Module: ActiveRecord::Associations::ClassMethods

### Home Classes Methods

### In Files

- lib/active_record/associations.rb

### Methods

- #belongs_to
- #has_and_belongs_to_many
- #has_many
- #has_one

### Included Modules

- Module

### Files

- README.rdoc

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# ActiveRecord::Associations::ClassMethods

Associations are a set of macro-like class methods for tying objects together through foreign keys. They express relationships like "Project has one Project Manager" or "Project belongs to a Portfolio". Each macro adds a number of methods to the class which are specialized according to the collection or association symbol and the options hash. It works much the same way as Ruby's own `attr*` methods.

    class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to              :portfolio
      has_one                 :project_manager
      has_many                :milestones
      has_and_belongs_to_many :categories
    end

The project class now has the following methods (and more) to ease the traversal and manipulation of its relationships:

- `Project#portfolio, Project#portfolio=(portfolio), Project#portfolio.nil?`

- `Project#project_manager, Project#project_manager=(project_manager), Project#project_manager.nil?,`

- `Project#milestones.empty?, Project#milestones.size, Project#milestones, Project#milestones<<(milestone),` `Project#milestones.delete(milestone), Project#milestones.find(milestone_id), Project#milestones.find(:all, options),` `Project#milestones.build, Project#milestones.create`

- `Project#categories.empty?, Project#categories.size, Project#categories, Project#categories<<(category1),` `Project#categories.delete(category1)`

### A word of warning

Don’t create associations that have the same name as instance methods of `ActiveRecord::Base`. Since the association adds a method with that name to its model, it will override the inherited method and break things. For instance, `attributes` and `connection` would be bad choices for association names.

## Auto-generated methods

### Singular associations (one-to-one)

                                      |            |  belongs_to  |
    generated methods                 | belongs_to | :polymorphic | has_one
    ----------------------------------+------------+--------------+---------
    other                             |     X      |      X       |    X
    other=(other)                     |     X      |      X       |    X
    build_other(attributes={})        |     X      |              |    X
    create_other(attributes={})       |     X      |              |    X
    other.create!(attributes={})      |            |              |    X

### Collection associations (one-to-many / many-to-many)

                                      |       |          | has_many
    generated methods                 | habtm | has_many | :through
    ----------------------------------+-------+----------+----------
    others                            |   X   |    X     |    X
    others=(other,other,...)          |   X   |    X     |    X
    other_ids                         |   X   |    X     |    X
    other_ids=(id,id,...)             |   X   |    X     |    X
    others<<                          |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.push                       |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.concat                     |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.build(attributes={})       |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.create(attributes={})      |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.create!(attributes={})     |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.size                       |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.length                     |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.count                      |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.sum(args*,&block)          |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.empty?                     |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.clear                      |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.delete(other,other,...)    |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.delete_all                 |   X   |    X     |
    others.destroy_all                |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.find(*args)                |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.find_first                 |   X   |          |
    others.exists?                    |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.uniq                       |   X   |    X     |    X
    others.reset                      |   X   |    X     |    X

## Cardinality and associations

Active Record associations can be used to describe one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many relationships between models. Each model uses an association to describe its role in the relation. The `belongs_to` association is always used in the model that has the foreign key.

### One-to-one

Use `has_one` in the base, and `belongs_to` in the associated model.

    class Employee < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_one :office
    end
    class Office < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to :employee    # foreign key - employee_id
    end

### One-to-many

Use `has_many` in the base, and `belongs_to` in the associated model.

    class Manager < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_many :employees
    end
    class Employee < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to :manager     # foreign key - manager_id
    end

### Many-to-many

There are two ways to build a many-to-many relationship.

The first way uses a `has_many` association with the `:through` option and a join model, so there are two stages of associations.

    class Assignment < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to :programmer  # foreign key - programmer_id
      belongs_to :project     # foreign key - project_id
    end
    class Programmer < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_many :assignments
      has_many :projects, :through => :assignments
    end
    class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_many :assignments
      has_many :programmers, :through => :assignments
    end

For the second way, use `has_and_belongs_to_many` in both models. This requires a join table that has no corresponding model or primary key.

    class Programmer < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_and_belongs_to_many :projects       # foreign keys in the join table
    end
    class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_and_belongs_to_many :programmers    # foreign keys in the join table
    end

Choosing which way to build a many-to-many relationship is not always simple. If you need to work with the relationship model as its own entity, use `has_many :through`. Use `has_and_belongs_to_many` when working with legacy schemas or when you never work directly with the relationship itself.

## Is it a `belongs_to` or `has_one` association?

Both express a 1-1 relationship. The difference is mostly where to place the foreign key, which goes on the table for the class declaring the `belongs_to` relationship.

    class User < ActiveRecord::Base
      # I reference an account.
      belongs_to :account
    end

    class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
      # One user references me.
      has_one :user
    end

The tables for these classes could look something like:

    CREATE TABLE users (
      id int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
      account_id int(11) default NULL,
      name varchar default NULL,
      PRIMARY KEY  (id)
    )

    CREATE TABLE accounts (
      id int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
      name varchar default NULL,
      PRIMARY KEY  (id)
    )

## Unsaved objects and associations

You can manipulate objects and associations before they are saved to the database, but there is some special behavior you should be aware of, mostly involving the saving of associated objects.

You can set the :autosave option on a `has_one`, `belongs_to`, `has_many`, or `has_and_belongs_to_many` association. Setting it to `true` will always save the members, whereas setting it to `false` will never save the members. More details about :autosave option is available at autosave_association.rb .

### One-to-one associations

- Assigning an object to a `has_one` association automatically saves that object and

the object being replaced (if there is one), in order to update their primary keys - except if the parent object is unsaved (`new_record? == true`).

- If either of these saves fail (due to one of the objects being invalid) the assignment

statement returns `false` and the assignment is cancelled.

- If you wish to assign an object to a `has_one` association without saving it,

use the `association.build` method (documented below).

- Assigning an object to a `belongs_to` association does not save the object, since

the foreign key field belongs on the parent. It does not save the parent either.

### Collections

- Adding an object to a collection (`has_many` or `has_and_belongs_to_many`) automatically

saves that object, except if the parent object (the owner of the collection) is not yet stored in the database.

