[]
(https://travis-ci.org/activerecord-hackery/ransack)
[
]
(http://badge.fury.io/rb/ransack)
Ransack is a rewrite of [MetaSearch] (https://github.com/activerecord-hackery/meta_search) created by Ernie Miller and maintained by Ryan Bigg, Jon Atack and a great group of [contributors] (https://github.com/activerecord-hackery/ransack/graphs/contributors). While it supports many of the same features as MetaSearch, its underlying implementation differs greatly from MetaSearch, and backwards compatibility is not a design goal.
Ransack enables the creation of both simple and advanced search forms against your application's models (demo source code here). If you're looking for something that simplifies query generation at the model or controller layer, you're probably not looking for Ransack (or MetaSearch, for that matter). Try Squeel instead.
Ransack is currently compatible with Rails 3.x, 4.0, 4.1 and 4.2.
In your Gemfile, for the last officially released Ransack gem:
gem 'ransack'
Or, if you would like to use the latest updates:
gem 'ransack', github: 'activerecord-hackery/ransack'
The other branches (rails-4
, rails-4.1
, and rails-4.2
) were each used for
developing and running Ransack with the latest upcoming version of Rails at the
time. They are smaller and possibly slightly faster because they do not have to
support previous versions of Rails and Active Record. Once support for that
Rails version is merged from the branch into Ransack master, the branch is no
longer actively maintained -- unless the open source community submits pull
requests to maintain them. You are welcome to do so!
To use one of the branches, for example the rails-4.1
branch:
gem 'ransack', github: 'activerecord-hackery/ransack', branch: 'rails-4.1'
Ransack can be used in one of two modes, simple or advanced.
This mode works much like MetaSearch, for those of you who are familiar with it, and requires very little setup effort.
If you're coming from MetaSearch, things to note:
-
The default param key for search params is now
:q
, instead of:search
. This is primarily to shorten query strings, though advanced queries (below) will still run afoul of URL length limits in most browsers and require a switch to HTTP POST requests. This key is [configurable] (https://github.com/activerecord-hackery/ransack/wiki/Configuration). -
form_for
is nowsearch_form_for
, and validates that a Ransack::Search object is passed to it. -
Common ActiveRecord::Relation methods are no longer delegated by the search object. Instead, you will get your search results (an ActiveRecord::Relation in the case of the ActiveRecord adapter) via a call to
Search#result
. -
If passed
distinct: true
,result
will generate aSELECT DISTINCT
to avoid returning duplicate rows, even if conditions on a join would otherwise result in some.
Please note that for many databases, a sort on an associated table's columns
may result in invalid SQL with distinct: true
-- in those cases, you're on
your own, and will need to modify the result as needed to allow these queries
to work. If distinct: true
is causing you problems, another way to remove
duplicates is to call #to_a.uniq
on your collection instead (see the next
section below).
####In your controller
def index
@q = Person.search(params[:q])
@people = @q.result(distinct: true)
end
or without distinct:true
, for sorting on an associated table's columns (in
this example, with preloading each Person's Articles and pagination):
def index
@q = Person.search(params[:q])
@people = @q.result.includes(:articles).page(params[:page])
# or use `to_a.uniq` to remove duplicates (can also be done in the view):
@people = @q.result.includes(:articles).page(params[:page]).to_a.uniq
end
####In your view
The two primary Ransack view helpers are search_form_for
and sort_link
,
which are defined in
Ransack::Helpers::FormHelper.
