CODEWITHSUNDEEP
htmlruby-on-rails
Michael Lombardo
Michael Lombardo

Reputation: 457

RAILS: saving categories/subjects to user with checkboxes and categories table

I want to make a table called subject_types and populate it with different subjects such as english, spanish, history. And assign the subjects table to each user. I want the user to be able to select multiple subjects with a checkbox and it will save those specific ones and keep checked. each user can save their own preferences/services. Im trying to figure out the best way to approach this.

here is how it would look enter image description here

-Should I make the subject_types model and populate with these subjects or is there a better approach?

possible solution

Thank you

Updated:

<%= form_for(@user) do |f| %> 

  
<%= f.collection_check_boxes(:writing_type_ids, WritingType.all, :id, :name) %>
 
  <%= f.submit 'submit' %>
<% end %>

class WritingType < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :user_writing_types
  has_many :users, through: :user_writing_types
end


class UserWritingType < ApplicationRecord
    belongs_to :user
    belongs_to :writing_type
end


class User < ActiveRecord::Base
 has_many :user_writing_types
 has_many :writing_types, through: :user_writing_types
end

My migration for the join

create_table :user_writing_types do |t|
      t.belongs_to :user, index: true
      t.belongs_to :writing_type, index: true
      t.boolean :active, default: false
      t.timestamps
    end

latest update

Im getting my last of errors! when i click submit on that page i get No route matches [PATCH] "/users/51".

Upvotes: 0

Views: 302

Answers (1)

max
max

Reputation: 102250

Start by creating a many to many relation with a join model by using has_many :through associations:

class User < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :user_subjects
  has_many :subjects, through: :user_subjects
end

class Subject < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :user_subjects
  has_many :users, through: :user_subjects
end

# this is the join model
class UserSubject < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :user
  belongs_to :subject
end

You can then create a check box to add subjects to a user with collection_checkboxes:

<%= form_for(@user) do |f| %>
  <%= f.collection_checkboxes(:subject_ids, Subject.all, :id, :name) %>
  # ...
<% end %>

could I have an array in a column in my user table? the array would be the ids of the subjects table. How can i do that??

You don't.

Even though Postgres for example allows you to create array type columns it is not a good solution as thats not how associations work in ActiveRecord.

Its also a crappy relational database design as its messy to write queries with a join though an array column and it does not let you enforce referential integrity with foreign keys or have good indices for performance.

Upvotes: 1

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