Has many through represents a relation where both side can relate to multiple models.
Basically, in SQL this can be performed by using a middle-table which store foreign key of both of the classes.
Usage Example
For example, let's assume we have a table posts and a table tags which are loosely connected: a post can have multiple tags at once, while a tag can references multiple posts. In this example, we will need a middle-table which will be named post_tags :
CREATE TABLE tags (
id bigserial NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
name text NOT NULL
);
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX tags_name ON tags (name);
CREATE TABLE posts (
id bigserial NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
name text NOT NULL,
content text
);
CREATE TABLE post_tags (
tag_id bigint NOT NULL,
post_id bigint NOT NULL,
FOREIGN KEY (tag_id) REFERENCES tags (id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
FOREIGN KEY (post_id) REFERENCES posts (id) ON DELETE CASCADE
);
You may notice usage of FOREIGN KEY constraints over post_tags. Clear doesn't provide any feature for cascading deletion, and relay exclusively on PostgreSQL.
Now, let's define our models:
class Post
include Clear::Model
primary_key
column name : String
column content : String?
has_many tags : Tag, through: "post_tags"
end
class Tag
include Clear::Model
primary_key
column name : String
has_many tags : Post, through: "post_tags"
end
And thats all ! Basically, in this case, we may not want to create a model PostTag as the table exists only to make the link between the two models.
Addition and deletion is provided in elegant way even without model:
add_to_post.cr
p = Post.new({name: "My new post"})
p.save!
# Add the tag Technology to the post
p.tags << Tag.query.find_or_create({name: "Technology"}){}
p has to be saved in database before linking the tag.
delete_tag.cr
p = Post.query.first!
tags = p.tags
tags.unlink( tags.where(name: "Technology").first! )
Middle-table model
Optionally, we can define our middle-table model. In this case, you should use the model as through argument :
class Post
include Clear::Model
class Tag
include Clear::Model
belongs_to post : Post
belongs_to tag : Tag
self.table = "post_tags"
end
primary_key
column name : String
column content : String?
has_many tags : Tag, through: Post::Tag
end
class Tag
include Clear::Model
primary_key
column name : String
has_many tags : Post, through: Post::Tag
end
