Im cornered with this problem in one of my apps. Let me define the models first.
Paycheck has_one salstruct, :class_name => 'Salary_Structure' Paycheck belongs_to employee Adjustment #a model for additions/deductions that do not fall into the normal Salary Structure and are last minute add-ons to the Paycheck. eg, Christmas bonus.
The Adjustments table has the columns Name (string) and Value (integer in terms of percentage).
I allow 2 Adjustments for every Paycheck. The paycheck table has the columns Adj_1 (string), Adj_2 (string), Adj_1_value (float), Adj_2_value (float).
There is no association between Paycheck and Adjustment.
In the _paycheck partial (used for both editing and creating paychecks) , I use the following code.
<%= f.collection_select :adj_1, current_user.adjustments.find (:all) , :value, :name, {:include_blank=>true, :id => "paycheck_adj_1"},{:onblur => 'calculate();'} %>%
This code lets the user select the Adjustment by its name (say, Christmas bonus, Leave Deduction, etc), but I have set the value that gets into the DB as the 'value' attribute of the adjustment. I have done this because i am using Prototype to perform some calculations on the values of the adjustments chosen. The following are my requirements, - the 'name' attribute of the adjustment chosen by the user, should go into paycheck_adj_1/paycheck_adj_2 respectively. - the Prototype JS function 'calculate()' uses the 'value' attribute of the chosen adjustment in the form of DOM_ID.value. Preferably, I should not have to hack into that code too much as its working great right now. And the results of these calculations are stored in paycheck_adj_1_value/paycheck_adj_2_value respectively. - If the User chooses to delete an Adjustment at any time from the Adjustments table, It should not affect the Adjustments data stored for issued Paychecks (which is why I have designed the DB the way I have)
Now, although I think Ive got the 3rd requirement covered, the first two pose a problem in that I cant think of a way to satisfy both simultaneously. I do hope though, that some of you can help me resolve this problem. Will gladly explain more in detail if needed.
