Thanks David. That's almost exactly what I did. However, I used username_down instead of _key. Don't know why you needed to know that, but... you're welcome.
Anyway, after looking into this even more, I found that some databases are case insensitive by default. So instead of this being a rails "problem," I think it's more of a database issue since some databases will find the correct result no matter the casing. I think it all depends on which database you use (postgresql, mysql, etc) and how they're encoded. Either way, if the database is case Insensitive, well I at least now know the fix. Thanks again David. On Feb 23, 3:44 pm, David Cuddeback <[email protected]> wrote: > GoodGets, > > The way I solved this in my app was to have two columns for the > username. One is called "username," which stores the username the way > the user wants it to be displayed (with capitalization), and one > called "username_key," which is the username converted to lowercase. > In my User model, I have this method: > > def username=(value) > write_attribute :username, value > write_attribute :username_key, (value ? value.downcase : nil) > end > > With a unique index on "username_key," I'm sure that the database will > enforce unique usernames without case sensitivity and I can preserve > the capitalization that the user prefers. I use > User.find_by_username_key(username.downcase) to find users. > > -David > > > > On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 7:30 PM, GoodGets <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Yep, but you can't have it both ways. If you have users JoeBob and > >> JOEbob and the browser requests "JoEbOb", which record do you return? > >> You have to pick one and half the time you'll pick wrong. > > >> What you could do is require uniqueness on username's regardless of > >> caps, but let them use caps to make username's easier to read... then > >> you wouldn't have the conflict. > > > That's what I was doing > > validates_uniqueness_of :username, :case_sensitive => false > > which prevents JoeBob and JOEbob from signing up. And that might be > > the way it has to stay, > > > But, this got me thinking: > > User.find_by_username(params[:user].downcase) > > This will find the correct person in the db and return no errors, no > > matter how many capitalizations someone uses in the URL. But this > > only works if the original user signed up with no capitalizations in > > his/her name. > > > So, if the user signed up as joebob, then JOEbob, JoEbOb, or any other > > variation will return the correct result, AND it will leave the URL > > just as the user entered it, caps and all. > > > But, this doesn't work if the user originally signed up with caps in > > his name. So, what if I were to create an index in the table for the > > usernames and pass in the option downcase. I think it would work > > perfectly then, but I'm not sure if this can be done? > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected]. > > For more options, visit this group > > athttp://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en.
