Question

Which one would be preferable to use? Named scope or class methods? The use case is that the user selects a list box in the UI and based on the selected item, the table beneath it gets sorted. This functionality is across the application and is for many models.

Answer 1

The most important thing is that you do what feels right and that you’re consistent with it. If something seems like it would be better in a method, use a method.

As of Rails 3, named scopes and class methods can function almost identically. However, the only “rules” I tend to follow when deciding on one or the other:

• Use named scopes when an argument is NOT required
• Use class methods when an argument is required

I also tend to use named scopes when I plan on chaining them together, as they tend to be short with minimal logic.