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+h2. Migrations
+
+Migrations are a convenient way for you to alter your database in a structured
+and organized manner. You could edit fragments of SQL by hand but you would then
+be responsible for telling other developers that they need to go and run them.
+You'd also have to keep track of which changes need to be run against the
+production machines next time you deploy.
+
+Active Record tracks which migrations have already been run so all you have to
+do is update your source and run +rake db:migrate+. Active Record will work out
+which migrations should be run. It will also update your +db/schema.rb+ file to
+match the structure of your database.
+
+Migrations also allow you to describe these transformations using Ruby. The
+great thing about this is that (like most of Active Record's functionality) it
+is database independent: you don't need to worry about the precise syntax of
++CREATE TABLE+ any more than you worry about variations on +SELECT *+ (you can
+drop down to raw SQL for database specific features). For example you could use
+SQLite3 in development, but MySQL in production.
+
+In this guide, you'll learn all about migrations including:
+
+* The generators you can use to create them
+* The methods Active Record provides to manipulate your database
+* The Rake tasks that manipulate them
+* How they relate to +schema.rb+
+
+endprologue.
+
+h3. Anatomy of a Migration
+
+Before we dive into the details of a migration, here are a few examples of the
+sorts of things you can do:
+
+<ruby>
+class CreateProducts < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def up
+    create_table :products do |t|
+      t.string :name
+      t.text :description
+
+      t.timestamps
+    end
+  end
+
+  def down
+    drop_table :products
+  end
+end
+</ruby>
+
+This migration adds a table called +products+ with a string column called +name+
+and a text column called +description+. A primary key column called +id+ will
+also be added, however since this is the default we do not need to ask for this.
+The timestamp columns +created_at+ and +updated_at+ which Active Record
+populates automatically will also be added. Reversing this migration is as
+simple as dropping the table.
+
+Migrations are not limited to changing the schema. You can also use them to fix
+bad data in the database or populate new fields:
+
+<ruby>
+class AddReceiveNewsletterToUsers < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def up
+    change_table :users do |t|
+      t.boolean :receive_newsletter, :default => false
+    end
+    User.update_all ["receive_newsletter = ?", true]
+  end
+
+  def down
+    remove_column :users, :receive_newsletter
+  end
+end
+</ruby>
+
+NOTE: Some "caveats":#using-models-in-your-migrations apply to using models in
+your migrations.
+
+This migration adds a +receive_newsletter+ column to the +users+ table. We want
+it to default to +false+ for new users, but existing users are considered to
+have already opted in, so we use the User model to set the flag to +true+ for
+existing users.
+
+Rails 3.1 makes migrations smarter by providing a new <tt>change</tt> method.
+This method is preferred for writing constructive migrations (adding columns or
+tables). The migration knows how to migrate your database and reverse it when
+the migration is rolled back without the need to write a separate +down+ method.
+
+<ruby>
+class CreateProducts < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def change
+    create_table :products do |t|
+      t.string :name
+      t.text :description
+
+      t.timestamps
+    end
+  end
+end
+</ruby>
+
+h4. Migrations are Classes
+
+A migration is a subclass of <tt>ActiveRecord::Migration</tt> that implements
+two methods: +up+ (perform the required transformations) and +down+ (revert
+them).
+
+Active Record provides methods that perform common data definition tasks in a
+database independent way (you'll read about them in detail later):
+
+* +add_column+
+* +add_index+
+* +change_column+
+* +change_table+
+* +create_table+
+* +drop_table+
+* +remove_column+
+* +remove_index+
+* +rename_column+
+
+If you need to perform tasks specific to your database (for example create a
+"foreign key":#active-record-and-referential-integrity constraint) then the
++execute+ method allows you to execute arbitrary SQL. A migration is just a
+regular Ruby class so you're not limited to these functions. For example after
+adding a column you could write code to set the value of that column for
+existing records (if necessary using your models).
+
+On databases that support transactions with statements that change the schema
+(such as PostgreSQL or SQLite3), migrations are wrapped in a transaction. If the
+database does not support this (for example MySQL) then when a migration fails
+the parts of it that succeeded will not be rolled back. You will have to rollback
+the changes that were made by hand.
