undefined method `search' for thinking sphinx

Question

I am trying to combine thinking sphinx with the advanced search form. I am getting stuck on how to setup the action in the controller & model so it can display the results. When I search for something from the homepage I get a undefined method `search' error that points to searches controller:

def index @users = User.search(params[:search]) end

I am only using the User model, as I want to be able to search my users profile such as their age, gender, ethnicity, about me section, etc.

Searches controller:

class SearchesController < ApplicationController
  def new
    @search = Search.new
  end

  def create
    @search = Search.new(params[:search])
    if @search.save
      redirect_to @search
    else
      render 'new'
    end
  end

  def show
    @search = Search.find(params[:id])
    @users = @search.users
    end

    def index
       @users = User.search(params[:search])
     end


end

User model:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_secure_password
  attr_accessible :role, :age, :age_end, :password_confirmation, :about_me, :feet, :inches, :password, :birthday, :career, :children, :education, :email, :ethnicity, :gender, :height, :name, :password_digest, :politics, :religion, :sexuality, :user_drink, :user_smoke, :username, :zip_code
  has_many :photos
  validates_uniqueness_of :email
  validates_format_of :email, :with => /\A([^@\s]+)@((?:[-a-z0-9]+\.)+[a-z]{2,})\Z/i, :on => :create
  validates_presence_of :password, :on => :create
  before_create { generate_token(:auth_token) }
  ROLES = %w[admin user guest banned]

  # models/user.rb
  after_create :setup_gallery

  def search
  @search_users = User.search(params[:search])
  end

  def received_messages
      Message.received_by(self)
    end

 def unread_messages?
   unread_message_count > 0 ? true : false
 end

 def unread_messages
   received_messages.where('read_at IS NULL')
 end

 def sent_messages
   Message.sent_by(self)
 end

 # Returns the number of unread messages for this user
 def unread_message_count
   eval 'messages.count(:conditions => ["recipient_id = ? AND read_at IS NULL", self.user_id])'
 end

  def to_s; username
  end

  def has_role?(role_name)
    role.present? && role.to_sym == role_name.to_sym
  end

  def send_password_reset
    generate_token(:password_reset_token)
    self.password_reset_sent_at = Time.zone.now
    save!
    UserMailer.password_reset(self).deliver
  end

  def generate_token(column)
    begin
      self[column] = SecureRandom.urlsafe_base64
    end while User.exists?(column => self[column])
  end

  private
  def setup_gallery
     self.galleries << Gallery.create
   end
end

User_index (inside indices folder):

ThinkingSphinx::Index.define :user, :with => :active_record do
  # fields
  indexes name, :as => :user, :sortable => true
  indexes [ethnicity, religion, about_me, sexuality, children, user_smoke, user_drink, age, gender]

# attributes
  has id, created_at, updated_at
end

Search form:

<%= form_tag searches_path, method: :get do %>
<p>
    <%= text_field_tag :search, params[:search] %>
    <%= button_tag "Search", name: nil %>
    </p>
<% end %>

<P><%= link_to "Advanced Search", new_search_path %><p>

Just a point in the right direction would be greatly appreciated as I am struggling to learn how TS works. It doesn't seem too difficult, but somehow I am having troubles grasping it.

Answer 1

Please consider the following:

Class Foo
  def self.a_class_method
  end

  def an_instance_method
  end
end

Foo.a_class_method
Foo.new.an_instance_method

You can now understand that this do not make sense:

def search
  @search_users = User.search(params[:search])
end

Also params will not be accessible in your model. You need to pass it through arguments.

I am not very familiar with Sphinx but you might be able to make it work now.

Your issue is that you need to define a class search method for your User model to perform your search:

class User
  def self.search(criteria)
    # do the search here base on the criteria
  end
end

In your controller:

User.search(params[:search])