Question

I am looking to implement a simple search function while using the globalize3 gem for Ruby on Rails. Since the translations of the model are stored in a separate table, the code below doesn’t work as there is no longer a :name field in the products table. How can I adjust the code below to make the search function correctly?

products_controller.rb

 @products = Product.search(params[:search]).all

index.html.erb

 <%= form_tag products_path, method: :get do %>   
   <%= text_field_tag :search, params[:search] %>
   <%= submit_tag "Search", name: nil %>      
 <% end %>

model

class Product < ActiveRecord::Base
  translates :name
  attr_accessible :name, :price, :released_at

  def self.search(search)
    if search
      where('name LIKE ?', "%#{search}%")
    else
      scoped
    end
  end
end

Answer 1

You’re in luck, I tackled exactly the same problem recently!

Luckly for you the answer is quite simple. You can use the class method with_translations to include translations for a given set of locales.

Here’s the code:

def with_translations(*locales)
  locales = translated_locales if locales.empty?
  includes(:translations).with_locales(locales).with_required_attributes
end

Include it in your search method:

def self.search(search)
  if search
    with_translations.where('name LIKE ?', "%#{search}%")
  else
    with_translations
  end
end

That should do it.

As an added note: you could add an optional locales parameter to the search method and pass it to with_translations to optionally narrow the search to terms in a particular language, say for example in the current locale.