+
+h4. What's in a Name
+
+Migrations are stored as files in the +db/migrate+ directory, one for each
+migration class. The name of the file is of the form
++YYYYMMDDHHMMSS_create_products.rb+, that is to say a UTC timestamp
+identifying the migration followed by an underscore followed by the name
+of the migration. The name of the migration class (CamelCased version)
+should match the latter part of the file name. For example
++20080906120000_create_products.rb+ should define class +CreateProducts+ and
++20080906120001_add_details_to_products.rb+ should define
++AddDetailsToProducts+. If you do feel the need to change the file name then you
+<em>have to</em> update the name of the class inside or Rails will complain
+about a missing class.
+
+Internally Rails only uses the migration's number (the timestamp) to identify
+them. Prior to Rails 2.1 the migration number started at 1 and was incremented
+each time a migration was generated. With multiple developers it was easy for
+these to clash requiring you to rollback migrations and renumber them. With
+Rails 2.1+ this is largely avoided by using the creation time of the migration
+to identify them. You can revert to the old numbering scheme by adding the
+following line to +config/application.rb+.
+
+<ruby>
+config.active_record.timestamped_migrations = false
+</ruby>
+
+The combination of timestamps and recording which migrations have been run
+allows Rails to handle common situations that occur with multiple developers.
+
+For example Alice adds migrations +20080906120000+ and +20080906123000+ and Bob
+adds +20080906124500+ and runs it. Alice finishes her changes and checks in her
+migrations and Bob pulls down the latest changes. When Bob runs +rake db:migrate+,
+Rails knows that it has not run Alice's two migrations so it executes the +up+ method for each migration.
+
+Of course this is no substitution for communication within the team. For
+example, if Alice's migration removed a table that Bob's migration assumed to
+exist, then trouble would certainly strike.
+
+h4. Changing Migrations
+
+Occasionally you will make a mistake when writing a migration. If you have
+already run the migration then you cannot just edit the migration and run the
+migration again: Rails thinks it has already run the migration and so will do
+nothing when you run +rake db:migrate+. You must rollback the migration (for
+example with +rake db:rollback+), edit your migration and then run +rake db:migrate+ to run the corrected version.
+
+In general editing existing migrations is not a good idea: you will be creating
+extra work for yourself and your co-workers and cause major headaches if the
+existing version of the migration has already been run on production machines.
+Instead, you should write a new migration that performs the changes you require.
+Editing a freshly generated migration that has not yet been committed to source
+control (or, more generally, which has not been propagated beyond your
+development machine) is relatively harmless.
+
+h4. Supported Types
+
+Active Record supports the following database column types:
+
+* +:binary+
+* +:boolean+
+* +:date+
+* +:datetime+
+* +:decimal+
+* +:float+
+* +:integer+
+* +:primary_key+
+* +:string+
+* +:text+
+* +:time+
+* +:timestamp+
+
+These will be mapped onto an appropriate underlying database type. For example,
+with MySQL the type +:string+ is mapped to +VARCHAR(255)+. You can create
+columns of types not supported by Active Record when using the non-sexy syntax,
+for example
+
+<ruby>
+create_table :products do |t|
+  t.column :name, 'polygon', :null => false
+end
+</ruby>
+
+This may however hinder portability to other databases.
+
+h3. Creating a Migration
+
+h4. Creating a Model
+
+The model and scaffold generators will create migrations appropriate for adding
+a new model. This migration will already contain instructions for creating the
+relevant table. If you tell Rails what columns you want, then statements for
+adding these columns will also be created. For example, running
+
+<shell>
+$ rails generate model Product name:string description:text
+</shell>
+
+will create a migration that looks like this
+
+<ruby>
+class CreateProducts < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def change
+    create_table :products do |t|
+      t.string :name
+      t.text :description
+
+      t.timestamps
+    end
+  end
+end
+</ruby>
+
+You can append as many column name/type pairs as you want. By default, the
+generated migration will include +t.timestamps+ (which creates the
++updated_at+ and +created_at+ columns that are automatically populated
+by Active Record).
