Ruby-on-Rails: Multiple has_many :through possible?

Question

Is it possible to have multiple has_many :through relationships that pass through each other in Rails? I received the suggestion to do so as a solution for ano

Answer 1

Edit:

Rails 3.1 supports nested associations. E.g:

has_many :tasks
has_many :assigments, :through => :tasks
has_many :users, :through => :assignments

There is no need for the solution given below. Refer to this screencast for more details.

Original Answer

You are passing a has_many :through association as a source for another has_many :through association. I don't think it will work.

  has_many :friends, 
           :through => :friendships,
           :conditions => "status = #{Friendship::FULL}"
  has_many :friends_comments, :through => :friends, :source => :comments

You have three approaches to solving this issue.

1) Write an association extension

 has_many  :friends, 
           :through => :friendships,
           :conditions => "status = #{Friendship::FULL}" do
     def comments(reload=false)
       @comments = nil if reload 
       @comments ||=Comment.find_all_by_user_id(map(&:id))
     end
 end

Now you can get the friends comments as follows:

user.friends.comments

2) Add a method to the User class.

  def friends_comments(reload=false)
    @friends_comments = nil if reload 
    @friends_comments ||=Comment.find_all_by_user_id(self.friend_ids)
  end

Now you can get the friends comments as follows:

user.friends_comments

3) If you want this to be even more efficient then:

  def friends_comments(reload=false)
    @friends_comments = nil if reload 
    @friends_comments ||=Comment.all( 
             :joins => "JOIN (SELECT friend_id AS user_id 
                              FROM   friendships 
                              WHERE  user_id = #{self.id}
                        ) AS friends ON comments.user_id = friends.user_id")
  end

Now you can get the friends comments as follows:

user.friends_comments

All methods cache the results. If you want to reload the results do the following:

user.friends_comments(true)
user.friends.comments(true)

OR better still:

user.friends_comments(:reload)
user.friends.comments(:reload)

Answer 2

There is a plugin that solves your problem, take a look at this blog.

You install the plugin with

script/plugin install git://github.com/ianwhite/nested_has_many_through.git

Answer 3

Although this didn't work in the past, it works fine in Rails 3.1 now.

Answer 4

I found this blog entry to be useful: http://geoff.evason.name/2010/04/23/nested-has_many-through-in-rails-or-how-to-do-a-3-table-join/