ActiveRecord's New Takes a Block, Kid

Making New ActiveRecord Models (Let's Try It Again)

If we want to make a new instance of an ActiveRecord model with particular attributes, we have a number of options.

We can pass the attributes in as a hash:

u = User.new(first_name: "Jordan", last_name: "Knight")

We can set the attributes after creating the object:

u = User.new
u.first_name = "Jordan"
u.last_name = "Knight"

And there's a third option - we can also pass new a block:

u = User.new do |user|
  user.first_name = "Jordan"
  user.last_name = "Knight"
end

When Could We Use This? (The Block)

Let's say we have a system that members of a band use to check their tour schedule. Band members are users, and when we add a member, we want to make a user for them.

def add_member(first_name:, last_name:)
  @members << User.new(first_name: first_name, last_name: last_name)
end

Additionally, users have a username attribute, and we want to keep that unique within a given band. We also want the system to define the username when we add a band member.

def add_member(first_name:, last_name:)
  username = "#{band_name}_#{last_name}"
  if @members.pluck(:last_name).include?(last_name)
    username << unique_value
  end

  @members << User.new(first_name: first_name, last_name: last_name, username: username)
end

def unique_value
  ...
end

However, if we prefer the aesthetic, we can also define those attributes in a block:

def add_member(first_name:, last_name:)
  @members << User.new do |user|
    user.first_name = first_name
    user.last_name = last_name

    user.username = "#{band_name}_#{last_name}"
    if @members.pluck(:last_name).include?(last_name)
      user.username << unique_value
    end
  end
end

Seeing The Result (The Right Stuff)

Let's check our work to see the usernames of our band members.

[1] pry(main)> band = Band.new("New Kids on the Block")
[2] pry(main)> band.add_member(first_name: "Jordan", last_name: "Knight")
[3] pry(main)> band.add_member(first_name: "Donnie", last_name: "Wahlberg")
[4] pry(main)> band.add_member(first_name: "Jonathan", last_name: "Knight")
[5] pry(main)> band.members.pluck(:username)
=> ["New_Kids_on_the_Block_Knight",
    "New_Kids_on_the_Block_Wahlberg",
    "New_Kids_on_the_Block_Knight_65"]

Jonathan's username has additional characters appended to it, as Jordan already claimed the username "New_Kids_on_the_Block_Knight".

Tap Dance (Step By Step)

If you're familiar with Ruby's tap method, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about. We can do the same thing with tap:

def add_member(first_name:, last_name:)
  @members << User.new.tap do |user|
    user.first_name = first_name
    user.last_name = last_name

    user.username = "#{band_name}_#{last_name}"
    if @members.pluck(:last_name).include?(last_name)
      user.username << unique_value
    end
  end
end

This works with any Ruby object, not just those that inherit from ActiveRecord::Base, so why bother with having to know if we can pass a block to new or not, based on what the object inherits from?

That's fair, but new is not the only ActiveRecord method that takes a block. Others include create, build, and find_or_initialize_by. There the differences with tap start to show:

new_user = User.create(first_name: "Jordan", last_name: "Knight").tap do |u|
  u.first_name = "Jonathan"
end

Our new_user has the first name of Jonathan, resulting from the call to tap:

new_user.first_name
=> "Jonathan"

However, that's only persisted in memory - not in the database. What we stored in the database is what we passed to create.

new_user.reload.first_name
=> "Jordan"

We can also pass a block to create directly:

new_user = User.create(first_name: "Jordan", last_name: "Knight") do |u|
  u.first_name = "Jonathan"
end

And in that case, the first name of the user in memory and in the database is Jonathan.

new_user.first_name
=> "Jonathan"
new_user.reload.first_name
=> "Jonathan"

Why would we mix setting attributes with create both by passing a hash and a block, either with or without tap? Other than to explain quirks and differences in what method you're passing a block to, I am also interested in knowing. If you have real-world use cases, let me know!

Finding Blocks in Rails Source Code (Face the Music)

If you're curious about where in Rails' source code new is set up to take a block, we can start by looking in ActiveRecord::Base. As of the time this article was published, there's not much implementation in that class. Instead, we have to look in the Core module to find the initialize method that takes a block.

Initializing an ActiveRecord model with a block is also defined in the documentation.

Thanks for hangin' tough to the end of this article. I hope you learned a thing or two about passing blocks to ActiveRecord methods.

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