Question

I have this line of code to find the row in database or else create a new row. Is working but it look very ugly and hard to maintain.

return_policy_id= MyEbayReturnPolicy.find_or_create_by_active_and_name_and_ebay_marketplace_id_and_returns_within_and_returns_accepted_and_warranty_offered_and_warranty_duration_and_warranty_type_and_shipping_costs_paid_by_and_refunds(active,name,ebay_marketplace_id,returns_within,returns_accepted,warrenty_offered,warranty_duration,warranty_type,shipping_costs_paid_by,refunds)

Here is the find_or_create code

 def self.find_or_create(search, *args, &block)
    parameters = search.split("_and_")
    params = Hash[ parameters.zip(args) ]
    obj = where(params).first 
    if(obj.nil?)
       obj = self.new(params);
       obj.save
    end
    return obj;
  end

As you can see is extremely long line of code.

I wanted to know if there’s a better approach to make this code look nice and clean so easy for maintain.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Rails 3.2 introduced first_or_create (among other similar methods). You can take advantage of it:

MyEbayReturnPolicy.where(
    active:                 active,
    name:                   name,
    ebay_marketplace_id:    ebay_marketplace_id,
    returns_within:         returns_within,
    returns_accepted:       returns_accepted,
    warranty_offered:       warranty_offered,
    warranty_duration:      warranty_duration,
    warranty_type:          warranty_type,
    shipping_costs_paid_by: shipping_costs_paid_by,
    refunds:                refunds
).first_or_create