Special UTF Characters in format_name and Method Missing

[fabiode]

Hello!

I've been using this gem for a long time, since Spree 1.1. But only now I've encountered a problem with the approach used by the gem using method_missing for establishing the relation between the item (in my case, Spree::Product) and its related items.

The name field is being used in the front-end for dynamic exhibition for relation types, as the following code demonstrates:

<% @relation_types.each do |relation_type| %>
  <% products = @product.send(relation_type.name.parameterize('_')) %>
  <% next if products.empty? %>
  <%= content_tag :h3, relation_type.name %>
  [iteration over each product...]
<% end %>

The problem is that the name have accents, because the current locale is pt-BR.

I thought that this could be solved in two different ways and I would like the opinion of the community:

One of them would be adding an extra field to identify internally the relation, or keeping the name and adding a field like presentation to appear in the front end.

The other way would be changing the format_name method using parameterize instead of downcase, to avoid problems with accents.

Old code

def format_name(name)
  name.to_s.downcase.gsub(' ', '_').pluralize
end

New code

def format_name(name)
  name.to_s.parameterize('_').pluralize
end

I'm not having errors, at least not in development environment, but I guess a method name with accents isn't a good thing...

What you guys think about it?
If you have other solution, I would be glad to read it!

Thanks!