activerecord-summarize VS ransack

This is cool! Re: multiple aggregates in one query, I wrote a Ruby gem that adds an even-more-powerful and multi-database-compatible version to ActiveRecord. (I have tested Postgres, MySQL, and SQLite are tested; others probably work, too.)

https://github.com/midnightmonster/activerecord-summarize

I made activerecord-summarize because this sort of reporting is something I end up needing over and over. From a reading, writing, and maintenance perspective, I like the way you just use normal ActiveRecord methods, and the shape of the data in the block is the shape of the data in the output. You can mostly write each part of the query as if it were the only thing you were querying.

If you need to perform multiple counts and/or sums on the same table, perhaps with different groupings and filters applied, activerecord-summarize can do many aggregate operations in one pass.

You might be looking for something like Ransack - https://github.com/activerecord-hackery/ransack

I use ransack for this and find it very powerful and flexible without the need to rely on complex JS.

For especially complicated cases, you can consider learning how to create custom predicates and Ransackers - extensions that convert parameters directly into Arel (internal library ActiveRecord, used to build SQL queries).

You can use gems like Ransack to build search forms much faster, but for the purpose of learning and performance we will be building this feature ourselves. Throughout the process, you will also learn how to customize Rails default pluralization. By the end, we will be able to search for Pokemon by name, type, and region.