actual
associated object, known as the @target
. The kind of
association any proxy is about is available in @reflection
.
That's an instance of the class
ActiveRecord::Reflection::AssociationReflection.
For example, given
class Blog < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :posts
end
blog = Blog.first
the association proxy in blog.posts
has the object in
blog
as @owner
, the collection of its posts as
@target
, and the @reflection
object represents a
:has_many
macro.
This class delegates unknown methods to @target
via
method_missing
.
The @target
object is not loaded until needed. For example,
blog.posts.count
is computed directly through SQL and does not trigger by itself the instantiation of the actual post records.
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Adds one or more records
to the collection by setting their
foreign keys to the association's primary key. Returns
self
, so several appends may be chained together.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets.size # => 0
person.pets << Pet.new(name: 'Fancy-Fancy')
person.pets << [Pet.new(name: 'Spook'), Pet.new(name: 'Choo-Choo')]
person.pets.size # => 3
person.id # => 1
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
Equivalent to Array#==
. Returns true
if the two
arrays contain the same number of elements and if each element is equal to
the corresponding element in the other
array, otherwise
returns false
.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>
# ]
other = person.pets.to_ary
person.pets == other
# => true
other = [Pet.new(id: 1), Pet.new(id: 2)]
person.pets == other
# => false
Returns true
if the collection is not empty.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets.count # => 0
person.pets.any? # => false
person.pets << Pet.new(name: 'Snoop')
person.pets.count # => 1
person.pets.any? # => true
You can also pass a block
to define criteria. The behavior is
the same, it returns true if the collection based on the criteria is not
empty.
person.pets
# => [#<Pet name: "Snoop", group: "dogs">]
person.pets.any? do |pet|
pet.group == 'cats'
end
# => false
person.pets.any? do |pet|
pet.group == 'dogs'
end
# => true
Returns a new object of the collection type that has been instantiated with
attributes
and linked to this object, but have not yet been
saved. You can pass an array of attributes hashes, this will return an
array with the new objects.
class Person
has_many :pets
end
person.pets.build
# => #<Pet id: nil, name: nil, person_id: 1>
person.pets.build(name: 'Fancy-Fancy')
# => #<Pet id: nil, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>
person.pets.build([{name: 'Spook'}, {name: 'Choo-Choo'}, {name: 'Brain'}])
# => [
# #<Pet id: nil, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: nil, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: nil, name: "Brain", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.size # => 5 # size of the collection
person.pets.count # => 0 # count from database
Equivalent to delete_all
. The difference is that returns
self
, instead of an array with the deleted objects, so methods
can be chained. See delete_all
for more information. Note that
because delete_all
removes records by directly running an SQL
query into the database, the updated_at
column of the object
is not changed.
Add one or more records to the collection by setting their foreign keys to
the association's primary key. Since << flattens its argument
list and inserts each record, push
and concat behave identically.
Returns self
so method calls may be chained.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets.size # => 0
person.pets.concat(Pet.new(name: 'Fancy-Fancy'))
person.pets.concat(Pet.new(name: 'Spook'), Pet.new(name: 'Choo-Choo'))
person.pets.size # => 3
person.id # => 1
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.concat([Pet.new(name: 'Brain'), Pet.new(name: 'Benny')])
person.pets.size # => 5
Count all records.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
# This will perform the count using SQL.
person.pets.count # => 3
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
Passing a block will select all of a person's pets in SQL and then perform the count using Ruby.
person.pets.count { |pet| pet.name.include?('-') } # => 2
Returns a new object of the collection type that has been instantiated with attributes, linked to this object and that has already been saved (if it passes the validations).
class Person
has_many :pets
end
person.pets.create(name: 'Fancy-Fancy')
# => #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>
person.pets.create([{name: 'Spook'}, {name: 'Choo-Choo'}])
# => [
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.size # => 3
person.pets.count # => 3
person.pets.find(1, 2, 3)
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
Like create, except that if the record is invalid, raises an exception.
class Person
has_many :pets
end
class Pet
validates :name, presence: true
end
person.pets.create!(name: nil)
# => ActiveRecord::RecordInvalid: Validation failed: Name can't be blank
Deletes the records
supplied from the collection according to
the strategy specified by the :dependent
option. If no
:dependent
option is given, then it will follow the default
strategy. Returns an array with the deleted records.
