Rails - how do I validate existence of a row referenced by foreign key

Question

Given that the \"Rails Way\" seems to be not to use foreign key constraints, I\'m looking for an alternative that will allow me to validate that the row a foreign key references

Answer 1

There is a plugin that helps you with this for belongs_to associations: Validates existence of. But, maybe you can add your own validation? What about something like this:

# Assuming your foreign key is user_id (which references the table User)
validate :user_id_exists

def user_id_exists
  return false if User.find_by_id(self.user_id).nil?
end