#####Ransack's search_form_for
helper replaces form_for
for creating the view search form:
<%= search_form_for @q do |f| %>
# Search if the name field contains...
<%= f.label :name_cont %>
<%= f.search_field :name_cont %>
# Search if an associated articles.title starts with...
<%= f.label :articles_title_start %>
<%= f.search_field :articles_title_start %>
# Attributes may be chained. Search multiple attributes for one value...
<%= f.label :name_or_description_or_email_or_articles_title_cont %>
<%= f.search_field :name_or_description_or_email_or_articles_title_cont %>
<%= f.submit %>
<% end %>
cont
(contains) and start
(starts with) are just two of the available
search predicates. See [Constants]
(https://github.com/activerecord-hackery/ransack/blob/master/lib/ransack/constants.rb)
for a full list and the [wiki]
(https://github.com/activerecord-hackery/ransack/wiki/Basic-Searching)
for more information.
The search_form_for
answer format can be set like this:
<%= search_form_for(@q, format: :pdf) do |f| %>
<%= search_form_for(@q, format: :json) do |f| %>
#####Ransack's sort_link
helper creates table headers that are sortable links:
<%= content_tag :th, sort_link(@q, :name) %>
Additional options can be passed after the column attribute, like a different column title or a default sort order:
<%= content_tag :th, sort_link(@q, :name, 'Last Name', default_order: :desc) %>
You can also sort on multiple fields at the same time with sort_link
:
<%= content_tag :th, sort_link(@q, :last_name,
[:last_name, 'first_name asc'], 'Last Name') %>
If the third argument to sort_link
is an array, clicking the link will make
Ransack sort on multiple columns. In the example above, clicking the link
will sort by last_name
and then first_name
. Including the sorting direction
with the first_name
column tells Ransack to always sort in the specified direction.
"Advanced" searches (ab)use Rails' nested attributes functionality in order to generate complex queries with nested AND/OR groupings, etc. This takes a bit more work but can generate some pretty cool search interfaces that put a lot of power in the hands of your users. A notable drawback with these searches is that the increased size of the parameter string will typically force you to use the HTTP POST method instead of GET. :(
This means you'll need to tweak your routes...
resources :people do
collection do
match 'search' => 'people#search', via: [:get, :post], as: :search
end
end
... and add another controller action ...
def search
index
render :index
end
... and update your search_form_for
line in the view ...
<%= search_form_for @q, url: search_people_path,
html: { method: :post } do |f| %>
Once you've done so, you can make use of the helpers in Ransack::Helpers::FormBuilder to construct much more complex search forms, such as the one on the demo page (source code here).
Ransack will try to to make #search
available in your models, but in the case
that #search
has already been defined, you can use #ransack
instead. For
example the following would be equivalent:
Article.search(params[:q])
Article.ransack(params[:q])
You can easily use Ransack to search for objects in has_many
and belongs_to
associations.
Given you have these associations ...
class Employee < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :supervisor
# has attributes first_name:string and last_name:string
end
class Department < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :supervisors
# has attribute title:string
end
class Supervisor < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :department
has_many :employees
# has attribute last_name:string
end
... and a controller ...
class SupervisorsController < ApplicationController
def index
@q = Supervisor.search(params[:q])
@supervisors = @q.result.includes(:department, :employees)
end
end
... you might set up your form like this ...
<%= search_form_for @q do |f| %>
<%= f.label :last_name_cont %>
<%= f.search_field :last_name_cont %>
<%= f.label :department_title_cont %>
<%= f.search_field :department_title_cont %>
<%= f.label :employees_first_name_or_employees_last_name_cont %>
<%= f.search_field :employees_first_name_or_employees_last_name_cont %>
<%= f.submit "search" %>
<% end %>
...
<%= content_tag :table %>
<%= content_tag :th, sort_link(@q, :last_name) %>
<%= content_tag :th, sort_link(@q, 'departments.title') %>
<%= content_tag :th, sort_link(@q, 'employees.last_name') %>
<% end %>
The main premise behind Ransack is to provide access to
Arel predicate methods. Ransack provides special methods, called
ransackers, for creating additional search functions via Arel. More
information about ransacker
methods can be found [here in the wiki]
(https://github.com/activerecord-hackery/ransack/wiki/Using-Ransackers).
Feel free to contribute working ransacker
code examples to the wiki!
