One-to-One Relationships

Mix.install([
  {:jason, "~> 1.4"},
  {:kino, "~> 0.9", override: true},
  {:youtube, github: "brooklinjazz/youtube"},
  {:hidden_cell, github: "brooklinjazz/hidden_cell"}
])

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Review Questions

Upon completing this lesson, a student should be able to answer the following questions.

• Why might you use a one-to-one relationship instead of adding an additional field in a table?
• How do you add an associated data structure to the form for a resource?

Overview

This is a companion reading for the Blog: Cover Image exercise. This lesson is an overview of how to work with one-to-one associations in a Phoenix application. See the example_projects/blog project folder to contextualize the examples found throughout this lesson.

One-to-one Relationships

A one-to-one relationship is a relationship between two database tables where a single record in one table is related to a single record in the other table.

Here some of the reasons we might choose to use a one-to-one relationship instead of simply storing the data in an additional field in the same table.

• Performance: A one-to-one relationship can improve database performance by storing rarely used or expensive to retrieve data in a separate table.
• Domain Design: It may make semantic sense to separate data, like a PhoneNumber with separate fields, into its own table. Creating an association can also ensure consistency between tables using a common resource.
• Flexibility: A one-to-one relationship allows for flexibility in changing the structure of related data without affecting the rest of the database. For example, storing user Profile data in a separate table allows you to add or remove profile fields without changing the structure of the main User table.

One-to-one relationships may add complexity to your database schema and may not always be the best choice, so consider trade-offs and choose the best design for your specific needs.

We use the terms belongs to and has one to describe the nature of a one-to-one relationship. Typically one resource will own another. For example a blog Post might have one CoverImage, and the CoverImage belongs to the Post.

In this case, the resource that belongs_to some resource stores the foreign key to the resource.

erDiagram

Post {
    string title
    string subtitle
    text content
}

CoverImage {
    string url
    id post_id
}

Post ||--O| CoverImage: "has one/belongs to"

Migration

One-to-one relationships use a foreign key to associate one resource with another. The resource that belongs_to the parent resource in the relationship stores the foreign key.

Here’s an example of a migration that creates acover_images with a post_id foreign key.

defmodule Blog.Repo.Migrations.CreateCoverImages do
  use Ecto.Migration

  def change do
    create table(:cover_images) do
      add :url, :text
      add :post_id, references(:posts, on_delete: :delete_all), null: false

      timestamps()
    end

    create index(:cover_images, [:post_id])
  end
end

Schema

The Schema defines the direction of the one-to-one relationship using has_one/3 and belongs_to/3.

The record that stores the foreign key should belongs_to/3 to the associated parent record.

Here’s an example of a Post schema that has_one/3 CoverImage record.

has_one :cover_image, Blog.Posts.CoverImage, on_replace: :update

We set the on_replace: :update above to update the associated cover_image rather than :raise an error (the default behavior) or :delete and recreate the cover image.

See the on_replace option for a deeper explanation.

Here’s an example of a CoverImage schema that belongs_to/3 a Post record.

belongs_to :post, Blog.Posts.Post

Context: Replacing Associations

When updating an association, we need to set the on_replace behavior. In a one-to-one relationship, we might consider using the :update behavior to simply update the associated record rather than deleting it and creating a new one. This necessitates preloading the association before updating it.

Here’s an example of preloading the association in the context.

def update_post(%Post{} = post, attrs, tags \\ []) do
  post
  |> Repo.preload(:cover_image)
  |> Post.changeset(attrs, tags)
  |> Repo.update()
end

Form Data

When creating associated data at the same time as creating the parent data, we can use inputs_for/1 to embed the associated data in the same form.

<.inputs_for :let={cover_image} field={f[:cover_image]}>
  <.input type="text" field={cover_image[:url]} label="Cover Image URL" />

Here’s an example form using a cover image field in a post form.

<.simple_form :let={f} for={@changeset} action={@action}>
  <.error :if={@changeset.action}>
    Oops, something went wrong! Please check the errors below.
  
  <.input field={f[:user_id]} type="hidden" value={@current_user.id} />
  <.input field={f[:title]} type="text" label="Title" />
  <.input field={f[:content]} type="text" label="Content" />
  <.inputs_for :let={cover_image} field={f[:cover_image]}>
    <.input type="text" field={cover_image[:url]} label="Cover Image URL" />
  
  <.input field={f[:published_on]} type="datetime-local" label="Publish On" value={DateTime.utc_now()} />
  <.input field={f[:visible]} type="checkbox" label="Visible" />
  <.input field={f[:tag_ids]} type="select" label="Tags" multiple={true} options={@tag_options} />

  <:actions>
    <.button>Save Post
  

Submitting the form will send the associated data inside of a nested map.

