Multiple column foreign keys / associations in ActiveRecord/Rails

Question

I have badges (sorta like StackOverflow).

Some of them can be attached to badgeable things (e.g. a badge for >X comments on a post is attached to the post). Almost all come in multiple levels (e.g. >20, >100, >200), and you can only have one level per badgeable x badge type (= badgeset_id).

To make it easier to enforce the one-level-per-badge constraint, I want badgings to specify their badge by a two-column foreign key - badgeset_id and level - rather than by primary key (badge_id), though badges does have a standard primary key too.

In code:

class Badge < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :badgings, :dependent => :destroy
  # integer: badgeset_id, level

  validates_uniqueness_of :badgeset_id, :scope => :level
end

class Badging < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :user
  # integer: badgset_id, level instead of badge_id
  #belongs_to :badge # <-- how to specify? 
  belongs_to :badgeable, :polymorphic => true

  validates_uniqueness_of :badgeset_id, :scope => [:user_id, :badgeable_id]
  validates_presence_of :badgeset_id, :level, :user_id  

  # instead of this:
  def badge
    Badge.first(:conditions => {:badgeset_id => self.badgeset_id, :level => self.level})
  end
end

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :badgings, :dependent => :destroy do
    def grant badgeset, level, badgeable = nil
      b = Badging.first(:conditions => {:user_id => proxy_owner.id, :badgeset_id => badgeset,
        :badgeable_id => badgeable.try(:id), :badgeable_type => badgeable.try(:class)}) ||
        Badging.new(:user => proxy_owner, :badgeset_id => badgeset, :badgeable => badgeable)
      b.level = level
      b.save
    end
  end
  has_many :badges, :through => :badgings
  # ....
end

How I can specify a belongs_to association that does that (and doesn't try to use a badge_id), so that I can use the has_many :through?

ETA: This partially works (i.e. @badging.badge works), but feels dirty:

belongs_to :badge, :foreign_key => :badgeset_id, :primary_key => :badgeset_id, :conditions => 'badges.level = #{level}'

Note that the conditions is in single quotes, not double, which makes it interpreted at runtime rather than loadtime.

However, when trying to use this with the :through association, I get the error undefined local variable or method 'level' for #<User:0x3ab35a8>. And nothing obvious (e.g. 'badges.level = #{badgings.level}') seems to work...

ETA 2: Taking EmFi's code and cleaning it up a bit works. It requires adding badge_set_id to Badge, which is redundant, but oh well.

The code:

class Badge < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :badgings
  belongs_to :badge_set
  has_friendly_id :name

  validates_uniqueness_of :badge_set_id, :scope => :level

  default_scope :order => 'badge_set_id, level DESC'
  named_scope :with_level, lambda {|level| { :conditions => {:level => level}, :limit => 1 } }

  def self.by_ids badge_set_id, level
    first :conditions => {:badge_set_id => badge_set_id, :level => level} 
  end

  def next_level
    Badge.first :conditions => {:badge_set_id => badge_set_id, :level => level + 1}
  end
end

class Badging < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :user
  belongs_to :badge 
  belongs_to :badge_set
  belongs_to :badgeable, :polymorphic => true

  validates_uniqueness_of :badge_set_id, :scope => [:user_id, :badgeable_id]
  validates_presence_of :badge_set_id, :badge_id, :user_id  

  named_scope :with_badge_set, lambda {|badge_set|
    {:conditions => {:badge_set_id => badge_set} }
  }

  def level_up level = nil
    self.badge = level ? badge_set.badges.with_level(level).first : badge.next_level
  end

  def level_up! level = nil
    level_up level
    save
  end
end

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :badgings, :dependent => :destroy do
    def grant! badgeset_id, level, badgeable = nil
      b = self.with_badge_set(badgeset_id).first || 
         Badging.new(
            :badge_set_id => badgeset_id,
            :badge => Badge.by_ids(badgeset_id, level), 
            :badgeable => badgeable,
            :user => proxy_owner
         )
      b.level_up(level) unless b.new_record?
      b.save
    end
    def ungrant! badgeset_id, badgeable = nil
      Badging.destroy_all({:user_id => proxy_owner.id, :badge_set_id => badgeset_id,
        :badgeable_id => badgeable.try(:id), :badgeable_type => badgeable.try(:class)})
    end
  end
  has_many :badges, :through => :badgings
end

While this works - and it's probably a better solution - I don't consider this an actual answer to the question of how to do a) multi-key foreign keys, or b) dynamic-condition associations that work with :through associations. So if anyone has a solution for that, please speak up.

Answer 1

Seems like it might workout best if you separate Badge into two models. Here's how I'd break it down to achieve the functionality you want. I threw in some named scopes to keep the code that actually does things clean.

class BadgeSet
  has_many :badges
end

class Badge
  belongs_to :badge_set
  validates_uniqueness_of :badge_set_id, :scope => :level

  named_scope :with_level, labmda {|level
    { :conditions => {:level => level} }
  }

  named_scope :next_levels, labmda {|level
    { :conditions => ["level > ?", level], :order => :level }
  }

  def next_level 
    Badge.next_levels(level).first
  end
end

class Badging < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :user
  belongs_to :badge 
  belongs_to :badge_set
  belongs_to :badgeable, :polymorphic => true

  validates_uniqueness_of :badge_set_id, :scope => [:user_id, :badgeable_id]
  validates_presence_of :badge_set_id, :badge_id, :user_id  

  named_scope :with_badge_set, lambda {|badge_set|
    {:conditions => {:badge_set_id => badge_set} }
  }

  def level_up(level = nil)
    self.badge = level ? badge_set.badges.with_level(level).first 
      : badge.next_level
    save
  end
end

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :badgings, :dependent => :destroy do
    def grant badgeset, level, badgeable = nil
      b = badgings.with_badgeset(badgeset).first() || 
         badgings.build(
            :badge_set => :badgeset,
            :badge => badgeset.badges.level(level), 
            :badgeable => badgeable
         )

      b.level_up(level) unless b.new_record?

      b.save
    end
  end
  has_many :badges, :through => :badgings
  # ....
end