+
+h4. Creating a Standalone Migration
+
+If you are creating migrations for other purposes (for example to add a column
+to an existing table) then you can also use the migration generator:
+
+<shell>
+$ rails generate migration AddPartNumberToProducts
+</shell>
+
+This will create an empty but appropriately named migration:
+
+<ruby>
+class AddPartNumberToProducts < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def change
+  end
+end
+</ruby>
+
+If the migration name is of the form "AddXXXToYYY" or "RemoveXXXFromYYY" and is
+followed by a list of column names and types then a migration containing the
+appropriate +add_column+ and +remove_column+ statements will be created.
+
+<shell>
+$ rails generate migration AddPartNumberToProducts part_number:string
+</shell>
+
+will generate
+
+<ruby>
+class AddPartNumberToProducts < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def change
+    add_column :products, :part_number, :string
+  end
+end
+</ruby>
+
+Similarly,
+
+<shell>
+$ rails generate migration RemovePartNumberFromProducts part_number:string
+</shell>
+
+generates
+
+<ruby>
+class RemovePartNumberFromProducts < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def up
+    remove_column :products, :part_number
+  end
+
+  def down
+    add_column :products, :part_number, :string
+  end
+end
+</ruby>
+
+You are not limited to one magically generated column, for example
+
+<shell>
+$ rails generate migration AddDetailsToProducts part_number:string price:decimal
+</shell>
+
+generates
+
+<ruby>
+class AddDetailsToProducts < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def change
+    add_column :products, :part_number, :string
+    add_column :products, :price, :decimal
+  end
+end
+</ruby>
+
+As always, what has been generated for you is just a starting point. You can add
+or remove from it as you see fit by editing the
+db/migrate/YYYYMMDDHHMMSS_add_details_to_products.rb file.
+
+NOTE: The generated migration file for destructive migrations will still be
+old-style using the +up+ and +down+ methods. This is because Rails needs to know
+the original data types defined when you made the original changes.
+
+h3. Writing a Migration
+
+Once you have created your migration using one of the generators it's time to
+get to work!
+
+h4. Creating a Table
+
+Migration method +create_table+ will be one of your workhorses. A typical use
+would be
+
+<ruby>
+create_table :products do |t|
+  t.string :name
+end
+</ruby>
+
+which creates a +products+ table with a column called +name+ (and as discussed
+below, an implicit +id+ column).
+
+The object yielded to the block allows you to create columns on the table. There
+are two ways of doing it. The first (traditional) form looks like
+
+<ruby>
+create_table :products do |t|
+  t.column :name, :string, :null => false
+end
+</ruby>
+
+The second form, the so called "sexy" migration, drops the somewhat redundant
++column+ method. Instead, the +string+, +integer+, etc. methods create a column
+of that type. Subsequent parameters are the same.
+
+<ruby>
+create_table :products do |t|
+  t.string :name, :null => false
+end
+</ruby>
+
+By default, +create_table+ will create a primary key called +id+. You can change
+the name of the primary key with the +:primary_key+ option (don't forget to
+update the corresponding model) or, if you don't want a primary key at all (for
+example for a HABTM join table), you can pass the option +:id => false+. If you
+need to pass database specific options you can place an SQL fragment in the
++:options+ option. For example,
+
+<ruby>
+create_table :products, :options => "ENGINE=BLACKHOLE" do |t|
+  t.string :name, :null => false
+end
+</ruby>
+
+will append +ENGINE=BLACKHOLE+ to the SQL statement used to create the table
+(when using MySQL, the default is +ENGINE=InnoDB+).
+
+h4. Changing Tables
+
+A close cousin of +create_table+ is +change_table+, used for changing existing
+tables. It is used in a similar fashion to +create_table+ but the object yielded
+to the block knows more tricks. For example
+
+<ruby>
+change_table :products do |t|
+  t.remove :description, :name
+  t.string :part_number
+  t.index :part_number
+  t.rename :upccode, :upc_code
+end
+</ruby>
+
+removes the +description+ and +name+ columns, creates a +part_number+ string
+column and adds an index on it. Finally it renames the +upccode+ column.
