Question

We start an operation by making sure a customer has enough items with which to work. So we begin by collecting all their current items in an array:

@items = SOrder.where(:user_id => current_user.id).order("order")

Then we determine how many items they should have. If someone has a free account, they should have 5 items. If it is a paid account they should have 20 items:

if current_user.paid
  should_have = 19 # one less than 20 because of 0 position in the array
else
  should_have = 4
end

Then, in case we need to add blank records, we figure out where we should start:

if @items.empty?
  start = 0
else
  start = @items.length + 1
end

If the start is less than or equal to what someone should have, then we add blank records:

if start <= should_have
  value = [start .. should_have].each do |v|
      SOrder.create(:user_id => current_user.id, :order => v, :item_id => 0 )
  end

  @items = SOrder.where(:user_id => current_user.id).order("order") # reload array
end

The records that should be added are not showing up in the database.
Where is the error?

Answer 1

The error may come from calling .length from an Arel object and not a record set.

@items = SOrder.where(:user_id => current_user.id).order("order").all

However, since you only need a count for the first query, I’d suggest using .count. If I was writing this I’d do something like:

number_of_items = SOrder.where(:user_id => current_user.id).count
number_of_blank_items_to_add = current_user.allowed_items - number_of_items
if number_of_blank_items_to_add > 0
    number_of_blank_items_to_add.times do |num|
        SOrder.create(:user_id => current_user.id, :order => (number_of_items + num), :item_id => 0 )
    end  
end
@str_order = SOrder.where(:user_id => current_user.id).order("order")

In User model:

def allowed_items
   if paid 
       20
   else
       5
   end
end

Better Yet

In User model:

has_many :s_orders, :order => "s_orders.order asc"

def add_extra_blank_orders
    number_of_items = s_orders.count
    number_of_blank_items_to_add = allowed_items - number_of_items
    if number_of_blank_items_to_add > 0
        number_of_blank_items_to_add.times do |num|
            s_orders.create(:order => (number_of_items + num), :item_id => 0 )
    end  
end

def allowed_items
   if paid 
       20
   else
       5
   end
end

In controller:

current_user.add_extra_blank_orders
@str_order = current_user.s_orders 

While I am sure that you have a good reason, I am questioning why blank items need to be in the database at all. And, if a after_create hook could be used here.