- If saving any of the objects being added to a collection (via `push` or similar)

fails, then `push` returns `false`.

- You can add an object to a collection without automatically saving it by using the

`collection.build` method (documented below).

- All unsaved (`new_record? == true`) members of the collection are automatically

saved when the parent is saved.

### Association callbacks

Similar to the normal callbacks that hook into the life cycle of an Active Record object, you can also define callbacks that get triggered when you add an object to or remove an object from an association collection.

    class Project
      has_and_belongs_to_many :developers, :after_add => :evaluate_velocity

      def evaluate_velocity(developer)
        ...
      end
    end

It’s possible to stack callbacks by passing them as an array. Example:

    class Project
      has_and_belongs_to_many :developers,
                              :after_add => [:evaluate_velocity, Proc.new { |p, d| p.shipping_date = Time.now}]
    end

Possible callbacks are: `before_add`, `after_add`, `before_remove` and `after_remove`.

Should any of the `before_add` callbacks throw an exception, the object does not get added to the collection. Same with the `before_remove` callbacks; if an exception is thrown the object doesn’t get removed.

### Association extensions

The proxy objects that control the access to associations can be extended through anonymous modules. This is especially beneficial for adding new finders, creators, and other factory-type methods that are only used as part of this association.

    class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_many :people do
        def find_or_create_by_name(name)
          first_name, last_name = name.split(" ", 2)
          find_or_create_by_first_name_and_last_name(first_name, last_name)
        end
      end
    end

    person = Account.find(:first).people.find_or_create_by_name("David Heinemeier Hansson")
    person.first_name # => "David"
    person.last_name  # => "Heinemeier Hansson"

If you need to share the same extensions between many associations, you can use a named extension module.

    module FindOrCreateByNameExtension
      def find_or_create_by_name(name)
        first_name, last_name = name.split(" ", 2)
        find_or_create_by_first_name_and_last_name(first_name, last_name)
      end
    end

    class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_many :people, :extend => FindOrCreateByNameExtension
    end

    class Company < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_many :people, :extend => FindOrCreateByNameExtension
    end

If you need to use multiple named extension modules, you can specify an array of modules with the `:extend` option. In the case of name conflicts between methods in the modules, methods in modules later in the array supercede those earlier in the array.

    class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_many :people, :extend => [FindOrCreateByNameExtension, FindRecentExtension]
    end

Some extensions can only be made to work with knowledge of the association proxy’s internals. Extensions can access relevant state using accessors on the association proxy:

- `proxy_owner` - Returns the object the association is part of.

- `proxy_reflection` - Returns the reflection object that describes the association.

- `proxy_target` - Returns the associated object for `belongs_to` and `has_one`, or the collection of associated objects for `has_many` and `has_and_belongs_to_many`.

### Association Join Models

Has Many associations can be configured with the `:through` option to use an explicit join model to retrieve the data. This operates similarly to a `has_and_belongs_to_many` association. The advantage is that you’re able to add validations, callbacks, and extra attributes on the join model. Consider the following schema:

    class Author < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_many :authorships
      has_many :books, :through => :authorships
    end

    class Authorship < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to :author
      belongs_to :book
    end

    @author = Author.find :first
    @author.authorships.collect { |a| a.book } # selects all books that the author's authorships belong to
    @author.books                              # selects all books by using the Authorship join model

You can also go through a `has_many` association on the join model:

    class Firm < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_many   :clients
      has_many   :invoices, :through => :clients
    end

    class Client < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to :firm
      has_many   :invoices
    end

    class Invoice < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to :client
    end

    @firm = Firm.find :first
    @firm.clients.collect { |c| c.invoices }.flatten # select all invoices for all clients of the firm
    @firm.invoices                                   # selects all invoices by going through the Client join model

Similarly you can go through a `has_one` association on the join model:

    class Group < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_many   :users
      has_many   :avatars, :through => :users
    end

    class User < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to :group
      has_one    :avatar
    end

    class Avatar < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to :user
    end

    @group = Group.first
    @group.users.collect { |u| u.avatar }.flatten # select all avatars for all users in the group
    @group.avatars                                # selects all avatars by going through the User join model.

An important caveat with going through `has_one` or `has_many` associations on the join model is that these associations are read-only. For example, the following would not work following the previous example:

    @group.avatars << Avatar.new   # this would work if User belonged_to Avatar rather than the other way around
    @group.avatars.delete(@group.avatars.last)  # so would this

### Polymorphic Associations

Polymorphic associations on models are not restricted on what types of models they can be associated with. Rather, they specify an interface that a `has_many` association must adhere to.

    class Asset < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to :attachable, :polymorphic => true
    end

    class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_many :assets, :as => :attachable         # The :as option specifies the polymorphic interface to use.
    end

    @asset.attachable = @post

This works by using a type column in addition to a foreign key to specify the associated record. In the Asset example, you’d need an `attachable_id` integer column and an `attachable_type` string column.

Using polymorphic associations in combination with single table inheritance (STI) is a little tricky. In order for the associations to work as expected, ensure that you store the base model for the STI models in the type column of the polymorphic association. To continue with the asset example above, suppose there are guest posts and member posts that use the posts table for STI. In this case, there must be a `type` column in the posts table.

    class Asset < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to :attachable, :polymorphic => true

      def attachable_type=(sType)
         super(sType.to_s.classify.constantize.base_class.to_s)
      end
    end

    class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
      # because we store "Post" in attachable_type now :dependent => :destroy will work
      has_many :assets, :as => :attachable, :dependent => :destroy
    end

    class GuestPost < Post
    end

    class MemberPost < Post
    end

## Caching

All of the methods are built on a simple caching principle that will keep the result of the last query around unless specifically instructed not to. The cache is even shared across methods to make it even cheaper to use the macro-added methods without worrying too much about performance at the first go.

    project.milestones             # fetches milestones from the database
    project.milestones.size        # uses the milestone cache
    project.milestones.empty?      # uses the milestone cache
    project.milestones(true).size  # fetches milestones from the database
    project.milestones             # uses the milestone cache

## Eager loading of associations

Eager loading is a way to find objects of a certain class and a number of named associations. This is one of the easiest ways of to prevent the dreaded 1+N problem in which fetching 100 posts that each need to display their author triggers 101 database queries. Through the use of eager loading, the 101 queries can be reduced to 2.

    class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to :author
      has_many   :comments
    end

Consider the following loop using the class above:

    for post in Post.all
      puts "Post:            " + post.title
      puts "Written by:      " + post.author.name
      puts "Last comment on: " + post.comments.first.created_on
    end

To iterate over these one hundred posts, we’ll generate 201 database queries. Let’s first just optimize it for retrieving the author:

    for post in Post.find(:all, :include => :author)

This references the name of the `belongs_to` association that also used the `:author` symbol. After loading the posts, find will collect the `author_id` from each one and load all the referenced authors with one query. Doing so will cut down the number of queries from 201 to 102.