For has_many :through
associations, the default deletion
strategy is :delete_all
.
For has_many
associations, the default deletion strategy is
:nullify
. This sets the foreign keys to NULL
.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets # dependent: :nullify option by default
end
person.pets.size # => 3
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.delete(Pet.find(1))
# => [#<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>]
person.pets.size # => 2
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
Pet.find(1)
# => #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: nil>
If it is set to :destroy
all the records
are
removed by calling their destroy
method. See
destroy
for more information.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets, dependent: :destroy
end
person.pets.size # => 3
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.delete(Pet.find(1), Pet.find(3))
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.size # => 1
person.pets
# => [#<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>]
Pet.find(1, 3)
# => ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound: Couldn't find all Pets with 'id': (1, 3)
If it is set to :delete_all
, all the records
are
deleted without calling their destroy
method.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets, dependent: :delete_all
end
person.pets.size # => 3
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.delete(Pet.find(1))
# => [#<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>]
person.pets.size # => 2
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
Pet.find(1)
# => ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound: Couldn't find Pet with 'id'=1
You can pass Integer
or String
values, it finds
the records responding to the id
and executes delete on them.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets.size # => 3
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.delete("1")
# => [#<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>]
person.pets.delete(2, 3)
# => [
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
Deletes all the records from the collection according to the strategy
specified by the :dependent
option. If no
:dependent
option is given, then it will follow the default
strategy.
For has_many :through
associations, the default deletion
strategy is :delete_all
.
For has_many
associations, the default deletion strategy is
:nullify
. This sets the foreign keys to NULL
.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets # dependent: :nullify option by default
end
person.pets.size # => 3
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.delete_all
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.size # => 0
person.pets # => []
Pet.find(1, 2, 3)
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: nil>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: nil>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: nil>
# ]
Both has_many
and has_many :through
dependencies
default to the :delete_all
strategy if the
:dependent
option is set to :destroy
. Records are
not instantiated and callbacks will not be fired.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets, dependent: :destroy
end
person.pets.size # => 3
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.delete_all
Pet.find(1, 2, 3)
# => ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound: Couldn't find all Pets with 'id': (1, 2, 3)
If it is set to :delete_all
, all the objects are deleted
without calling their destroy
method.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets, dependent: :delete_all
end
person.pets.size # => 3
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.delete_all
Pet.find(1, 2, 3)
# => ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound: Couldn't find all Pets with 'id': (1, 2, 3)
Destroys the records
supplied and removes them from the
collection. This method will always remove record from the
database ignoring the :dependent
option. Returns an array with
the removed records.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets.size # => 3
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.destroy(Pet.find(1))
# => [#<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>]
person.pets.size # => 2
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.destroy(Pet.find(2), Pet.find(3))
# => [
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.size # => 0
person.pets # => []
Pet.find(1, 2, 3) # => ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound: Couldn't find all Pets with 'id': (1, 2, 3)
You can pass Integer
or String
values, it finds
the records responding to the id
and then deletes them from
the database.
