Check if record exists from controller in Rails

Question

Why your code does not work?

The where method returns an ActiveRecord::Relation object (acts like an array which contains the results of the where), it can be empty but it will never be nil.

Business.where(id: -1) 
 #=> returns an empty ActiveRecord::Relation ( similar to an array )
Business.where(id: -1).nil? # ( similar to == nil? )
 #=> returns false
Business.where(id: -1).empty? # test if the array is empty ( similar to .blank? )
 #=> returns true

---

How to test if at least one record exists?

Option 1: Using .exists?

if Business.exists?(user_id: current_user.id)
  # same as Business.where(user_id: current_user.id).exists?
  # ...
else
  # ...
end

---

Option 2: Using .present? (or .blank?, the opposite of .present?)

if Business.where(:user_id => current_user.id).present?
  # less efficiant than using .exists? (see generated SQL for .exists? vs .present?)
else
  # ...
end

---

Option 3: Variable assignment in the if statement

if business = Business.where(:user_id => current_user.id).first
  business.do_some_stuff
else
  # do something else
end

This option can be considered a code smell by some linters (Rubocop for example).

Option 3b: Variable assignment

business = Business.where(user_id: current_user.id).first
if business
  # ...
else
  # ...
end

You can also use .find_by_user_id(current_user.id) instead of .where(...).first

---

Best option:

• If you don't use the Business object(s): Option 1
• If you need to use the Business object(s): Option 3

In this case I like to use the exists? method provided by ActiveRecord:

Business.exists? user_id: current_user.id

with 'exists?':

Business.exists? user_id: current_user.id #=> 1 or nil

with 'any?':

Business.where(:user_id => current_user.id).any? #=> true or false

---

If you use something with .where, be sure to avoid trouble with scopes and better use .unscoped

Business.unscoped.where(:user_id => current_user.id).any?

ActiveRecord#where will return an ActiveRecord::Relation object (which will never be nil). Try using .empty? on the relation to test if it will return any records.