I was horsing around with the reflect_on_assocation class method of
ActiveRecord Reflection, which returns an instance of
AssociationReflection. One of its methods is called active_record. I
run it in console:
Account.reflect_on_association(:users).active_record
=> Account(id: integer, name: string, created_at: datetime,
updated_at: datetime, ancestry: string, street_address: string, city:
string, postal_code: string, state: string, country: string,
street_address2: string, account_type_id: integer, client_logo:
string, subdomain: string, email: string, phone: string)
What it returns is not the Account object.
According to documentation, it "Returns the value of attribute
active_record".
http://rubydoc.info/docs/rails/3.0.0/ActiveRecord/Reflection/MacroReflection#active_record-instance_method
Well, that's not too informative...
thanks for response
What’s your question (and what the relationship with your subject line?) ?
Fred
I'm saying that active_record called on AssociationReflection seems to
just return the class object itself. For example:
Account.reflect_on_association(:users).active_record # => Account
What's the point of that? Can't you just do Account.class?
I think, #reflect_on_association is a class method. So it tells you if the class has some association and the stuff related to that.
Account.reflect_on_association(:users) will give you some information about how the attribute :users is associated with the model Account. Probably, a has_many association, I guess.
Now, in most cases, it goes like this:
Account.reflect_on_association(:users).active_record => User
But in your case, the model Account seems to be associated with itself through :users. It would be really helpful if you post your models here.
So, to answer your question: Can’t you just do Account.class?
Well, in this special case you could, but in most other cases, not.
Hope this helps.
Ace