person.pets.size # => 3
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 4, name: "Benny", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 5, name: "Brain", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 6, name: "Boss", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.destroy("4")
# => #<Pet id: 4, name: "Benny", person_id: 1>
person.pets.size # => 2
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 5, name: "Brain", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 6, name: "Boss", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.destroy(5, 6)
# => [
# #<Pet id: 5, name: "Brain", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 6, name: "Boss", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.size # => 0
person.pets # => []
Pet.find(4, 5, 6) # => ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound: Couldn't find all Pets with 'id': (4, 5, 6)
Deletes the records of the collection directly from the database ignoring
the :dependent
option. Records are instantiated and it invokes
before_remove
, after_remove
,
before_destroy
and after_destroy
callbacks.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets.size # => 3
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.destroy_all
person.pets.size # => 0
person.pets # => []
Pet.find(1) # => Couldn't find Pet with id=1
Specifies whether the records should be unique or not.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets.select(:name)
# => [
# #<Pet name: "Fancy-Fancy">,
# #<Pet name: "Fancy-Fancy">
# ]
person.pets.select(:name).distinct
# => [#<Pet name: "Fancy-Fancy">]
person.pets.select(:name).distinct.distinct(false)
# => [
# #<Pet name: "Fancy-Fancy">,
# #<Pet name: "Fancy-Fancy">
# ]
Returns true
if the collection is empty. If the collection has
been loaded it is equivalent to collection.size.zero?
. If the
collection has not been loaded, it is equivalent to
!collection.exists?
. If the collection has not already been
loaded and you are going to fetch the records anyway it is better to check
collection.length.zero?
.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets.count # => 1
person.pets.empty? # => false
person.pets.delete_all
person.pets.count # => 0
person.pets.empty? # => true
Finds an object in the collection responding to the id
. Uses
the same rules as ActiveRecord::Base.find. Returns ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound error if the
object cannot be found.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.find(1) # => #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>
person.pets.find(4) # => ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound: Couldn't find Pet with 'id'=4
person.pets.find(2) { |pet| pet.name.downcase! }
# => #<Pet id: 2, name: "fancy-fancy", person_id: 1>
person.pets.find(2, 3)
# => [
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
Returns the first record, or the first n
records, from the
collection. If the collection is empty, the first form returns
nil
, and the second form returns an empty array.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.first # => #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>
person.pets.first(2)
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>
# ]
another_person_without.pets # => []
another_person_without.pets.first # => nil
another_person_without.pets.first(3) # => []
Same as first except returns only the forty second record. Also known as accessing “the reddit”.
Returns true
if the given record
is present in
the collection.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets # => [#<Pet id: 20, name: "Snoop">]
person.pets.include?(Pet.find(20)) # => true
person.pets.include?(Pet.find(21)) # => false
Returns the last record, or the last n
records, from the
collection. If the collection is empty, the first form returns
nil
, and the second form returns an empty array.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.last # => #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
person.pets.last(2)
# => [
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
another_person_without.pets # => []
another_person_without.pets.last # => nil
another_person_without.pets.last(3) # => []
Returns the size of the collection calling size
on the target.
If the collection has been already loaded, length
and
size
are equivalent. If not and you are going to need the
records anyway this method will take one less query. Otherwise
size
is more efficient.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets.length # => 3
# executes something like SELECT "pets".* FROM "pets" WHERE "pets"."person_id" = 1
# Because the collection is loaded, you can
# call the collection with no additional queries:
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
Returns true
if the association has been loaded, otherwise
false
.
person.pets.loaded? # => false
person.pets
person.pets.loaded? # => true
Returns true if the collection has more than one record. Equivalent to
collection.size > 1
.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets.count # => 1
person.pets.many? # => false
person.pets << Pet.new(name: 'Snoopy')
person.pets.count # => 2
person.pets.many? # => true
You can also pass a block
to define criteria. The behavior is
the same, it returns true if the collection based on the criteria has more
than one record.
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet name: "Gorby", group: "cats">,
# #<Pet name: "Puff", group: "cats">,
# #<Pet name: "Snoop", group: "dogs">
# ]
person.pets.many? do |pet|
pet.group == 'dogs'
end
# => false
person.pets.many? do |pet|
pet.group == 'cats'
end
# => true
Reloads the collection from the database. Returns self
.