We can improve upon the situation further by referencing both associations in the finder with:

    for post in Post.find(:all, :include => [ :author, :comments ])

This will load all comments with a single query. This reduces the total number of queries to 3. More generally the number of queries will be 1 plus the number of associations named (except if some of the associations are polymorphic `belongs_to` - see below).

To include a deep hierarchy of associations, use a hash:

    for post in Post.find(:all, :include => [ :author, { :comments => { :author => :gravatar } } ])

That’ll grab not only all the comments but all their authors and gravatar pictures. You can mix and match symbols, arrays and hashes in any combination to describe the associations you want to load.

All of this power shouldn’t fool you into thinking that you can pull out huge amounts of data with no performance penalty just because you’ve reduced the number of queries. The database still needs to send all the data to Active Record and it still needs to be processed. So it’s no catch-all for performance problems, but it’s a great way to cut down on the number of queries in a situation as the one described above.

Since only one table is loaded at a time, conditions or orders cannot reference tables other than the main one. If this is the case Active Record falls back to the previously used LEFT OUTER JOIN based strategy. For example

    Post.includes([:author, :comments]).where(['comments.approved = ?', true]).all

This will result in a single SQL query with joins along the lines of: `LEFT OUTER JOIN comments ON comments.post_id = posts.id` and `LEFT OUTER JOIN authors ON authors.id = posts.author_id`. Note that using conditions like this can have unintended consequences. In the above example posts with no approved comments are not returned at all, because the conditions apply to the SQL statement as a whole and not just to the association. You must disambiguate column references for this fallback to happen, for example `:order => "author.name DESC"` will work but `:order => "name DESC"` will not.

If you do want eager load only some members of an association it is usually more natural to `:include` an association which has conditions defined on it:

    class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_many :approved_comments, :class_name => 'Comment', :conditions => ['approved = ?', true]
    end

    Post.find(:all, :include => :approved_comments)

This will load posts and eager load the `approved_comments` association, which contains only those comments that have been approved.

If you eager load an association with a specified `:limit` option, it will be ignored, returning all the associated objects:

    class Picture < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_many :most_recent_comments, :class_name => 'Comment', :order => 'id DESC', :limit => 10
    end

    Picture.find(:first, :include => :most_recent_comments).most_recent_comments # => returns all associated comments.

When eager loaded, conditions are interpolated in the context of the model class, not the model instance. Conditions are lazily interpolated before the actual model exists.

Eager loading is supported with polymorphic associations.

    class Address < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to :addressable, :polymorphic => true
    end

A call that tries to eager load the addressable model

    Address.find(:all, :include => :addressable)

This will execute one query to load the addresses and load the addressables with one query per addressable type. For example if all the addressables are either of class Person or Company then a total of 3 queries will be executed. The list of addressable types to load is determined on the back of the addresses loaded. This is not supported if Active Record has to fallback to the previous implementation of eager loading and will raise ActiveRecord::EagerLoadPolymorphicError. The reason is that the parent model’s type is a column value so its corresponding table name cannot be put in the `FROM`/`JOIN` clauses of that query.

## Table Aliasing

Active Record uses table aliasing in the case that a table is referenced multiple times in a join. If a table is referenced only once, the standard table name is used. The second time, the table is aliased as `#{reflection_name}_#{parent_table_name}`. Indexes are appended for any more successive uses of the table name.

    Post.find :all, :joins => :comments
    # => SELECT ... FROM posts INNER JOIN comments ON ...
    Post.find :all, :joins => :special_comments # STI
    # => SELECT ... FROM posts INNER JOIN comments ON ... AND comments.type = 'SpecialComment'
    Post.find :all, :joins => [:comments, :special_comments] # special_comments is the reflection name, posts is the parent table name
    # => SELECT ... FROM posts INNER JOIN comments ON ... INNER JOIN comments special_comments_posts

Acts as tree example:

    TreeMixin.find :all, :joins => :children
    # => SELECT ... FROM mixins INNER JOIN mixins childrens_mixins ...
    TreeMixin.find :all, :joins => {:children => :parent}
    # => SELECT ... FROM mixins INNER JOIN mixins childrens_mixins ...
                                INNER JOIN parents_mixins ...
    TreeMixin.find :all, :joins => {:children => {:parent => :children}}
    # => SELECT ... FROM mixins INNER JOIN mixins childrens_mixins ...
                                INNER JOIN parents_mixins ...
                                INNER JOIN mixins childrens_mixins_2

Has and Belongs to Many join tables use the same idea, but add a `_join` suffix:

    Post.find :all, :joins => :categories
    # => SELECT ... FROM posts INNER JOIN categories_posts ... INNER JOIN categories ...
    Post.find :all, :joins => {:categories => :posts}
    # => SELECT ... FROM posts INNER JOIN categories_posts ... INNER JOIN categories ...
                               INNER JOIN categories_posts posts_categories_join INNER JOIN posts posts_categories
    Post.find :all, :joins => {:categories => {:posts => :categories}}
    # => SELECT ... FROM posts INNER JOIN categories_posts ... INNER JOIN categories ...
                               INNER JOIN categories_posts posts_categories_join INNER JOIN posts posts_categories
                               INNER JOIN categories_posts categories_posts_join INNER JOIN categories categories_posts_2

If you wish to specify your own custom joins using a `:joins` option, those table names will take precedence over the eager associations:

    Post.find :all, :joins => :comments, :joins => "inner join comments ..."
    # => SELECT ... FROM posts INNER JOIN comments_posts ON ... INNER JOIN comments ...
    Post.find :all, :joins => [:comments, :special_comments], :joins => "inner join comments ..."
    # => SELECT ... FROM posts INNER JOIN comments comments_posts ON ...
                               INNER JOIN comments special_comments_posts ...
                               INNER JOIN comments ...

