LSylvester

LSylvester

I have a query I want to run on a user object. I’m using Select to reduce the throughput from the database. Each user has a many to many relationship with departments. What I want to do is return a list of the department id’s in the select. So far, I have this:

context
  |> join(:left, [u], ud in assoc(u, :user_departments))
  |> select([u, ud], %{
    id: u.id,
    name: u.name,
    email: u.email,
    ...
    departments: ud.department_id
  })

There are a lot more items called in my actual query. Obviously, the above fails because it returns only one id and errors if more than one are returned.

I’ve tried group_by, but unsuccessfully. Has anyone got a good example of this? I can’t find any Googling.

Thanks

Showing Posts 1 to 5

idi527

idi527

Can you post the errors?

I think you can either use a preload in the query which will still be a join but it will collect the returned rows into some parent struct (user in your case, it seems), or use a Repo.preload which would avoid a join but rather make a second request.

How to Query a User with has_many Post in Ecto might be relevant.

LSylvester

LSylvester OP

I get a “field departments in select does not exist in schema” or “field user_departments in select does not exist in schema”, even though the User schema has a has_many association to user_departments and a many_to_many association to departments.

schema "users" do
  field :name,  :string
  ...
  has_many :user_departments, UserDepartment
  many_to_many :departments, Department, join_through: UserDepartment
LSylvester

LSylvester OP

Okay, so I guess the answer is I can’t streamline it with a select, but instead I have to return the whole schema and relationships. That’s disappointing, but at least I can associate it with its SQL counterpart, now.

Many thanks @idi527, for your help.

idi527

idi527

I think you can write an ecto query that won’t require you to return unnecessary data …

MrSidecar

MrSidecar

Yes, you can streamline the fields of the association.

try something along these lines (assuming a User and a many_to_many relation to departments):

departments_query = from d in Department, select: d.id

from u In User, 
preload: [departments: ^departments_query]

— All posts loaded —

Where Next? Top

Trending in Questions Top

katta
I having some trouble figuring out if I have set myself too strict of standards for my production server. Currently I can handle 75% of r...
New
achenet
Hello, I’m trying to build a basic Phoenix web-app, and I’d like to use Tailwind. However, when I launch mix phx.server, I get an error...
New
peck
Hi everyone. My team and I have been working on a fairly modest app based around video streaming and chat, but we’ve landed a customer t...
New
bradley
I really like the adapter patterns that ecto, nebulex, waffle, etc. use and would love find something similar for a key management servic...
New
unaware8150
Hello folks! So at work, we are seeing some situations where we have to define some “fixed” strings that are used across the codebase in...
New
Cxx-mlr
I’m working on a small exercise involving update_in/3, and I came up with this solution: data = %{ name: "Periodic Table", category:...
New
Alvinkariuki
How Can I Optimise Compile Time Dependencies I have been building an elixir application for about 2 years now. Many modules and files ha...
New

Other Trending Topics Top

GenericJam
Edit: 2026 May 15 - This post is archived. Mob is alive!! Main docs: mob v0.7.11 — Documentation A bit of explanation for the slightly c...
New
garrison
Hobbes is a low-level distributed database for the Elixir programming language. Hobbes provides a simple, safe, and scalable storage lay...
New
budgie
A little off-topic, but I feel like people here have a good head on their shoulders. I used to be quite good at making software. Was luc...
New
KristerV
Hey. Is there anyone here who creates agents in their apps? Not talking about using agents, but creating them. I’m finding it pretty diff...
New
mudasobwa
I fully migrated to my own harness from Anthropic/Gemini and I think it’s time to share it. Welcome DSH, the DeepSeek Harness, fully writ...
New
mcass19
ExRatatui lets you cook up rich terminal UIs in Elixir, powered by Rust’s ratatui via Rustler NIFs. Build interactive terminal applicatio...
New

We're in Beta

About us Mission Statement

Options

Thread Display Mode




Thread Preview

Skip Thread Previews