By default, searching and sorting are authorized on any column of your model and no class methods/scopes are whitelisted.
Ransack adds four methods to ActiveRecord::Base
that you can redefine as
class methods in your models to apply selective authorization:
ransackable_attributes
, ransackable_associations
, ransackable_scopes
and
ransortable_attributes
.
Here is how these four methods are implemented in Ransack:
# Ransackable_attributes, by default, returns all column names
# and any defined ransackers as an array of strings.
# For overriding with a whitelist array of strings.
#
def ransackable_attributes(auth_object = nil)
column_names + _ransackers.keys
end
# Ransackable_associations, by default, returns the names
# of all associations as an array of strings.
# For overriding with a whitelist array of strings.
#
def ransackable_associations(auth_object = nil)
reflect_on_all_associations.map { |a| a.name.to_s }
end
# Ransortable_attributes, by default, returns the names
# of all attributes available for sorting as an array of strings.
# For overriding with a whitelist array of strings.
#
def ransortable_attributes(auth_object = nil)
ransackable_attributes(auth_object)
end
# Ransackable_scopes, by default, returns an empty array
# i.e. no class methods/scopes are authorized.
# For overriding with a whitelist array of *symbols*.
#
def ransackable_scopes(auth_object = nil)
[]
end
Any values not returned from these methods will be ignored by Ransack, i.e. they are not authorized.
All four methods can receive a single optional parameter, auth_object
. When
you call the search or ransack method on your model, you can provide a value
for an auth_object
key in the options hash which can be used by your own
overridden methods.
Here is an example that puts all this together, adapted from
[this blog post by Ernie Miller]
(http://erniemiller.org/2012/05/11/why-your-ruby-class-macros-might-suck-mine-did/).
In an Article
model, add the following ransackable_attributes
class method
(preferably private):
class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
private
def self.ransackable_attributes(auth_object = nil)
if auth_object == :admin
# whitelist all attributes for admin
super
else
# whitelist only the title and body attributes for other users
super & %w(title body)
end
end
end
Here is example code for the articles_controller
:
class ArticlesController < ApplicationController
def index
@q = Article.search(params[:q], auth_object: set_ransack_auth_object)
@articles = @q.result
end
private
def set_ransack_auth_object
current_user.admin? ? :admin : nil
end
end
Trying it out in rails console
:
> Article
=> Article(id: integer, person_id: integer, title: string, body: text)
> Article.ransackable_attributes
=> ["title", "body"]
> Article.ransackable_attributes(:admin)
=> ["id", "person_id", "title", "body"]
> Article.search(id_eq: 1).result.to_sql
=> SELECT "articles".* FROM "articles" # Note that search param was ignored!
> Article.search({ id_eq: 1 }, { auth_object: nil }).result.to_sql
=> SELECT "articles".* FROM "articles" # Search param still ignored!
> Article.search({ id_eq: 1 }, { auth_object: :admin }).result.to_sql
=> SELECT "articles".* FROM "articles" WHERE "articles"."id" = 1
That's it! Now you know how to whitelist/blacklist various elements in Ransack.
Continuing on from the preceding section, searching by scopes requires defining
a whitelist of ransackable_scopes
on the model class. The whitelist should be
an array of symbols. By default, all class methods (e.g. scopes) are ignored.
Scopes will be applied for matching true
values, or for given values if the
scope accepts a value:
class Employee < ActiveRecord::Base
scope :active, ->(boolean = true) { where(active: boolean) }
scope :salary_gt, ->(amount) { where('salary > ?', amount) }
# Scopes are just syntactical sugar for class methods, which may also be used:
def self.hired_since(date)
where('start_date >= ?', date)
end
private
def self.ransackable_scopes(auth_object = nil)
if auth_object.try(:admin?)