Table aliases are automatically truncated according to the maximum length of table identifiers according to the specific database.

## Modules

By default, associations will look for objects within the current module scope. Consider:

    module MyApplication
      module Business
        class Firm < ActiveRecord::Base
           has_many :clients
         end

        class Client < ActiveRecord::Base; end
      end
    end

When `Firm#clients` is called, it will in turn call `MyApplication::Business::Client.find_all_by_firm_id(firm.id)`. If you want to associate with a class in another module scope, this can be done by specifying the complete class name.

    module MyApplication
      module Business
        class Firm < ActiveRecord::Base; end
      end

      module Billing
        class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
          belongs_to :firm, :class_name => "MyApplication::Business::Firm"
        end
      end
    end

## Bi-directional associations

When you specify an association there is usually an association on the associated model that specifies the same relationship in reverse. For example, with the following models:

    class Dungeon < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_many :traps
      has_one :evil_wizard
    end

    class Trap < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to :dungeon
    end

    class EvilWizard < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to :dungeon
    end

The `traps` association on `Dungeon` and the the `dungeon` association on `Trap` are the inverse of each other and the inverse of the `dungeon` association on `EvilWizard` is the `evil_wizard` association on `Dungeon` (and vice-versa). By default, Active Record doesn’t know anything about these inverse relationships and so no object loading optimisation is possible. For example:

    d = Dungeon.first
    t = d.traps.first
    d.level == t.dungeon.level # => true
    d.level = 10
    d.level == t.dungeon.level # => false

The `Dungeon` instances `d` and `t.dungeon` in the above example refer to the same object data from the database, but are actually different in-memory copies of that data. Specifying the `:inverse_of` option on associations lets you tell Active Record about inverse relationships and it will optimise object loading. For example, if we changed our model definitions to:

    class Dungeon < ActiveRecord::Base
      has_many :traps, :inverse_of => :dungeon
      has_one :evil_wizard, :inverse_of => :dungeon
    end

    class Trap < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to :dungeon, :inverse_of => :traps
    end

    class EvilWizard < ActiveRecord::Base
      belongs_to :dungeon, :inverse_of => :evil_wizard
    end

Then, from our code snippet above, `d` and `t.dungeon` are actually the same in-memory instance and our final `d.level == t.dungeon.level` will return `true`.

There are limitations to `:inverse_of` support:

- does not work with `:through` associations.

- does not work with `:polymorphic` associations.

- for `belongs_to` associations `has_many` inverse associations are ignored.

## Type safety with `ActiveRecord::AssociationTypeMismatch`

If you attempt to assign an object to an association that doesn’t match the inferred or specified `:class_name`, you’ll get an `ActiveRecord::AssociationTypeMismatch`.

## Options

All of the association macros can be specialized through options. This makes cases more complex than the simple and guessable ones possible.

### Public Instance Methods

belongs_to(association_id, options = {}) click to toggle source

Specifies a one-to-one association with another class. This method should only be used if this class contains the foreign key. If the other class contains the foreign key, then you should use `has_one` instead. See also ActiveRecord::Associations::ClassMethods’s overview on when to use `has_one` and when to use `belongs_to`.

Methods will be added for retrieval and query for a single associated object, for which this object holds an id:

association(force_reload = false)

  Returns the associated object. `nil` is returned if none is found.

association=(associate)

  Assigns the associate object, extracts the primary key, and sets it as the foreign key.

build_association(attributes = {})

  Returns a new object of the associated type that has been instantiated with `attributes` and linked to this object through a foreign key, but has not yet been saved.

create_association(attributes = {})

  Returns a new object of the associated type that has been instantiated with `attributes`, linked to this object through a foreign key, and that has already been saved (if it passed the validation).

(`association` is replaced with the symbol passed as the first argument, so `belongs_to :author` would add among others `author.nil?`.)

### Example

A Post class declares `belongs_to :author`, which will add:

- `Post#author` (similar to `Author.find(author_id)`)

- `Post#author=(author)` (similar to `post.author_id = author.id`)

- `Post#build_author` (similar to `post.author = Author.new`)

- `Post#create_author` (similar to `post.author = Author.new; post.author.save; post.author`)

The declaration can also include an options hash to specialize the behavior of the association.

### Options

:class_name

  Specify the class name of the association. Use it only if that name can’t be inferred from the association name. So `has_one :author` will by default be linked to the Author class, but if the real class name is Person, you’ll have to specify it with this option.

:conditions

  Specify the conditions that the associated object must meet in order to be included as a `WHERE` SQL fragment, such as `authorized = 1`.

:select

  By default, this is `*` as in `SELECT * FROM`, but can be changed if, for example, you want to do a join but not include the joined columns. Do not forget to include the primary and foreign keys, otherwise it will raise an error.

:foreign_key

  Specify the foreign key used for the association. By default this is guessed to be the name of the association with an “_id” suffix. So a class that defines a `belongs_to :person` association will use “person_id” as the default `:foreign_key`. Similarly, `belongs_to :favorite_person, :class_name => "Person"` will use a foreign key of “favorite_person_id”.

:primary_key

  Specify the method that returns the primary key of associated object used for the association. By default this is id.

:dependent

  If set to `:destroy`, the associated object is destroyed when this object is. If set to `:delete`, the associated object is deleted without calling its destroy method. This option should not be specified when `belongs_to` is used in conjunction with a `has_many` relationship on another class because of the potential to leave orphaned records behind.

