DEV: Replace #pluck_first freedom patch with AR #pick in core (#19893)

The #pluck_first freedom patch, first introduced by @danielwaterworth has served us well, and is used widely throughout both core and plugins. It seems to have been a common enough use case that Rails 6 introduced it's own method #pick with the exact same implementation. This allows us to retire the freedom patch and switch over to the built-in ActiveRecord method.

There is no replacement for #pluck_first!, but a quick search shows we are using this in a very limited capacity, and in some cases incorrectly (by assuming a nil return rather than an exception), which can quite easily be replaced with #pick plus some extra handling.

spec/models/post_action_spec.rb

@@ -49,13 +49,13 @@ RSpec.describe PostAction do
       expect(topic_user_ids).to include(codinghorror.id)
       expect(topic_user_ids).to include(mod.id)
 
-      expect(topic.topic_users.where(user_id: mod.id).pluck_first(:notification_level)).to eq(
+      expect(topic.topic_users.where(user_id: mod.id).pick(:notification_level)).to eq(
         TopicUser.notification_levels[:tracking],
       )
 
-      expect(
-        topic.topic_users.where(user_id: codinghorror.id).pluck_first(:notification_level),
-      ).to eq(TopicUser.notification_levels[:watching])
+      expect(topic.topic_users.where(user_id: codinghorror.id).pick(:notification_level)).to eq(
+        TopicUser.notification_levels[:watching],
+      )
 
       # reply to PM should not clear flag
       PostCreator.new(

spec/models/top_topic_spec.rb

@@ -62,11 +62,11 @@ RSpec.describe TopTopic do
       TopTopic.refresh!
       top_topics = TopTopic.all
 
-      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_1.id).pluck_first(:yearly_score)).to eq(27)
-      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_2.id).pluck_first(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
+      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_1.id).pick(:yearly_score)).to eq(27)
+      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_2.id).pick(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
         0.0000000001,
       ).of(18.301029995664)
-      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_3.id).pluck_first(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
+      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_3.id).pick(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
         0.0000000001,
       ).of(10.602059991328)
 
@@ -84,11 +84,11 @@ RSpec.describe TopTopic do
       TopTopic.refresh!
       top_topics = TopTopic.all
 
-      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_1.id).pluck_first(:yearly_score)).to eq(27)
-      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_2.id).pluck_first(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
+      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_1.id).pick(:yearly_score)).to eq(27)
+      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_2.id).pick(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
         0.0000000001,
       ).of(18.301029995664)
-      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_3.id).pluck_first(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
+      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_3.id).pick(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
         0.0000000001,
       ).of(11.2041199826559)
 
@@ -106,11 +106,11 @@ RSpec.describe TopTopic do
       TopTopic.refresh!
       top_topics = TopTopic.all
 
-      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_1.id).pluck_first(:yearly_score)).to eq(69)
-      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_2.id).pluck_first(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
+      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_1.id).pick(:yearly_score)).to eq(69)
+      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_2.id).pick(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
         0.0000000001,
       ).of(33.301029995664)
-      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_3.id).pluck_first(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
+      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_3.id).pick(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
         0.0000000001,
       ).of(10.602059991328)
 
@@ -128,11 +128,11 @@ RSpec.describe TopTopic do
       TopTopic.refresh!
       top_topics = TopTopic.all
 
-      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_1.id).pluck_first(:yearly_score)).to eq(30)
-      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_2.id).pluck_first(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
+      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_1.id).pick(:yearly_score)).to eq(30)
+      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_2.id).pick(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
         0.0000000001,
       ).of(21.301029995664)
-      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_3.id).pluck_first(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
+      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_3.id).pick(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
         0.0000000001,
       ).of(10.602059991328)
 
@@ -144,11 +144,11 @@ RSpec.describe TopTopic do
       TopTopic.refresh!
       top_topics = TopTopic.all
 
-      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_1.id).pluck_first(:yearly_score)).to eq(27)
-      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_2.id).pluck_first(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
+      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_1.id).pick(:yearly_score)).to eq(27)
+      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_2.id).pick(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
         0.0000000001,
       ).of(18.301029995664)
-      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_3.id).pluck_first(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
+      expect(top_topics.where(topic_id: topic_3.id).pick(:yearly_score)).to be_within(
         0.0000000001,
       ).of(10.602059991328)
     end

spec/models/topic_link_spec.rb

@@ -53,8 +53,8 @@ RSpec.describe TopicLink do
       TopicLink.extract_from(post)
 
       # we have a special rule for images title where we pull them out of the filename
-      expect(topic.topic_links.where(url: png).pluck_first(:title)).to eq(png_title)
-      expect(topic.topic_links.where(url: non_png).pluck_first(:title)).to eq("amazing")
+      expect(topic.topic_links.where(url: png).pick(:title)).to eq(png_title)
+      expect(topic.topic_links.where(url: non_png).pick(:title)).to eq("amazing")
 
       expect(topic.topic_links.pluck(:url)).to contain_exactly(
         png,