how to make ID a random 8 digit alphanumeric in rails?

Question

This is something I am using inside my model

This is the URL that gets posted to another 3rd party website through API

Post Model (post.rb)

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Answer 1

You only need to add one attribute to post. The attribute name is permalink.

Try running:

rails g migration add_permalink_to_posts permalink:string
rake db:migrate

You have twoActive Record Callbacks you can choose from: before_save or before_create (review the difference between both). This example is using the before_save callback.

note : for Rails 3.x

class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
  attr_accessible :content, :permalink
  before_save :make_it_permalink

 def make_it_permalink
   # this can create a permalink using a random 8-digit alphanumeric
   self.permalink = SecureRandom.urlsafe_base64(8)
 end

end

urlsafe_base64

And in your routes.rb file:

match "/post/:permalink" => 'posts#show', :as => "show_post"

In posts_controller.rb:

def index
 @posts = Post.all
end

def show
  @post = Post.find_by_permalink(params[:permalink])
end

Finally, here are the views (index.html.erb):

<% @posts.each do |post| %>
<p><%= truncate(post.content, :length => 300).html_safe %>
   <br/><br/>
   <%= link_to "Read More...", show_post_path(post.permalink) %></p>
<% end %>

Answer 2

"Altering the primary key in Rails to be a string" is related to your question.

I would:

• Leave default ID on table
• Not define resources routes, writing the needed ones with match (like match '/post/:code')
• On controller#show, use Post.find_by_code(params[:code]).