:counter_cache

  Caches the number of belonging objects on the associate class through the use of `increment_counter` and `decrement_counter`. The counter cache is incremented when an object of this class is created and decremented when it’s destroyed. This requires that a column named `#{table_name}_count` (such as `comments_count` for a belonging Comment class) is used on the associate class (such as a Post class). You can also specify a custom counter cache column by providing a column name instead of a `true`/`false` value to this option (e.g., `:counter_cache => :my_custom_counter`.) Note: Specifying a counter cache will add it to that model’s list of readonly attributes using `attr_readonly`.

:include

  Specify second-order associations that should be eager loaded when this object is loaded.

:polymorphic

  Specify this association is a polymorphic association by passing `true`. Note: If you’ve enabled the counter cache, then you may want to add the counter cache attribute to the `attr_readonly` list in the associated classes (e.g. `class Post; attr_readonly :comments_count; end`).

:readonly

  If true, the associated object is readonly through the association.

:validate

  If `false`, don’t validate the associated objects when saving the parent object. `false` by default.

:autosave

  If true, always save the associated object or destroy it if marked for destruction, when saving the parent object. If false, never save or destroy the associated object. By default, only save the associated object if it’s a new record.

:touch

  If true, the associated object will be touched (the updated_at/on attributes set to now) when this record is either saved or destroyed. If you specify a symbol, that attribute will be updated with the current time instead of the updated_at/on attribute.

:inverse_of

  Specifies the name of the `has_one` or `has_many` association on the associated object that is the inverse of this `belongs_to` association. Does not work in combination with the `:polymorphic` options. See ActiveRecord::Associations::ClassMethods’s overview on Bi-directional associations for more detail.

Option examples:

    belongs_to :firm, :foreign_key => "client_of"
    belongs_to :person, :primary_key => "name", :foreign_key => "person_name"
    belongs_to :author, :class_name => "Person", :foreign_key => "author_id"
    belongs_to :valid_coupon, :class_name => "Coupon", :foreign_key => "coupon_id",
               :conditions => 'discounts > #{payments_count}'
    belongs_to :attachable, :polymorphic => true
    belongs_to :project, :readonly => true
    belongs_to :post, :counter_cache => true
    belongs_to :company, :touch => true
    belongs_to :company, :touch => :employees_last_updated_at

    # File lib/active_record/associations.rb, line 1219
    def belongs_to(association_id, options = {})
      reflection = create_belongs_to_reflection(association_id, options)

      if reflection.options[:polymorphic]
        association_accessor_methods(reflection, BelongsToPolymorphicAssociation)
      else
        association_accessor_methods(reflection, BelongsToAssociation)
        association_constructor_method(:build,  reflection, BelongsToAssociation)
        association_constructor_method(:create, reflection, BelongsToAssociation)
      end

      add_counter_cache_callbacks(reflection)          if options[:counter_cache]
      add_touch_callbacks(reflection, options[:touch]) if options[:touch]

      configure_dependency_for_belongs_to(reflection)
    end

has_and_belongs_to_many(association_id, options = {}, &extension) click to toggle source

Specifies a many-to-many relationship with another class. This associates two classes via an intermediate join table. Unless the join table is explicitly specified as an option, it is guessed using the lexical order of the class names. So a join between Developer and Project will give the default join table name of “developers_projects” because “D” outranks “P”. Note that this precedence is calculated using the `<` operator for String. This means that if the strings are of different lengths, and the strings are equal when compared up to the shortest length, then the longer string is considered of higher lexical precedence than the shorter one. For example, one would expect the tables “paper_boxes” and “papers” to generate a join table name of “papers_paper_boxes” because of the length of the name “paper_boxes”, but it in fact generates a join table name of “paper_boxes_papers”. Be aware of this caveat, and use the custom `:join_table` option if you need to.

The join table should not have a primary key or a model associated with it. You must manually generate the join table with a migration such as this:

    class CreateDevelopersProjectsJoinTable < ActiveRecord::Migration
      def self.up
        create_table :developers_projects, :id => false do |t|
          t.integer :developer_id
          t.integer :project_id
        end
      end

      def self.down
        drop_table :developers_projects
      end
    end

Deprecated: Any additional fields added to the join table will be placed as attributes when pulling records out through `has_and_belongs_to_many` associations. Records returned from join tables with additional attributes will be marked as readonly (because we can’t save changes to the additional attributes). It’s strongly recommended that you upgrade any associations with attributes to a real join model (see introduction).

Adds the following methods for retrieval and query:

collection(force_reload = false)

  Returns an array of all the associated objects. An empty array is returned if none are found.

collection<<(object, …)

  Adds one or more objects to the collection by creating associations in the join table (`collection.push` and `collection.concat` are aliases to this method). Note that this operation instantly fires update sql without waiting for the save or update call on the parent object.

collection.delete(object, …)

  Removes one or more objects from the collection by removing their associations from the join table. This does not destroy the objects.

collection=objects

  Replaces the collection’s content by deleting and adding objects as appropriate.

collection_singular_ids

  Returns an array of the associated objects’ ids.

collection_singular_ids=ids

  Replace the collection by the objects identified by the primary keys in `ids`.

collection.clear

  Removes every object from the collection. This does not destroy the objects.

collection.empty?

  Returns `true` if there are no associated objects.

collection.size

  Returns the number of associated objects.

collection.find(id)

  Finds an associated object responding to the `id` and that meets the condition that it has to be associated with this object. Uses the same rules as ActiveRecord::Base.find.

collection.exists?(…)

  Checks whether an associated object with the given conditions exists. Uses the same rules as ActiveRecord::Base.exists?.

collection.build(attributes = {})

  Returns a new object of the collection type that has been instantiated with `attributes` and linked to this object through the join table, but has not yet been saved.

collection.create(attributes = {})

  Returns a new object of the collection type that has been instantiated with `attributes`, linked to this object through the join table, and that has already been saved (if it passed the validation).

(`collection` is replaced with the symbol passed as the first argument, so `has_and_belongs_to_many :categories` would add among others `categories.empty?`.)

### Example

A Developer class declares `has_and_belongs_to_many :projects`, which will add:

- `Developer#projects`

- `Developer#projects<<`

- `Developer#projects.delete`

- `Developer#projects=`

- `Developer#project_ids`

- `Developer#project_ids=`

- `Developer#projects.clear`

- `Developer#projects.empty?`

- `Developer#projects.size`

- `Developer#projects.find(id)`

- `Developer#projects.exists?(...)`

- `Developer#projects.build` (similar to `Project.new("project_id" => id)`)

- `Developer#projects.create` (similar to `c = Project.new("project_id" => id); c.save; c`)

The declaration may include an options hash to specialize the behavior of the association.

