class App < ActiveRecord::Base

def find_or_create_by_name(name)
App.find(:first, :conditions => [‘name = ?’, name]) ||
App.create(:name => name)
end

end

“App.find_or_create_by_name(name)�,

use

“App.find(:first, :conditions => [‘name = ?’, name]) || App.create(:name => name)

Why not defining the methods you use the most in your models?? That why you can still use them in controllers, retaininig readability and also do it effciiently:

class App [‘name = ?’, name]) ||
App.create(:name => name
end

end

That would not call method_missing anymore!

When you have a collection of records that you want iterate over for some reason or another, dont use the methods, use the attributes hash.

Example:
Let’s say that you have collection of models and you want to get the IDs of those models into an array.
Usually, you have a couple of choices:
1. Pure SQL: basically add a :select option to your finder to only select the IDs, this is ok if all you need are the IDs, but what if you need the IDs in one place (for some sort of checking or other logic) and youalso needed the rest of the information?

2. Quick ruby mappage: All of us have seen this beautifully simple code at least once:
@objects.map {|e| e.id}
Unfortnuately, this code creates a SQL call for every model, very expensive.

3. Almost quick ruby mappage:
Almost as beautiful and way faster:
@objects.map {|e| e.attributes["id"]}

peace

jake