# allow admin users access to all three methods
%i(active hired_since salary_gt)
else
# allow other users to search on active and hired_since only
%i(active hired_since)
end
end
end
Employee.search({ active: true, hired_since: '2013-01-01' })
Employee.search({ salary_gt: 100_000 }, { auth_object: current_user })
Scopes are a recent addition to Ransack and currently have a few caveats: First, a scope involving child associations needs to be defined in the parent table model, not in the child model. Second, scopes with an array as an argument are not easily usable yet, because the array currently needs to be wrapped in an array to function (see this issue), which is not compatible with Ransack form helpers. For this use case, it may be better for now to use [ransackers] (https://github.com/activerecord-hackery/ransack/wiki/Using-Ransackers) instead where feasible. Finally, there is also this issue to be aware of. Pull requests with solutions and tests are welcome!
The default AND
grouping can be changed to OR
by adding m: 'or'
to the
query hash.
You can easily try it in your controller code by changing params[:q]
in the
index
action to params[:q].try(:merge, m: 'or')
as follows:
def index
@q = Artist.search(params[:q].try(:merge, m: 'or'))
@artists = @q.result
end
Normally, if you wanted users to be able to toggle between AND
and OR
query grouping, you would probably set up your search form so that m
was in
the URL params hash, but here we assigned m
manually just to try it out
quickly.
Alternatively, trying it in the Rails console:
artists = Artist.search(name_cont: 'foo', style_cont: 'bar', m: 'or')
=> Ransack::Search<class: Artist, base: Grouping <conditions: [
Condition <attributes: ["name"], predicate: cont, values: ["foo"]>,
Condition <attributes: ["style"], predicate: cont, values: ["bar"]>
], combinator: or>>
artists.result.to_sql
=> "SELECT \"artists\".* FROM \"artists\"
WHERE ((\"artists\".\"name\" ILIKE '%foo%'
OR \"artists\".\"style\" ILIKE '%bar%'))"
The combinator becomes or
instead of the default and
, and the SQL query
becomes WHERE...OR
instead of WHERE...AND
.
This works with associations as well. Imagine an Artist model that has many Memberships, and many Musicians through Memberships:
artists = Artist.search(name_cont: 'foo', musicians_email_cont: 'bar', m: 'or')
=> Ransack::Search<class: Artist, base: Grouping <conditions: [
Condition <attributes: ["name"], predicate: cont, values: ["foo"]>,
Condition <attributes: ["musicians_email"], predicate: cont, values: ["bar"]>
], combinator: or>>
artists.result.to_sql
=> "SELECT \"artists\".* FROM \"artists\"
LEFT OUTER JOIN \"memberships\"
ON \"memberships\".\"artist_id\" = \"artists\".\"id\"
LEFT OUTER JOIN \"musicians\"
ON \"musicians\".\"id\" = \"memberships\".\"musician_id\"
WHERE ((\"artists\".\"name\" ILIKE '%foo%'
OR \"musicians\".\"email\" ILIKE '%bar%'))"
If you want to combine form builders of ransack and SimpleForm, just set the
RANSACK_FORM_BUILDER environment variable before Rails started, e.g. in
config/application.rb
before require 'rails/all'
and of course use
gem 'simple_form'
in your Gemfile
:
require File.expand_path('../boot', __FILE__)
ENV['RANSACK_FORM_BUILDER'] = '::SimpleForm::FormBuilder'
require 'rails/all'
Ransack translation files are available in Ransack::Locale. You may also be interested in one of the many translations for Ransack available at http://www.localeapp.com/projects/2999.
To support the project:
- Use Ransack in your apps, and let us know if you encounter anything that's broken or missing. A failing spec is awesome. A pull request with tests that pass is even better! Before filing an issue or pull request, be sure to read the Contributing Guide.
- Spread the word on Twitter, Facebook, and elsewhere if Ransack's been useful to you. The more people who are using the project, the quicker we can find and fix bugs!
Copyright © 2011-2014 Ernie Miller