Rails idiom to avoid duplicates in has_many :through

Use Array's |= Join Method.

You can use Array's |= join method to add an element to the Array, unless it is already present. Just make sure you wrap the element in an Array.

role                  #=> #<Role id: 1, name: "1">

user.roles            #=> []

user.roles |= [role]  #=> [#<Role id: 1, name: "1">]

user.roles |= [role]  #=> [#<Role id: 1, name: "1">]

Can also be used for adding multiple elements that may or may not already be present:

role1                         #=> #<Role id: 1, name: "1">
role2                         #=> #<Role id: 2, name: "2">

user.roles                    #=> [#<Role id: 1, name: "1">]

user.roles |= [role1, role2]  #=> [#<Role id: 1, name: "1">, #<Role id: 2, name: "2">]

user.roles |= [role1, role2]  #=> [#<Role id: 1, name: "1">, #<Role id: 2, name: "2">]

Found this technique on this StackOverflow answer.

As long as the appended role is an ActiveRecord object, what you are doing:

user.roles << role

Should de-duplicate automatically for :has_many associations.

For has_many :through, try:

class User
  has_many :roles, :through => :user_roles do
    def <<(new_item)
      super( Array(new_item) - proxy_association.owner.roles )
    end
  end
end

if super doesn't work, you may need to set up an alias_method_chain.