rails 3 meta_search usage

Question

I am in the process of upgrading my app from Rails2 to Rails3.
My Rails2 app uses searchlogic heavily.
After googling i've come to know that searchlogic is not compatible with Rails3 and need to use meta_search instead.

But i havent quite understood the usage of meta_search vis-a-vis searchlogic.

If i have a User model with :name and :address fields, i am not able to use the following methods with meta_search. What am i doing wrong?

ruby-1.9.2-p0 > User.name_null  
NoMethodError: undefined method `name_null' for #<Class:0x000000038d5ce0>
from /home/pratik/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p0/gems/activerecord-3.0.3/lib/active_record/base.rb:1008:in `method_missing'
from (irb):7
from /home/pratik/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p0/gems/railties-3.0.3/lib/rails/commands/console.rb:44:in `start'  
from /home/pratik/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p0/gems/railties-3.0.3/lib/rails/commands/console.rb:8:in `start'
from /home/pratik/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p0/gems/railties-3.0.3/lib/rails/commands.rb:23:in `<top (required)>'
from script/rails:6:in `require'
from script/rails:6:in `<main>'

None of the methods like User.user_id_eq(1) or User.name_equals("Blah") are working. I guess i havent understood the usage of meta_search yet!

Ref:
meta_search https://github.com/ernie/meta_search

Answer 1

The methods are attributes to be set in a FormBuilder. As such, you'll want to call user_name_equals = "Bob", not user_name_equals("Bob"). Also, they'll be on a search instance, not the model itself.

@search = User.search(:user_name_eq => "Bob")

If you're looking for something to use in day to day query construction, try MetaWhere instead. http://metautonomo.us/projects/metawhere

Answer 2

Keep an eye on rd_searchlogic, which looks to be compatible with Rails 3, though still a preview as of this writing.

EDIT

As described in this SO thread, install via:

  gem 'rd_searchlogic', :require => 'searchlogic', :git => 'git://github.com/railsdog/searchlogic.git'