Ransack search in rails

Brief

Searching any item within the application is a very common requirement. Almost all the applications require the functionality to search different items.

Different options

Ransack search, Solr search, Mysql search, elastic search and etc.

Why use Ransack

Its very simple and efficient to implement for searching in ROR.

Implementation

• Add gem in Gemfile

 gem 'ransack'

• Add a new route

  get '/department/:department_id/items_list', to: 'departments#items_list', as: 'search_items' 

• Add corresponding controller action

  def items_list
    @items = @q = @department.items.ransack(params[:q]).results
  end 

• Add search form in items_list.html.erb

   <%= search_form_for(@q, url: search_items_path(@department), method: :get) do |f| %>
      <%= f.search_field :name_or_location_cont %>
      <%= f.submit %>
   <% end %>

Description

:name_or_location_cont is the key factor here. It specifies that item is contained in (name or location) attributes in item model.

Options

1. :name_or_location_cont - item is contained in (name or location)
2. users_name_start - associated model user’s name starts with search item.
3. <%= link_to ‘My items’, search_items_path(@department, q: {user_id_eq: 1}) %> will also work.