Equivalent to collection(true)
.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets # fetches pets from the database
# => [#<Pet id: 1, name: "Snoop", group: "dogs", person_id: 1>]
person.pets # uses the pets cache
# => [#<Pet id: 1, name: "Snoop", group: "dogs", person_id: 1>]
person.pets.reload # fetches pets from the database
# => [#<Pet id: 1, name: "Snoop", group: "dogs", person_id: 1>]
person.pets(true) # fetches pets from the database
# => [#<Pet id: 1, name: "Snoop", group: "dogs", person_id: 1>]
Replaces this collection with other_array
. This will perform a
diff and delete/add only records that have changed.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets
# => [#<Pet id: 1, name: "Gorby", group: "cats", person_id: 1>]
other_pets = [Pet.new(name: 'Puff', group: 'celebrities']
person.pets.replace(other_pets)
person.pets
# => [#<Pet id: 2, name: "Puff", group: "celebrities", person_id: 1>]
If the supplied array has an incorrect association type, it raises an
ActiveRecord::AssociationTypeMismatch
error:
person.pets.replace(["doo", "ggie", "gaga"])
# => ActiveRecord::AssociationTypeMismatch: Pet expected, got String
Unloads the association. Returns self
.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets # fetches pets from the database
# => [#<Pet id: 1, name: "Snoop", group: "dogs", person_id: 1>]
person.pets # uses the pets cache
# => [#<Pet id: 1, name: "Snoop", group: "dogs", person_id: 1>]
person.pets.reset # clears the pets cache
person.pets # fetches pets from the database
# => [#<Pet id: 1, name: "Snoop", group: "dogs", person_id: 1>]
Returns a Relation
object for the records in this association
Works in two ways.
First: Specify a subset of fields to be selected from the result set.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.select(:name)
# => [
# #<Pet id: nil, name: "Fancy-Fancy">,
# #<Pet id: nil, name: "Spook">,
# #<Pet id: nil, name: "Choo-Choo">
# ]
person.pets.select(:id, :name)
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy">,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook">,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo">
# ]
Be careful because this also means you're initializing a model object
with only the fields that you've selected. If you attempt to access a
field except id
that is not in the initialized record
you'll receive:
person.pets.select(:name).first.person_id
# => ActiveModel::MissingAttributeError: missing attribute: person_id
Second: You can pass a block so it can be used just like Array#select. This builds an array of objects from the database for the scope, converting them into an array and iterating through them using Array#select.
person.pets.select { |pet| pet.name =~ /oo/ }
# => [
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
Returns the size of the collection. If the collection hasn't been
loaded, it executes a SELECT COUNT(*)
query. Else it calls
collection.size
.
If the collection has been already loaded size
and
length
are equivalent. If not and you are going to need the
records anyway length
will take one less query. Otherwise
size
is more efficient.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets.size # => 3
# executes something like SELECT COUNT(*) FROM "pets" WHERE "pets"."person_id" = 1
person.pets # This will execute a SELECT * FROM query
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.size # => 3
# Because the collection is already loaded, this will behave like
# collection.size and no SQL count query is executed.
Gives a record (or N records if a parameter is supplied) from the
collection using the same rules as ActiveRecord::Base.take
.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
# ]
person.pets.take # => #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>
person.pets.take(2)
# => [
# #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>
# ]
another_person_without.pets # => []
another_person_without.pets.take # => nil
another_person_without.pets.take(2) # => []
Returns a new array of objects from the collection. If the collection hasn't been loaded, it fetches the records from the database.
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :pets
end
person.pets
# => [
# #<Pet id: 4, name: "Benny", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 5, name: "Brain", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 6, name: "Boss", person_id: 1>
# ]
other_pets = person.pets.to_ary
# => [
# #<Pet id: 4, name: "Benny", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 5, name: "Brain", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 6, name: "Boss", person_id: 1>
# ]
other_pets.replace([Pet.new(name: 'BooGoo')])
other_pets
# => [#<Pet id: nil, name: "BooGoo", person_id: 1>]
person.pets
# This is not affected by replace
# => [
# #<Pet id: 4, name: "Benny", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 5, name: "Brain", person_id: 1>,
# #<Pet id: 6, name: "Boss", person_id: 1>
# ]