Question

We are looking to have Sender and Receiver attributes for each micropost that is entered on our site. The sender of the post, and the receiver whom it is directed to.

In other words, on each micropost that each user sees, we want the content, and just above or below the content of the post we want the sender shown and receiver shown. We also want users to be able to click on either the sender or the receiver and be linked directly to that profile.

How can we go about doing this? We are relatively new to rails and think additions need to be made in the Micropost model for this change to work. Or should the changes be made in the MicropostsController?

Micropost Model:

class Micropost < ActiveRecord::Base
  attr_accessible :content, :belongs_to_id

  belongs_to :user


  validates :content, :presence => true, :length => { :maximum => 240 }
  validates :user_id, :presence => true

  default_scope :order => 'microposts.created_at DESC'

    # Return microposts from the users being followed by the given user.
    scope :from_users_followed_by, lambda { |user| followed_by(user) }

    private

      # Return an SQL condition for users followed by the given user.
      # We include the user's own id as well.
      def self.followed_by(user)
        following_ids = %(SELECT followed_id FROM relationships
                      WHERE follower_id = :user_id)
        where("user_id IN (#{following_ids}) OR user_id = :user_id",
              { :user_id => user })
    end
  end

MicropostsController:

class MicropostsController < ApplicationController
  before_filter :authenticate, :only => [:create, :destroy]

  def create

    @micropost  = current_user.microposts.build(params[:micropost])
    if @micropost.save
      flash[:success] = "Posted!"
      redirect_to current_user
    else
     @feed_items = []
     render 'pages/home'
    end
  end


  def destroy
      @micropost.destroy
      redirect_to root_path
    end
end

Answer 1

To eliminate some confusion and make it a bit more railsy, I’d go with:

class Micropost < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :sending_user, :class_name=>"User", :foreign_key=>"user_id"
  belongs_to :receiving_user, :class_name=>"User", :foreign_key=>"belongs_to_id"
end

this will allow something like this in your view for a given Micropost object “@micropost”:

 <%= link_to(@micropost.sending_user.username, user_path(@micropost.sending_user)) %>

 <%= link_to(@micropost.receiving_user.username, user_path(@micropost.receiving_user)) %>

*this assumes several things about the user object and routing, but should get you on the right path.