+
+h4. Special Helpers
+
+Active Record provides some shortcuts for common functionality. It is for
+example very common to add both the +created_at+ and +updated_at+ columns and so
+there is a method that does exactly that:
+
+<ruby>
+create_table :products do |t|
+  t.timestamps
+end
+</ruby>
+
+will create a new products table with those two columns (plus the +id+ column)
+whereas
+
+<ruby>
+change_table :products do |t|
+  t.timestamps
+end
+</ruby>
+adds those columns to an existing table.
+
+Another helper is called +references+ (also available as +belongs_to+). In its
+simplest form it just adds some readability.
+
+<ruby>
+create_table :products do |t|
+  t.references :category
+end
+</ruby>
+
+will create a +category_id+ column of the appropriate type. Note that you pass
+the model name, not the column name. Active Record adds the +_id+ for you. If
+you have polymorphic +belongs_to+ associations then +references+ will add both
+of the columns required:
+
+<ruby>
+create_table :products do |t|
+  t.references :attachment, :polymorphic => {:default => 'Photo'}
+end
+</ruby>
+
+will add an +attachment_id+ column and a string +attachment_type+ column with
+a default value of 'Photo'.
+
+NOTE: The +references+ helper does not actually create foreign key constraints
+for you. You will need to use +execute+ or a plugin that adds "foreign key
+support":#active-record-and-referential-integrity.
+
+If the helpers provided by Active Record aren't enough you can use the +execute+
+method to execute arbitrary SQL.
+
+For more details and examples of individual methods, check the API documentation,
+in particular the documentation for
+"<tt>ActiveRecord::ConnectionAdapters::SchemaStatements</tt>":http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/ConnectionAdapters/SchemaStatements.html
+(which provides the methods available in the +up+ and +down+ methods),
+"<tt>ActiveRecord::ConnectionAdapters::TableDefinition</tt>":http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/ConnectionAdapters/TableDefinition.html
+(which provides the methods available on the object yielded by +create_table+)
+and
+"<tt>ActiveRecord::ConnectionAdapters::Table</tt>":http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/ConnectionAdapters/Table.html
+(which provides the methods available on the object yielded by +change_table+).
+
+h4. Using the +change+ Method
+
+The +change+ method removes the need to write both +up+ and +down+ methods in
+those cases that Rails know how to revert the changes automatically. Currently,
+the +change+ method supports only these migration definitions:
+
+* +add_column+
+* +add_index+
+* +add_timestamps+
+* +create_table+
+* +remove_timestamps+
+* +rename_column+
+* +rename_index+
+* +rename_table+
+
+If you're going to need to use any other methods, you'll have to write the
++up+ and +down+ methods instead of using the +change+ method.
+
+h4. Using the +up+/+down+ Methods
+
+The +down+ method of your migration should revert the transformations done by
+the +up+ method. In other words, the database schema should be unchanged if you
+do an +up+ followed by a +down+. For example, if you create a table in the +up+
+method, you should drop it in the +down+ method. It is wise to reverse the
+transformations in precisely the reverse order they were made in the +up+
+method. For example,
+
+<ruby>
+class ExampleMigration < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def up
+    create_table :products do |t|
+      t.references :category
+    end
+    #add a foreign key
+    execute <<-SQL
+      ALTER TABLE products
+        ADD CONSTRAINT fk_products_categories
+        FOREIGN KEY (category_id)
+        REFERENCES categories(id)
+    SQL
+    add_column :users, :home_page_url, :string
+    rename_column :users, :email, :email_address
+  end
+
+  def down
+    rename_column :users, :email_address, :email
+    remove_column :users, :home_page_url
+    execute <<-SQL
+      ALTER TABLE products
+        DROP FOREIGN KEY fk_products_categories
+    SQL
+    drop_table :products
+  end
+end
+</ruby>
+
+Sometimes your migration will do something which is just plain irreversible; for
+example, it might destroy some data. In such cases, you can raise
++ActiveRecord::IrreversibleMigration+ from your +down+ method. If someone tries
+to revert your migration, an error message will be displayed saying that it
+can't be done.
