Rails show different object every day - sql

Question

I want to match my user to a different user in his/her community every day. Currently, I use code like this:
#matched_user = User.near(#user).order("RANDOM()").first
But I want to have a different #matched_user on a daily basis. I haven't been able to find anything in Stack or in the APIs that has given me insight on how to do it. I feel it should be simpler than having to resort to a rake task with cron. (I'm on postgres.)

Answer 1

Whenever I find myself hankering for shared 'memory' or transient state, I think to myself "this is what (distributed) caches were invented for".
#matched_user = Rails.cache.fetch(#user.cache_key + '/daily_match', expires_in: 1.day) {
User.near(#user).order("RANDOM()").first
}
NOTE: While specifying a TTL for cache entry tells Rails/the cache system to try and keep that value for the given timeframe, there's NO guarantee that it will. In particular, a cache that aggressively tries to reclaim memory may expire an entry well before its desired expires_in time.
For this particular use case, it shouldn't be a big deal but in cases where the business/domain logic demands periodically generated values that are durable then you really have to factor that into your database.

Answer 2

How about using PostgreSQL's SETSEED function? I used the date to seed so that every day the seed will change, but within a day, the seed will be consistent.:
User.connection.execute "SELECT SETSEED(#{Date.today.strftime("%y%d%m").to_i/1000000.0})"
#matched_user = User.near(#user).order("RANDOM()").first
You may want to seed a random value after using this so that any future calls to random aren't biased:
random = User.connection.execute("SELECT RANDOM()").to_a.first["random"]
# Same code as above:
User.connection.execute "SELECT SETSEED(#{Date.today.strftime("%y%d%m").to_i/1000000.0})"
#matched_user = User.near(#user).order("RANDOM()").first
# Use random value before seed to make new seed:
User.connection.execute "SELECT SETSEED(#{random})"

Answer 3

I have split these steps in different sections just for readability. you can optimise query later.
1) Find all user records till today morning. so that the count will freeze.
usrs_till_today_morning = User.where("created_at <?", DateTime.now.in_time_zone(Time.zone).beginning_of_day)
2) Pluck all ID's
user_ids = usr_till_today_morning.pluck(:id)
3) Today date it will be a range (1..30) but will remain constant throughout the day.
day_today = Time.now.day
4) Select the same ID for the day
todays_user_id = user_ids[day_today % user_ids.count]
#matched_user = User.find(todays_user_id)
So it will give you random user records by maintaining same record throughout the day!!