Rails 3 Model

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Model Definition

  • Generate a model to create model objects and underlying tables:
rails generate model Category name:string

This creates both a model definition file in app/models and a database migration file in db/migrate

  • Generate a migration when you just want to modify the database:
rails generate migration create_articles_categories  # create join table

This makes a new database migration script in db/migrate. Edit this as necessary before running the migration.

  • To run all outstanding migrations:
rake db:migrate
  • To roll back to a particular timestamp:
rake db:migrate VERSION=20090124223305

(see the schema_migrations table in your database for a definitive list of timestamps)


Migrations

Create table options

  • column definitions
t.column(:name, :string)  # verbose style
t.string :name            # shorter style
  • column types:
binary (aka blob), boolean, date, datetime, decimal, float, integer, string, text, time, timestamp
decimal has :precision (total number of digits) and :scale (number of digits after decimal place)
  • column options:
:default => value
:limit => size
:null => false
  • change column definition:
t.change(:name, :string, :limit => 80)
  • rename column:
t.rename(:description, :name)
  • foreign key:
create_table :accounts do 
    t.belongs_to(:person) 
end
  • add Active Record-maintained timestamp (created_at and updated_at) columns to the table.
t.timestamps
  • make an index:
t.index(:name)                                     # a simple index 
t.index([:branch_id, :party_id], :unique => true)  # a unique index
  • To create a join table with no default id primary key:
create_table :ingredients_recipes, :id => false do |t|
    t.column :ingredient_id, :integer
    t.column :recipe_id, :integer 
end

Seed Data

A default part of the rails app is the file db/seeds.rb. Use this to seed the database with test data: 

user = User.create :email => 'mary@example.com', :password => 'guessit' 
Category.create [{:name => 'Programming'}, {:name => 'Event'}, {:name => 'Travel'}, {:name => 'Music'}, {:name => 'TV'}]

Then load the seed data: 

rake db:seed    # just populate with seed data, can introduce duplicates
rake db:setup   # recreates the database and populates with seed data

Associations

One-to-one

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
    has_one :profile           # creates User.profile method
end                            
-------------------------------
class Profile < ActiveRecord::Base 
    belongs_to :user           # assumes Profile.user_id column
end                            # creates Profile.user method

REMINDER: the belongs_to declaration always goes in the class with the foreign key

has_one automatic methods

user.profile #=> #<Profile id: 2, user_id: 1, ...> 
user.profile.nil? #=> false 
user.build_profile(:bio => 'eats leaves') #=> #<Profile id: nil, user_id: 1, ...>   # not automatically saved
user.create_profile(:bio => 'eats leaves') #=> #<Profile id: 3, user_id: 1, ...>    # automatically saved

has_one options

has_one :profile, :class_name => 'Account'      # refer to user.account instead of user.profile
has_one :profile, :foreign_key => 'account_id'  # refer to user.account instead of user.profile
has_one :profile, :conditions => "active = 1"   # only specific profiles are considered
has_one :profile, :dependent => :destroy        # call destroy on profile when user is destroyed, also ":delete" and ":nullify"

One-to-many

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
    has_many :articles           # creates User.articles method
end
-------------------------------
class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
    belongs_to :user             # assumes Article.user_id column
end                              # creates Article.user method

has_many automatic methods

user.articles.size               # array length
user.article_ids                 # list of ids
user.articles << Article.first   # automatically saves association in Article.user_id
user.articles.delete(articles)   # remove articles by setting Article.user_id to null
user.articles.clear              # remove all articles by setting Article.user_id to null
user.articles.find(conditions)   # find a subset of user.articles
user.articles.build(:title => 'Ruby 1.9')   # return associated article but don't save yet
user.articles.create(:title => 'Ruby 1.9')  # return associated article that has already been saved

has_many options

has_many :articles, :class_name => 'Post'          # refer to user.posts instead of user.articles
has_many :articles, :foreign_key => 'post_id'      # refer to user.posts instead of user.articles
has_many :articles, :conditions => "active = 1"    # only consider specific articles
has_many :articles, :order => "published_at DESC"  # default order of user.articles
has_many :articles, :dependent => :destroy         # destroy article when user is destroyed, also ":delete" and ":nullify"

has_many :through

class User < ActiveRecord::Base 
    has_one :profile 
    has_many :articles, :order => 'published_at DESC, title ASC', :dependent => :nullify 
    has_many :replies, :through => :articles, :source => :comments 
end

user.articles.comments becomes shortened to user.replies

Many-to-many

This requires a join table: 

rails generate migration create_articles_categories

simple join

class Article < ActiveRecord::Base 
    validates :title, :presence => true 
    validates :body, :presence => true  
    belongs_to :user 
    has_and_belongs_to_many :categories
end

class Category < ActiveRecord::Base 
    has_and_belongs_to_many :articles 
end

rich join

Create a model in addition to the join table. This allows the join itself to have other properties.

Model Manipulation

Create and Save

article = Article.new  # make an empty object
article.title = "My Title"  # add attributes
article.author = "Herman"
article.save  # save to database

article.create(:title => "My Title", :author => "Herman")  # make, set attributes, and save

article.new_record?  # new means not saved to database

Find

Article.find(3)                # look for id = 3
Article.first                  # same as Article.find(:first), uses "LIMIT 1" in SQL, so may not be id = 1
Article.last                   # same as Article.find(:last)
Article.all                    # same as Article.find(:all)
Article.where(:title => 'RailsConf').first  # chaining
Article.find_by_title('RailsConf')  # dynamic finder

Update

article = Article.first
article.title = "Rails 3 is great"
article.published_at = Time.now
article.save

article = Article.first
article.update_attributes(:title => "RailsConf2010", :published_at => 1.day.ago)  # saves too

Delete

Article.find(3).destroy  # find, then destroy
Article.destroy(3)       # same thing
Article.delete(3)        # delete directly from database with no object callbacks
Article.delete_all("published_at < '2011-01-01'")  # conditional

Validation and Errors

class Article< ActiveRecord::Base
    validates :title, :presence => true
    validates :body, :presence => true
end

article = Article.new
article.errors.any?           # false
article.save                  # returns false because of validation
article.errors.full_messages  # ["Title can't be blank", "Body can't be blank"]
article.errors.on(:title)     # "can't be blank"
article.valid?                # false
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