# Dynamic attribute-based finders are a cleaner way of getting (and/or creating) objects by simple queries without turning to SQL. They work by
# appending the name of an attribute to <tt>find_by_</tt>, <tt>find_last_by_</tt>, or <tt>find_all_by_</tt>, so you get finders like <tt>Person.find_by_user_name</tt>,
# <tt>Person.find_all_by_last_name</tt>, and <tt>Payment.find_by_transaction_id</tt>. So instead of writing
# <tt>Person.find(:first, :conditions => ["user_name = ?", user_name])</tt>, you just do <tt>Person.find_by_user_name(user_name)</tt>.
# And instead of writing <tt>Person.find(:all, :conditions => ["last_name = ?", last_name])</tt>, you just do <tt>Person.find_all_by_last_name(last_name)</tt>.
# <tt>Person.where(:user_name => user_name).first</tt>, you just do <tt>Person.find_by_user_name(user_name)</tt>.
# And instead of writing <tt>Person.where(:last_name => last_name).all</tt>, you just do <tt>Person.find_all_by_last_name(last_name)</tt>.
#
# It's also possible to use multiple attributes in the same find by separating them with "_and_", so you get finders like
# <tt>Person.find_by_user_name_and_password</tt> or even <tt>Payment.find_by_purchaser_and_state_and_country</tt>. So instead of writing
# <tt>Person.find(:first, :conditions => ["user_name = ? AND password = ?", user_name, password])</tt>, you just do
# <tt>Person.where(:user_name => user_name, :password => password).first</tt>, you just do
# The same dynamic finder style can be used to create the object if it doesn't already exist. This dynamic finder is called with
# <tt>find_or_create_by_</tt> and will return the object if it already exists and otherwise creates it, then returns it. Protected attributes won't be set unless they are given in a block. For example:
...
...
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ module ActiveRecord #:nodoc:
# class PriorityClient < Client; end
#
# When you do <tt>Firm.create(:name => "37signals")</tt>, this record will be saved in the companies table with type = "Firm". You can then
# fetch this row again using <tt>Company.find(:first, "name = '37signals'")</tt> and it will return a Firm object.
# fetch this row again using <tt>Company.where(:name => '37signals').first</tt> and it will return a Firm object.
#
# If you don't have a type column defined in your table, single-table inheritance won't be triggered. In that case, it'll work just
# like normal subclasses with no special magic for differentiating between them or reloading the right type with find.