Multiple has_many relationships to same model

Question

I have a model User that can create Posts

User
 has_many :posts
Post
 belongs_to :user

However, I want to also allow users to save posts as boo

Answer 1

Maybe something like this?

User
  has_many :bookmarks
  has_many :posts, through: :bookmarks
  has_many :authored_posts, foreign_key: :author_id, class_name: 'Post'
Bookmark
  belongs_to :post
  belongs_to :user
Post
  belongs_to :author, class_name: 'User'
  has_many :bookmarks
  has_many :users, through: :bookmarks

In this way, you are able to keep posts that are written by and bookmarked by a user separate. You could also set it up so that whenever an author creates a post, it can automatically get bookmarked by the user. i.e.

class PostsController < ActionController::Base
  def create
    @post = @user.authored_posts.build(post_params)
    @user.posts << @post

    if @post.valid?
      # do good stuff
    else
      # do errors
    end
  end
end

There is a strong 1:N relationship between author and authored_posts. Then there is a weaker N:M relationship between Users and Posts using Bookmark as the join model. You can add authored posts to be bookmarked when they are created using the controller code above. Removing a bookmark on an authored post will simply remove it from the posts relationship, but not the authored_posts relationship.

You cannot define multiple relationships using the same name.