+
+h3. Running Migrations
+
+Rails provides a set of rake tasks to work with migrations which boil down to
+running certain sets of migrations.
+
+The very first migration related rake task you will use will probably be
++rake db:migrate+. In its most basic form it just runs the +up+ or +change+
+method for all the migrations that have not yet been run. If there are
+no such migrations, it exits. It will run these migrations in order based
+on the date of the migration.
+
+Note that running the +db:migrate+ also invokes the +db:schema:dump+ task, which
+will update your db/schema.rb file to match the structure of your database.
+
+If you specify a target version, Active Record will run the required migrations
+(up, down or change) until it has reached the specified version. The version
+is the numerical prefix on the migration's filename. For example, to migrate
+to version 20080906120000 run
+
+<shell>
+$ rake db:migrate VERSION=20080906120000
+</shell>
+
+If version 20080906120000 is greater than the current version (i.e., it is
+migrating upwards), this will run the +up+ method on all migrations up to and
+including 20080906120000, and will not execute any later migrations. If
+migrating downwards, this will run the +down+ method on all the migrations
+down to, but not including, 20080906120000.
+
+h4. Rolling Back
+
+A common task is to rollback the last migration, for example if you made a
+mistake in it and wish to correct it. Rather than tracking down the version
+number associated with the previous migration you can run
+
+<shell>
+$ rake db:rollback
+</shell>
+
+This will run the +down+ method from the latest migration. If you need to undo
+several migrations you can provide a +STEP+ parameter:
+
+<shell>
+$ rake db:rollback STEP=3
+</shell>
+
+will run the +down+ method from the last 3 migrations.
+
+The +db:migrate:redo+ task is a shortcut for doing a rollback and then migrating
+back up again. As with the +db:rollback+ task, you can use the +STEP+ parameter
+if you need to go more than one version back, for example
+
+<shell>
+$ rake db:migrate:redo STEP=3
+</shell>
+
+Neither of these Rake tasks do anything you could not do with +db:migrate+. They
+are simply more convenient, since you do not need to explicitly specify the
+version to migrate to.
+
+h4. Resetting the database
+
+The +rake db:reset+ task will drop the database, recreate it and load the
+current schema into it.
+
+NOTE: This is not the same as running all the migrations - see the section on
+"schema.rb":#schema-dumping-and-you.
+
+h4. Running specific migrations
+
+If you need to run a specific migration up or down, the +db:migrate:up+ and
++db:migrate:down+ tasks will do that. Just specify the appropriate version and
+the corresponding migration will have its +up+ or +down+ method invoked, for
+example,
+
+<shell>
+$ rake db:migrate:up VERSION=20080906120000
+</shell>
+
+will run the +up+ method from the 20080906120000 migration. These tasks still
+check whether the migration has already run, so for example +db:migrate:up
+VERSION=20080906120000+ will do nothing if Active Record believes that
+20080906120000 has already been run.
+
+h4. Changing the output of running migrations
+
+By default migrations tell you exactly what they're doing and how long it took.
+A migration creating a table and adding an index might produce output like this
+
+<shell>
+==  CreateProducts: migrating =================================================
+-- create_table(:products)
+   -> 0.0028s
+==  CreateProducts: migrated (0.0028s) ========================================
+</shell>
+
+Several methods are provided in migrations that allow you to control all this:
+
+|_.Method             |_.Purpose|
+|suppress_messages    |Takes a block as an argument and suppresses any output
+                       generated by the block.|
+|say                  |Takes a message argument and outputs it as is. A second
+                       boolean argument can be passed to specify whether to
+                       indent or not.|
+|say_with_time        |Outputs text along with how long it took to run its
+                       block. If the block returns an integer it assumes it
+                       is the number of rows affected.|
+
+For example, this migration
+
+<ruby>
+class CreateProducts < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def change
+    suppress_messages do
+      create_table :products do |t|
+        t.string :name
+        t.text :description
+        t.timestamps
+      end
+    end
+    say "Created a table"
+    suppress_messages {add_index :products, :name}
+    say "and an index!", true
+    say_with_time 'Waiting for a while' do
+      sleep 10
+      250
+    end
+  end
+end
+</ruby>
+
+generates the following output
+
+<shell>
+==  CreateProducts: migrating =================================================
+-- Created a table
+   -> and an index!
