Most common feature in any social media platform for engagement is the users follow each other. so in this blog i share step by step how to develop follow unfollow feature in rails app.

first create rails app using command rails new app_name. 

after creating app add device gem in your app refer this click here

Now, you need to create follow unfollow model  run below command

rails g resource follows follower_id:integer followee_id:integer

class Follow < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :follower, class_name: 'User'
belongs_to :followee, class_name: 'User'
validates :follower_id, uniqueness: { scope: :followee_id }
validates :followee_id, uniqueness: { scope: :follower_id }
end

Add below code in user.rb

class User < ApplicationRecord
  devise :database_authenticatable, :registerable,
  :recoverable, :rememberable, :validatable
  has_many :followed_users, foreign_key: :follower_id, class_name: 'Follow'
  has_many :followees, through: :followed_users
  has_many :following_users, foreign_key: :followee_id, class_name: 'Follow'
  has_many :followers, through: :following_users
  validates :user_name, uniqueness: { case_sensitive: true }
  validates :user_name, presence: true
  validates :name, presence: true
  validates :location, presence: true
  validates :bio, presence: true
end

Add below code in user_controller.rb

class UsersController < ApplicationController

before_action :set_user,only: [:show, :edit, :destroy, :update]

def index

@users = User.all

end 

def show

end

def follow

@user = User.find(params[:id])

current_user.followees << @user

redirect_back(fallback_location: user_path(@user))

end

def unfollow

@user = User.find(params[:id])

current_user.followed_users.find_by(followee_id: @user.id).destroy

redirect_back(fallback_location: user_path(@user))

end

def set_user

@user = User.find(params[:id])

end

end

Add routes in routes.rb

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  root 'users#index'
  resources :follows
  devise_for :users
  resources :users
  post '/users/:id/follow', to: "users#follow", as: "follow_user"
  post '/users/:id/unfollow', to: "users#unfollow", as: "unfollow_user"
end

Add in you Design page

<% @users.each do |user| %>

<div>

<h1><%=link_to user.email ,user %></h1>

<% if current_user.present? %>

<section id="all-links">

<% if current_user.present? %>

<% if current_user == user %>

<% elsif current_user.followees.include?(user) %>

<h5><%= button_to "UnFollow",     

unfollow_user_path(user.id), method: "POST", class:"btn btn-primary" %></h5>

<% else %>

<h5><%= button_to "Follow", follow_user_path(user.id), 

method: "POST", class:"btn btn-primary"  %></h5>

<% end %>

<% end %>

<br>

</section>

<% end %>

</div>

<% end %>

asad_fazlani

Technical Blogger at shadbox