Question

Basically I have two models: User and Godfather. The godfather table has three columns:

• user_id (FK –> User)
• user_godfather_id (FK –> User)
• description (text)

Inside each model class, I am adding the following associations:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base

  has_many :godfathers # for user_id
  has_many :other_godfathers, :foreign_key => "user_godfather_id", :class_name => "Godfather"

  accepts_nested_attributes_for :godfathers
end

class Godfather < ActiveRecord::Base
   belongs_to :user
   belongs_to :user_godfather, :class_name => "User"
end

Now my question is about how to manage the edit form of this nested attribute relationships.
Here is how my form looks like at the moment (using the nested_form_for gem):

 <%= nested_form_for @user do |f| %>
            <%= f.fields_for :godfathers do |godfather_form| %>
                # Here I have an ID text field but what I want instead is
                # to provide a username for this godfather.
                <%= godfather_form.label :user_godfather_id %>
                <%= godfather_form.text_field :user_godfather_id %>

                <%= godfather_form.label :description %>
                <%= godfather_form.text_field :description %>

                <%= godfather_form.link_to_remove "Remove this godfather" %>
             <% end %>
            <%= f.link_to_add "Add a godfather", :godfathers %> <br/><br/>
 <%= f.submit "Update Godfathers" %>

So as I said in the comments, my goal is to be able to provide a username for the godfather instead of an id. That username is a column in the User table by the way.

Any idea about how I should go about it?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Just use different names for the relations

class User < ActiveRecord::Base

  has_many :godfathers # for user_id
  has_many :some_other_godfathers, :foreign_key => "user_godfather_id", :class_name => "Godfather"

  accepts_nested_attributes_for :godfathers
end

Now you can use godfathers and some_other_godfathers.

Hope that helps 🙂