### Options

:class_name

  Specify the class name of the association. Use it only if that name can’t be inferred from the association name. So `has_and_belongs_to_many :projects` will by default be linked to the Project class, but if the real class name is SuperProject, you’ll have to specify it with this option.

:join_table

  Specify the name of the join table if the default based on lexical order isn’t what you want. WARNING: If you’re overwriting the table name of either class, the `table_name` method MUST be declared underneath any `has_and_belongs_to_many` declaration in order to work.

:foreign_key

  Specify the foreign key used for the association. By default this is guessed to be the name of this class in lower-case and “_id” suffixed. So a Person class that makes a `has_and_belongs_to_many` association to Project will use “person_id” as the default `:foreign_key`.

:association_foreign_key

  Specify the foreign key used for the association on the receiving side of the association. By default this is guessed to be the name of the associated class in lower-case and “_id” suffixed. So if a Person class makes a `has_and_belongs_to_many` association to Project, the association will use “project_id” as the default `:association_foreign_key`.

:conditions

  Specify the conditions that the associated object must meet in order to be included as a `WHERE` SQL fragment, such as `authorized = 1`. Record creations from the association are scoped if a hash is used. `has_many :posts, :conditions => {:published => true}` will create published posts with `@blog.posts.create` or `@blog.posts.build`.

:order

  Specify the order in which the associated objects are returned as an `ORDER BY` SQL fragment, such as `last_name, first_name DESC`

:uniq

  If true, duplicate associated objects will be ignored by accessors and query methods.

:finder_sql

  Overwrite the default generated SQL statement used to fetch the association with a manual statement

:counter_sql

  Specify a complete SQL statement to fetch the size of the association. If `:finder_sql` is specified but not `:counter_sql`, `:counter_sql` will be generated by replacing `SELECT ... FROM` with `SELECT COUNT(*) FROM`.

:delete_sql

  Overwrite the default generated SQL statement used to remove links between the associated classes with a manual statement.

:insert_sql

  Overwrite the default generated SQL statement used to add links between the associated classes with a manual statement.

:extend

  Anonymous module for extending the proxy, see “Association extensions”.

:include

  Specify second-order associations that should be eager loaded when the collection is loaded.

:group

  An attribute name by which the result should be grouped. Uses the `GROUP BY` SQL-clause.

:having

  Combined with `:group` this can be used to filter the records that a `GROUP BY` returns. Uses the `HAVING` SQL-clause.

:limit

  An integer determining the limit on the number of rows that should be returned.

:offset

  An integer determining the offset from where the rows should be fetched. So at 5, it would skip the first 4 rows.

:select

  By default, this is `*` as in `SELECT * FROM`, but can be changed if, for example, you want to do a join but not include the joined columns. Do not forget to include the primary and foreign keys, otherwise it will raise an error.

:readonly

  If true, all the associated objects are readonly through the association.

:validate

  If `false`, don’t validate the associated objects when saving the parent object. `true` by default.

:autosave

  If true, always save the associated objects or destroy them if marked for destruction, when saving the parent object. If false, never save or destroy the associated objects. By default, only save associated objects that are new records.

Option examples:

    has_and_belongs_to_many :projects
    has_and_belongs_to_many :projects, :include => [ :milestones, :manager ]
    has_and_belongs_to_many :nations, :class_name => "Country"
    has_and_belongs_to_many :categories, :join_table => "prods_cats"
    has_and_belongs_to_many :categories, :readonly => true
    has_and_belongs_to_many :active_projects, :join_table => 'developers_projects', :delete_sql =>
    'DELETE FROM developers_projects WHERE active=1 AND developer_id = #{id} AND project_id = #{record.id}'

    # File lib/active_record/associations.rb, line 1410
    def has_and_belongs_to_many(association_id, options = {}, &extension)
      reflection = create_has_and_belongs_to_many_reflection(association_id, options, &extension)
      collection_accessor_methods(reflection, HasAndBelongsToManyAssociation)

      # Don't use a before_destroy callback since users' before_destroy
      # callbacks will be executed after the association is wiped out.
      include Module.new {
        class_eval             def destroy                     # def destroy              super                         #   super              #{reflection.name}.clear      #   posts.clear            end                             # end, __FILE__, __LINE__ + 1
      }

      add_association_callbacks(reflection.name, options)
    end

has_many(association_id, options = {}, &extension) click to toggle source

Specifies a one-to-many association. The following methods for retrieval and query of collections of associated objects will be added:

collection(force_reload = false)

  Returns an array of all the associated objects. An empty array is returned if none are found.

collection<<(object, …)

  Adds one or more objects to the collection by setting their foreign keys to the collection’s primary key. Note that this operation instantly fires update sql without waiting for the save or update call on the parent object.

collection.delete(object, …)

  Removes one or more objects from the collection by setting their foreign keys to `NULL`. Objects will be in addition destroyed if they’re associated with `:dependent => :destroy`, and deleted if they’re associated with `:dependent => :delete_all`.

collection=objects

  Replaces the collections content by deleting and adding objects as appropriate. If the `:through` option is true callbacks in the join models are triggered except destroy callbacks, since deletion is direct.

collection_singular_ids

  Returns an array of the associated objects’ ids

collection_singular_ids=ids

  Replace the collection with the objects identified by the primary keys in `ids`. This method loads the models and calls `collection=`. See above.

collection.clear

  Removes every object from the collection. This destroys the associated objects if they are associated with `:dependent => :destroy`, deletes them directly from the database if `:dependent => :delete_all`, otherwise sets their foreign keys to `NULL`. If the `:through` option is true no destroy callbacks are invoked on the join models. Join models are directly deleted.

collection.empty?

