Devise Set-Up

Action_Steps_Controller.rb

class ActionStepsController < ApplicationController
  
  def create
    @project = current_user.projects.find(params[:project_id])   # project.rb has a belongs_to :user and user_id column
    @sub_project = @project.sub_projects.find(params[:sub_project_id]) 
    @action = @sub_project.action_steps.build(params[:action_step])
    if @action.save
      redirect_to [current_user, @project, @sub_project]
    else
      render "sub_projects/show"
    end
  end
  
  def destroy
    @project = current_user.projects.find(params[:project_id])
    @sub_project = @project.sub_projects.find(params[:sub_project_id])
    @action = @sub_project.action_steps.find(params[:id])
    @action.destroy
    redirect_to [current_user, @project, @sub_project]
  end
  
end

models -- exluded attr_accessible's

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :days
  has_many :projects
end

class Day < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :user
  has_many :status_updates, :dependent => :destroy
  has_one :behavior, :dependent => :destroy
end

class Behavior < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :day
end

class StatusUpdate < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :day
  attr_accessible :energy, :mood, :status
end

class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :user
  has_many :sub_projects, :dependent => :destroy
end


class SubProject < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :project
  has_many :action_steps
end

class ActionStep < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :sub_project
end

models -- exluded attr_accessibles

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :days
  has_many :projects
end

class Day < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :user
  has_many :status_updates, :dependent => :destroy
  has_one :behavior, :dependent => :destroy
end

class Behavior < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :day
end

class StatusUpdate < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :day
  attr_accessible :energy, :mood, :status
end

class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :user
  has_many :sub_projects, :dependent => :destroy
end


class SubProject < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :project
  has_many :action_steps
end

class ActionStep < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :sub_project
end

Questions

So basically for each of my resources, I want them to be associated with their own user,
so they can only be CRUD-ed by that user.

I keep thinking that I have to write my routes like this, including the :users at the top:

resources :users do 
  resources :projects do
    resources :sub_projects do 
      resources :action_steps
    end
  end
end

which produces way long routes like:
/users/:user_id/projects/:project_id/sub_projects/:sub_project_id/action_steps(.:format)

But that is not really necessary to make the association...
because in my controller is where I set up the association.
Correct?

   
The current_user will associate that resource with it automatically, as long as I have a 
foreign key on the nested resource right?

  def create
    @project = current_user.projects.find(params[:project_id]) # project.rb has belongs_to :user and user_id column
    @sub_project = @project.sub_projects.find(params[:sub_project_id]) # sub_project.rb does not have user_id column
    @action = @sub_project.action_steps.build(params[:action_step]) # action_step.rb doesn't either
    if @action.save
      redirect_to [current_user, @project, @sub_project]
    else
      render "sub_projects/show"
    end
  end

The interesting thing is that in my sub_project.rb and action_step.rb models I don't associate them 
to the user with a belongs_to :user method, but yet they still are associated with that current user 
because of the association on the @project line.  So when I show them all with an index or show action, 
I still only get the sub_projects and action_steps that belong to that user.  

So the relationship set here:
@project = current_user.projects.find(params[:project_id])

falls through to the other associations here:
@sub_project = @project.sub_projects.find(params[:sub_project_id])
@action = @sub_project.action_steps.build(params[:action_step])

Even without a user_id column on either of these two tables?

It's feels like I should a foreign key column to them to make it correct? Right?
If I wanted to get all the action steps associated to user 3, then I would have to associate action_steps to users
in order to write code like this:

@actions = current_user.action_steps

I hope this makes some sense?  

As I was writing this, I realized/remembered that the routes is just for URL's and 
the helper methods, not so much for associating the user to projects.  current_user does this "behind the scenes"
without it showing up in the URL.

routes1.rb --the routes im using now

LifeUlator::Application.routes.draw do

  devise_for :users
  
  resources :users do
    resources :days do
      resources :status_updates
      resources :behaviors
    end
    
    resources :projects do
      resources :sub_projects do 
        resources :action_steps
      end
    end
  end

  root :to => "days#index"

end

routes2.rb -- the better way

It's "recommended" to write nested resources like this instead, right?

devise_for :users

resources :users

resources :days do
  resources :behavior
  resources :status_updates
end

resources :projects do
  resources :sub_projects
end

resources :sub_projects do
  resources :action_steps
end

routes2.rb -- the better way?

It's "recommended" to write nested resources like this instead, right?

devise_for :users

resources :users

resources :days do
  resources :behavior
  resources :status_updates
end

resources :projects do
  resources :sub_projects
end

resources :sub_projects do
  resources :action_steps
end