%{
  "content" => "some content",
  # nested cover image data
  "cover_image" => %{"url" => "https://www.example.com/image.png"},
  "published_on" => "2023-05-23T19:36",
  "title" => "some title",
  "user_id" => "1",
  "visible" => "true"
}

Cast Associated Data

When creating both the parent and child record at the same time, we can use the cast_assoc/3 to cast the associated data (typically from a form) into the structure the Repo needs to insert the associated record into the database.

Here’s an example changeset in a Post schema that casts the associated cover image data.

@doc false
def changeset(post, attrs, tags \\ []) do
  post
  |> cast(attrs, [:title, :content, :visible, :published_on, :user_id])
  |> cast_assoc(:cover_image)
  |> validate_required([:title, :content, :visible, :user_id])
  |> unique_constraint(:title)
  |> foreign_key_constraint(:user_id)
  |> put_assoc(:tags, tags)
end

Context Tests

Generally a context should (at minimum) test the create, update, and delete behavior of a resource.

Create

Here’s an example context test for creating a post with an associated cover image.

test "create_post/1 with image" do
  valid_attrs = %{
    content: "some content",
    title: "some title",
    cover_image: %{
      url: "https://www.example.com/image.png"
    },
    visible: true,
    published_on: DateTime.utc_now(),
    user_id: user_fixture().id
  }

  assert {:ok, %Post{} = post} = Posts.create_post(valid_attrs)
  assert %CoverImage{url: "https://www.example.com/image.png"} = Repo.preload(post, :cover_image).cover_image
end

Update

Here’s an example context tests for updating a post image. It’s important to test the replacement behavior of associated data to ensure it behaves as expected. For example, the following test above would fail unless you’ve set the on_replace behavior of the association in the schema.

Here’s a test for creating a new image when updating. This ensures the :cover_image data is preloaded as seen in Context: Replacing Associations.

test "update_post/1 add an image" do
  user = user_fixture()
  post = post_fixture(user_id: user.id)

  assert {:ok, %Post{} = post} = Posts.update_post(post, %{cover_image: %{url: "https://www.example.com/image2.png"}})
  assert post.cover_image.url == "https://www.example.com/image2.png"
end

Here’s a test that updates an existing image.

test "update_post/1 update existing image" do
  user = user_fixture()
  post = post_fixture(user_id: user.id, cover_image: %{url: "https://www.example.com/image.png"})

  assert {:ok, %Post{} = post} = Posts.update_post(post, %{cover_image: %{url: "https://www.example.com/image2.png"}})
  assert post.cover_image.url == "https://www.example.com/image2.png"
end

Delete

Here’s an example test for deleting a post with a cover image. Since there’s likely no context functions for working with cover images directly, we’ve used Repo to test the cover image.

test "delete_post/1 deletes post and cover image" do
  user = user_fixture()
  post = post_fixture(user_id: user.id, cover_image: %{url: "https://www.example.com/image.png"})
  assert {:ok, %Post{}} = Posts.delete_post(post)
  assert_raise Ecto.NoResultsError, fn -> Posts.get_post!(post.id) end
  assert_raise Ecto.NoResultsError, fn -> Repo.get!(CoverImage, post.cover_image.id) end
end

Controller Tests

Here’s an example test of testing a one-to-one relationship in a controller. This example creates a post with a cover image, and tests that the post’s cover image is found on the post show page.

test "create post with cover image", %{conn: conn} do
  user = user_fixture()
  conn = log_in_user(conn, user)

  create_attrs = %{
    content: "some content",
    title: "some title",
    visible: true,
    published_on: DateTime.utc_now(),
    user_id: user.id,
    cover_image: %{
      url: "https://www.example.com/image.png"
    }
  }

  conn = post(conn, ~p"/posts", post: create_attrs)

  assert %{id: id} = redirected_params(conn)
  assert redirected_to(conn) == ~p"/posts/#{id}"

  conn = get(conn, ~p"/posts/#{id}")
  post = Posts.get_post!(id) 
  # post was created with cover image
  assert %CoverImage{url: "https://www.example.com/image.png"} = post.cover_image
  # post cover image is displayed on show page
  assert html_response(conn, 200) =~ "https://www.example.com/image.png"
end

Further Reading

Consider the following resource(s) to deepen your understanding of the topic.

• Ecto: One-to-one relationshipos
• Pragmatic Bookshelf: Programming Ecto
• Elixir Schools: Associations

Commit Your Progress

DockYard Academy now recommends you use the latest Release rather than forking or cloning our repository.

Run git status to ensure there are no undesirable changes. Then run the following in your command line from the curriculum folder to commit your progress.

$ git add .
$ git commit -m "finish One-to-One Relationships reading"
$ git push

We’re proud to offer our open-source curriculum free of charge for anyone to learn from at their own pace.

We also offer a paid course where you can learn from an instructor alongside a cohort of your peers. We will accept applications for the June-August 2023 cohort soon.

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Home Report An Issue Blog: TagsBlog: Cover Image