  Returns `true` if there are no associated objects.

collection.size

  Returns the number of associated objects.

collection.find(…)

  Finds an associated object according to the same rules as ActiveRecord::Base.find.

collection.exists?(…)

  Checks whether an associated object with the given conditions exists. Uses the same rules as ActiveRecord::Base.exists?.

collection.build(attributes = {}, …)

  Returns one or more new objects of the collection type that have been instantiated with `attributes` and linked to this object through a foreign key, but have not yet been saved.

collection.create(attributes = {})

  Returns a new object of the collection type that has been instantiated with `attributes`, linked to this object through a foreign key, and that has already been saved (if it passed the validation). Note: This only works if the base model already exists in the DB, not if it is a new (unsaved) record!

(Note: `collection` is replaced with the symbol passed as the first argument, so `has_many :clients` would add among others `clients.empty?`.)

### Example

Example: A Firm class declares `has_many :clients`, which will add:

- `Firm#clients` (similar to `Clients.find :all, :conditions => ["firm_id = ?", id]`)

- `Firm#clients<<`

- `Firm#clients.delete`

- `Firm#clients=`

- `Firm#client_ids`

- `Firm#client_ids=`

- `Firm#clients.clear`

- `Firm#clients.empty?` (similar to `firm.clients.size == 0`)

- `Firm#clients.size` (similar to `Client.count "firm_id = #{id}"`)

- `Firm#clients.find` (similar to `Client.find(id, :conditions => "firm_id = #{id}")`)

- `Firm#clients.exists?(:name => 'ACME')` (similar to `Client.exists?(:name => 'ACME', :firm_id => firm.id)`)

- `Firm#clients.build` (similar to `Client.new("firm_id" => id)`)

- `Firm#clients.create` (similar to `c = Client.new("firm_id" => id); c.save; c`)

The declaration can also include an options hash to specialize the behavior of the association.

### Supported options

:class_name

  Specify the class name of the association. Use it only if that name can’t be inferred from the association name. So `has_many :products` will by default be linked to the Product class, but if the real class name is SpecialProduct, you’ll have to specify it with this option.

:conditions

  Specify the conditions that the associated objects must meet in order to be included as a `WHERE` SQL fragment, such as `price > 5 AND name LIKE 'B%'`. Record creations from the association are scoped if a hash is used. `has_many :posts, :conditions => {:published => true}` will create published posts with `@blog.posts.create` or `@blog.posts.build`.

:order

  Specify the order in which the associated objects are returned as an `ORDER BY` SQL fragment, such as `last_name, first_name DESC`.

:foreign_key

  Specify the foreign key used for the association. By default this is guessed to be the name of this class in lower-case and “_id” suffixed. So a Person class that makes a `has_many` association will use “person_id” as the default `:foreign_key`.

:primary_key

  Specify the method that returns the primary key used for the association. By default this is `id`.

:dependent

  If set to `:destroy` all the associated objects are destroyed alongside this object by calling their `destroy` method. If set to `:delete_all` all associated objects are deleted without calling their `destroy` method. If set to `:nullify` all associated objects’ foreign keys are set to `NULL` without calling their `save` callbacks. If set to `:restrict` this object cannot be deleted if it has any associated object.

  Warning: This option is ignored when used with `:through` option.

:finder_sql

  Specify a complete SQL statement to fetch the association. This is a good way to go for complex associations that depend on multiple tables. Note: When this option is used, `find_in_collection` is not added.

:counter_sql

  Specify a complete SQL statement to fetch the size of the association. If `:finder_sql` is specified but not `:counter_sql`, `:counter_sql` will be generated by replacing `SELECT ... FROM` with `SELECT COUNT(*) FROM`.

:extend

  Specify a named module for extending the proxy. See “Association extensions”.

:include

  Specify second-order associations that should be eager loaded when the collection is loaded.

:group

  An attribute name by which the result should be grouped. Uses the `GROUP BY` SQL-clause.

:having

  Combined with `:group` this can be used to filter the records that a `GROUP BY` returns. Uses the `HAVING` SQL-clause.

:limit

  An integer determining the limit on the number of rows that should be returned.

:offset

  An integer determining the offset from where the rows should be fetched. So at 5, it would skip the first 4 rows.

:select

  By default, this is `*` as in `SELECT * FROM`, but can be changed if you, for example, want to do a join but not include the joined columns. Do not forget to include the primary and foreign keys, otherwise it will raise an error.

:as

  Specifies a polymorphic interface (See `belongs_to`).

:through

  Specifies a join model through which to perform the query. Options for `:class_name` and `:foreign_key` are ignored, as the association uses the source reflection. You can only use a `:through` query through a `belongs_to`, `has_one` or `has_many` association on the join model. The collection of join models can be managed via the collection API. For example, new join models are created for newly associated objects, and if some are gone their rows are deleted (directly, no destroy callbacks are triggered).

:source

  Specifies the source association name used by `has_many :through` queries. Only use it if the name cannot be inferred from the association. `has_many :subscribers, :through => :subscriptions` will look for either `:subscribers` or `:subscriber` on Subscription, unless a `:source` is given.

:source_type

  Specifies type of the source association used by `has_many :through` queries where the source association is a polymorphic `belongs_to`.

:uniq

  If true, duplicates will be omitted from the collection. Useful in conjunction with `:through`.

:readonly

  If true, all the associated objects are readonly through the association.

:validate

  If `false`, don’t validate the associated objects when saving the parent object. true by default.

:autosave

  If true, always save the associated objects or destroy them if marked for destruction, when saving the parent object. If false, never save or destroy the associated objects. By default, only save associated objects that are new records.

:inverse_of

  Specifies the name of the `belongs_to` association on the associated object that is the inverse of this `has_many` association. Does not work in combination with `:through` or `:as` options. See ActiveRecord::Associations::ClassMethods’s overview on Bi-directional associations for more detail.

