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> It's so nice to be able to say that my Videos belongs to many tags! So clear and simple! Love it!
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Belongs to an array of records, storing those locally. The original `belongs_to` associations define a `SingularAssociation`, which means that it could be extended with `array: true`. In this case, I decided to create my own `CollectionAssociation` called `belongs_to_many`, which behaves similar to the single one, but storing and returning a list of records. This was only possible due to PostgreSQL arrays and the new [Arel](https://github.com/crashtech/torque-postgresql/wiki/Arel) inflix operators.
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With this, now you can say things like `Project belongs to many employees`, which
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is more syntactically correct than `Project has many employees` [PostgreSQL Docs](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.6/arrays.html)
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# How it works
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### Migration
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The only difference here while creating the association is that you just need to set the column as an array. The `references` or similar helpers are not yet available.
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```ruby
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create_table "employee" do |t|
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t.string "name"
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end
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create_table "project" do |t|
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t.bigint "employee_ids", array: true
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t.string "title"
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end
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```
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### Model
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Now go to the model and simply activate the feature using the `belongs_to_many` method, similar to how would you do with `belongs_to`.
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```ruby
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# models/project.rb
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class Project< ApplicationRecord
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belongs_to_many :employees
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end
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```
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That's it. The features provided with this is a middle point between `belongs_to` and `has_many`, which means that the records are returned as a list on `CollectionProxy`, but things like `touch` are also available.
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**One important notice** is that polymorphic is not allowed for array-like associations, because the tuples can be guaranteed every time.
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Most of the options are just like the `has_many` association, but it also includes:
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- `touch`: If true, the associated objects will be touched (the updated_at/on attributes set to current time) when this record is either saved or destroyed. Default: `false`
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- `optional`: When set to **true**, the association will not have its presence validated. Default: `true`
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- `required`: When set to **true**, the association will also have its presence validated. Default: `false`
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- `dependent`: Controls what happens to the associated objects when their owner is destroyed. Default: `:nullify`
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- `primary_key`: The name of the array column used to store the association ids locally. Default: `:"#{name.singular}_ids"`
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- `foreign_key`: The name of the column that on the foreign table that connects to the array. Default: `:id`
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There are no additional or custom feature on top of those provided by a normal `has_many` association. |
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\ No newline at end of file |