Bind Parameters To ActiveRecord SQL Query

Many of the connection query methods that come with ActiveRecord accept an optional binds parameter. This can be used to safely inject parameters into the query.

Here's a SQL query we could use with one of these methods:

sql = <<-SQL
  select
    coalesce(places.latitude, 41.8781) latitude,
    coalesce(places.longitude, -87.6298) longitude
  from places
  join appointments
    on places.id = apointments.places_id
  where appointments.id = $1
    and status = $2
SQL

Notice the $1 and $2, those are what will be bound to the two parameters included as binds.

connection = ActiveRecord::Base.connection

binds = [[nil, appt_id], [nil, input_status]]
coords = connection.select_one(sql, nil, binds)

coords
#=> { "latitude": 41.8781, "longitude": -87.6298 }

Notice the binds is an array of tuples. It's the second value in each tuple that gets bound the corresponding binding indicator in the sql. The syntax is a bit awkward since it is a lower-level API, however once you know it, you can manage.