How do I resolve an invalid statement when deleting a record that is associated using has_and_belongs_to association?

Question

I have a join table, which I didn't name using traditional Rails conventions. It joins Participant and Group models (associated using has_and_belongs_to) and would normally be named groups_participants.

I have tried to destroy a record in the Group model, and received an invalid statement error, "Could not find table 'groups_participants'"

My join table is not named groups_participants, but rather named "matchups"

Is this the problem? Do I need to change my join table name? From reading several articles, having an alias for your join table is acceptable.

This is my join table from schema.rb

     create_table "matchups", id: false, force: :cascade do |t|
t.integer "group_id",       null: false
t.integer "participant_id", null: false
t.index ["group_id", "participant_id"], name: "index_matchups_on_group_id_and_participant_id"
t.index ["participant_id", "group_id"], name: "index_matchups_on_participant_id_and_group_id"
   end

This is the code highlighted in my error page:

    def table_structure(table_name)
      structure = exec_query("PRAGMA table_info(#{quote_table_name(table_name)})", 'SCHEMA')
      raise(ActiveRecord::StatementInvalid, "Could not find table '#{table_name}'") if structure.empty?
      table_structure_with_collation(table_name, structure)
    end

Trying to delete a record existing in my Group model, prevented from doing so with unable to find 'groups_participants' as a reason.

Answer 1

Since your join table doesn't follow the Rails naming convention, make sure to tell Rails what the correct name is by specifying the join_table option on the has_and_belongs_to_many association:

has_and_belongs_to_many :participants, join_table: :matchups