+-- Waiting for a while
+   -> 10.0013s
+   -> 250 rows
+==  CreateProducts: migrated (10.0054s) =======================================
+</shell>
+
+If you want Active Record to not output anything, then running +rake db:migrate
+VERBOSE=false+ will suppress all output.
+
+h3. Using Models in Your Migrations
+
+When creating or updating data in a migration it is often tempting to use one of
+your models. After all, they exist to provide easy access to the underlying
+data. This can be done, but some caution should be observed.
+
+For example, problems occur when the model uses database columns which are (1)
+not currently in the database and (2) will be created by this or a subsequent
+migration.
+
+Consider this example, where Alice and Bob are working on the same code base
+which contains a +Product+ model:
+
+Bob goes on vacation.
+
+Alice creates a migration for the +products+ table which adds a new column and
+initializes it.  She also adds a validation to the +Product+ model for the new
+column.
+
+<ruby>
+# db/migrate/20100513121110_add_flag_to_product.rb
+
+class AddFlagToProduct < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def change
+    add_column :products, :flag, :boolean
+    Product.all.each do |product|
+      product.update_attributes!(:flag => 'false')
+    end
+  end
+end
+</ruby>
+
+<ruby>
+# app/model/product.rb
+
+class Product < ActiveRecord::Base
+  validates :flag, :presence => true
+end
+</ruby>
+
+Alice adds a second migration which adds and initializes another column to the
++products+ table and also adds a validation to the +Product+ model for the new
+column.
+
+<ruby>
+# db/migrate/20100515121110_add_fuzz_to_product.rb
+
+class AddFuzzToProduct < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def change
+    add_column :products, :fuzz, :string
+    Product.all.each do |product|
+      product.update_attributes! :fuzz => 'fuzzy'
+    end
+  end
+end
+</ruby>
+
+<ruby>
+# app/model/product.rb
+
+class Product < ActiveRecord::Base
+  validates :flag, :fuzz, :presence => true
+end
+</ruby>
+
+Both migrations work for Alice.
+
+Bob comes back from vacation and:
+
+# Updates the source - which contains both migrations and the latests version of
+the Product model.
+# Runs outstanding migrations with +rake db:migrate+, which
+includes the one that updates the +Product+ model.
+
+The migration crashes because when the model attempts to save, it tries to
+validate the second added column, which is not in the database when the _first_
+migration runs:
+
+<plain>
+rake aborted!
+An error has occurred, this and all later migrations canceled:
+
+undefined method `fuzz' for #<Product:0x000001049b14a0>
+</plain>
+
+A fix for this is to create a local model within the migration. This keeps rails
+from running the validations, so that the migrations run to completion.
+
+When using a faux model, it's a good idea to call
++Product.reset_column_information+ to refresh the +ActiveRecord+ cache for the
++Product+ model prior to updating data in the database.
+
+If Alice had done this instead, there would have been no problem:
+
+<ruby>
+# db/migrate/20100513121110_add_flag_to_product.rb
+
+class AddFlagToProduct < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  class Product < ActiveRecord::Base
+  end
+
+  def change
+    add_column :products, :flag, :integer
+    Product.reset_column_information
+    Product.all.each do |product|
+      product.update_attributes!(:flag => false)
+    end
+  end
+end
+</ruby>
+
+<ruby>
+# db/migrate/20100515121110_add_fuzz_to_product.rb
+
+class AddFuzzToProduct < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  class Product < ActiveRecord::Base
+  end
+
+  def change
+    add_column :products, :fuzz, :string
+    Product.reset_column_information
+    Product.all.each do |product|
+      product.update_attributes!(:fuzz => 'fuzzy')
+    end
+  end
+end
+</ruby>
+
+h3. Schema Dumping and You
+
+h4. What are Schema Files for?
