Question

I have code like this:

class Item < ActiveRecord::Base
  class << self
    def for_category(c)
      if c
        return where(:category_id => c.id)
      else
        return self
      end
    end
  end
end

I need to call it like this:

Item.where("created_at > ?", Time.now - 1.week).for_category(@category)

@category may or may not be null. In the case where category is null, I want the method to simply pass through and return the relation unchanged. Of course, return self simply returns the Item class.

What would be the correct way to do this?

Answer 1

Are you trying to return the Scope (as opposed to the Class itself) for further scope action? If so, then something like the following should work:

class Item < ActiveRecord::Base
  class << self
    def for_category(c)
      if c
        return where(:category_id => c.id)
      else
        return scoped
      end
    end
  end
end

HTH