default_scope and associations

Question

Suppose I have a Post model, and a Comment model. Using a common pattern, Post has_many Comments.

If Comment has a default_scope set:

default_scope w         


        

Answer 1

This is indeed a very frustrating problem which violates the principle of least surprise.

For now, you can just write:

Comment.unscoped.where(post_id: Post.first)

This is the most elegant/simple solution IMO.

Or:

Post.first.comments.scoped.tap { |rel| rel.default_scoped = false }

The advantage of the latter:

class Comment < ActiveRecord::Base
  # ...

  def self.with_deleted
    scoped.tap { |rel| rel.default_scoped = false }
  end
end

Then you can make fun things:

Post.first.comments.with_deleted.order('created_at DESC')

Since Rails 4, Model.all returns an ActiveRecord::Relation , rather than an array of records. So you can (and should) use all instead of scoped:

Post.first.comments.all.tap { |rel| rel.default_scoped = false }