+
+Migrations, mighty as they may be, are not the authoritative source for your
+database schema. That role falls to either +db/schema.rb+ or an SQL file which
+Active Record generates by examining the database. They are not designed to be
+edited, they just represent the current state of the database.
+
+There is no need (and it is error prone) to deploy a new instance of an app by
+replaying the entire migration history. It is much simpler and faster to just
+load into the database a description of the current schema.
+
+For example, this is how the test database is created: the current development
+database is dumped (either to +db/schema.rb+ or +db/structure.sql+) and then
+loaded into the test database.
+
+Schema files are also useful if you want a quick look at what attributes an
+Active Record object has. This information is not in the model's code and is
+frequently spread across several migrations, but the information is nicely
+summed up in the schema file. The
+"annotate_models":https://github.com/ctran/annotate_models gem automatically
+adds and updates comments at the top of each model summarizing the schema if
+you desire that functionality.
+
+h4. Types of Schema Dumps
+
+There are two ways to dump the schema. This is set in +config/application.rb+ by
+the +config.active_record.schema_format+ setting, which may be either +:sql+ or
++:ruby+.
+
+If +:ruby+ is selected then the schema is stored in +db/schema.rb+. If you look
+at this file you'll find that it looks an awful lot like one very big migration:
+
+<ruby>
+ActiveRecord::Schema.define(:version => 20080906171750) do
+  create_table "authors", :force => true do |t|
+    t.string   "name"
+    t.datetime "created_at"
+    t.datetime "updated_at"
+  end
+
+  create_table "products", :force => true do |t|
+    t.string   "name"
+    t.text "description"
+    t.datetime "created_at"
+    t.datetime "updated_at"
+    t.string "part_number"
+  end
+end
+</ruby>
+
+In many ways this is exactly what it is. This file is created by inspecting the
+database and expressing its structure using +create_table+, +add_index+, and so
+on. Because this is database-independent, it could be loaded into any database
+that Active Record supports. This could be very useful if you were to distribute
+an application that is able to run against multiple databases.
+
+There is however a trade-off: +db/schema.rb+ cannot express database specific
+items such as foreign key constraints, triggers, or stored procedures. While in
+a migration you can execute custom SQL statements, the schema dumper cannot
+reconstitute those statements from the database. If you are using features like
+this, then you should set the schema format to +:sql+.
+
+Instead of using Active Record's schema dumper, the database's structure will be
+dumped using a tool specific to the database (via the +db:structure:dump+ Rake task)
+into +db/structure.sql+. For example, for the PostgreSQL RDBMS, the
++pg_dump+ utility is used. For MySQL, this file will contain the output of +SHOW
+CREATE TABLE+ for the various tables. Loading these schemas is simply a question
+of executing the SQL statements they contain. By definition, this will create a
+perfect copy of the database's structure. Using the +:sql+ schema format will,
+however, prevent loading the schema into a RDBMS other than the one used to
+create it.
+
+h4. Schema Dumps and Source Control
+
+Because schema dumps are the authoritative source for your database schema, it
+is strongly recommended that you check them into source control.
+
+h3. Active Record and Referential Integrity
+
+The Active Record way claims that intelligence belongs in your models, not in
+the database. As such, features such as triggers or foreign key constraints,
+which push some of that intelligence back into the database, are not heavily
+used.
+
+Validations such as +validates :foreign_key, :uniqueness => true+ are one way in
+which models can enforce data integrity. The +:dependent+ option on associations
+allows models to automatically destroy child objects when the parent is
+destroyed. Like anything which operates at the application level, these cannot
+guarantee referential integrity and so some people augment them with foreign key
+constraints in the database.
+
+Although Active Record does not provide any tools for working directly with such
+features, the +execute+ method can be used to execute arbitrary SQL. You could
+also use some plugin like "foreigner":https://github.com/matthuhiggins/foreigner
+which add foreign key support to Active Record (including support for dumping
+foreign keys in +db/schema.rb+).