Option examples:

    has_many :comments, :order => "posted_on"
    has_many :comments, :include => :author
    has_many :people, :class_name => "Person", :conditions => "deleted = 0", :order => "name"
    has_many :tracks, :order => "position", :dependent => :destroy
    has_many :comments, :dependent => :nullify
    has_many :tags, :as => :taggable
    has_many :reports, :readonly => true
    has_many :subscribers, :through => :subscriptions, :source => :user
    has_many :subscribers, :class_name => "Person", :finder_sql =>
        'SELECT DISTINCT people.* ' +
        'FROM people p, post_subscriptions ps ' +
        'WHERE ps.post_id = #{id} AND ps.person_id = p.id ' +
        'ORDER BY p.first_name'

    # File lib/active_record/associations.rb, line 982
    def has_many(association_id, options = {}, &extension)
      reflection = create_has_many_reflection(association_id, options, &extension)
      configure_dependency_for_has_many(reflection)
      add_association_callbacks(reflection.name, reflection.options)

      if options[:through]
        collection_accessor_methods(reflection, HasManyThroughAssociation)
      else
        collection_accessor_methods(reflection, HasManyAssociation)
      end
    end

has_one(association_id, options = {}) click to toggle source

Specifies a one-to-one association with another class. This method should only be used if the other class contains the foreign key. If the current class contains the foreign key, then you should use `belongs_to` instead. See also ActiveRecord::Associations::ClassMethods’s overview on when to use has_one and when to use belongs_to.

The following methods for retrieval and query of a single associated object will be added:

association(force_reload = false)

  Returns the associated object. `nil` is returned if none is found.

association=(associate)

  Assigns the associate object, extracts the primary key, sets it as the foreign key, and saves the associate object.

build_association(attributes = {})

  Returns a new object of the associated type that has been instantiated with `attributes` and linked to this object through a foreign key, but has not yet been saved. Note: This ONLY works if an association already exists. It will NOT work if the association is `nil`.

create_association(attributes = {})

  Returns a new object of the associated type that has been instantiated with `attributes`, linked to this object through a foreign key, and that has already been saved (if it passed the validation).

(`association` is replaced with the symbol passed as the first argument, so `has_one :manager` would add among others `manager.nil?`.)

### Example

An Account class declares `has_one :beneficiary`, which will add:

- `Account#beneficiary` (similar to `Beneficiary.find(:first, :conditions => "account_id = #{id}")`)

- `Account#beneficiary=(beneficiary)` (similar to `beneficiary.account_id = account.id; beneficiary.save`)

- `Account#build_beneficiary` (similar to `Beneficiary.new("account_id" => id)`)

- `Account#create_beneficiary` (similar to `b = Beneficiary.new("account_id" => id); b.save; b`)

### Options

The declaration can also include an options hash to specialize the behavior of the association.

Options are:

:class_name

  Specify the class name of the association. Use it only if that name can’t be inferred from the association name. So `has_one :manager` will by default be linked to the Manager class, but if the real class name is Person, you’ll have to specify it with this option.

:conditions

  Specify the conditions that the associated object must meet in order to be included as a `WHERE` SQL fragment, such as `rank = 5`. Record creation from the association is scoped if a hash is used. `has_one :account, :conditions => {:enabled => true}` will create an enabled account with `@company.create_account` or `@company.build_account`.

:order

  Specify the order in which the associated objects are returned as an `ORDER BY` SQL fragment, such as `last_name, first_name DESC`.

:dependent

  If set to `:destroy`, the associated object is destroyed when this object is. If set to `:delete`, the associated object is deleted without calling its destroy method. If set to `:nullify`, the associated object’s foreign key is set to `NULL`. Also, association is assigned.

:foreign_key

  Specify the foreign key used for the association. By default this is guessed to be the name of this class in lower-case and “_id” suffixed. So a Person class that makes a `has_one` association will use “person_id” as the default `:foreign_key`.

:primary_key

  Specify the method that returns the primary key used for the association. By default this is `id`.

:include

  Specify second-order associations that should be eager loaded when this object is loaded.

:as

  Specifies a polymorphic interface (See `belongs_to`).

:select

  By default, this is `*` as in `SELECT * FROM`, but can be changed if, for example, you want to do a join but not include the joined columns. Do not forget to include the primary and foreign keys, otherwise it will raise an error.

:through

  Specifies a Join Model through which to perform the query. Options for `:class_name` and `:foreign_key` are ignored, as the association uses the source reflection. You can only use a `:through` query through a `has_one` or `belongs_to` association on the join model.

:source

  Specifies the source association name used by `has_one :through` queries. Only use it if the name cannot be inferred from the association. `has_one :favorite, :through => :favorites` will look for a `:favorite` on Favorite, unless a `:source` is given.

:source_type

  Specifies type of the source association used by `has_one :through` queries where the source association is a polymorphic `belongs_to`.

:readonly

  If true, the associated object is readonly through the association.

:validate

  If `false`, don’t validate the associated object when saving the parent object. `false` by default.

:autosave

  If true, always save the associated object or destroy it if marked for destruction, when saving the parent object. If false, never save or destroy the associated object. By default, only save the associated object if it’s a new record.

:inverse_of

  Specifies the name of the `belongs_to` association on the associated object that is the inverse of this `has_one` association. Does not work in combination with `:through` or `:as` options. See ActiveRecord::Associations::ClassMethods’s overview on Bi-directional associations for more detail.

Option examples:

    has_one :credit_card, :dependent => :destroy  # destroys the associated credit card
    has_one :credit_card, :dependent => :nullify  # updates the associated records foreign
                                                  # key value to NULL rather than destroying it
    has_one :last_comment, :class_name => "Comment", :order => "posted_on"
    has_one :project_manager, :class_name => "Person", :conditions => "role = 'project_manager'"
    has_one :attachment, :as => :attachable
    has_one :boss, :readonly => :true
    has_one :club, :through => :membership
    has_one :primary_address, :through => :addressables, :conditions => ["addressable.primary = ?", true], :source => :addressable

    # File lib/active_record/associations.rb, line 1100
    def has_one(association_id, options = {})
      if options[:through]
        reflection = create_has_one_through_reflection(association_id, options)
        association_accessor_methods(reflection, ActiveRecord::Associations::HasOneThroughAssociation)
      else
        reflection = create_has_one_reflection(association_id, options)
        association_accessor_methods(reflection, HasOneAssociation)
        association_constructor_method(:build,  reflection, HasOneAssociation)
        association_constructor_method(:create, reflection, HasOneAssociation)
        configure_dependency_for_has_one(reflection)
      end
    end

[Validate]

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