Question

I have three models that i’d like to perform a simple search across:

class Release < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :artist_releases
  has_many :artists, :through => :artist_releases  
  has_many :products, :dependent => :destroy     
end

class Product < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :release
  has_many :artists, :through => :releases        
end

class Artist < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :artist_releases
  has_many :releases, :through => :artist_releases
end

In my Product Controller i can successfully render a product list searching across release and product using:

@products = Product.find(:all, :joins => :release, :conditions => ['products.cat_no LIKE ? OR releases.title LIKE ?', "%#{params[:search]}%","%#{params[:search]}%"])

I really need to be able to search artist as well. How would I go about doing that? I ideally need it within the Product Controller as it’s a product list I need to display.

I’ve tried adding :joins => :artist and variations thereof, but none seem to work.

I’m aware there are options out there like Sphinx for a full search, but for now I just need this simple approach to work.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

if you only want products back, just add both joins:

@products = Product.joins(:release,:artists).where('products.cat_no LIKE :term OR releases.title LIKE :term OR artists.name LIKE :term', :term => "%#{params[:search]}%").all

You may also need group_by to get distinct products back.

if you want polymorphic results, try 3 separate queries.