RubyGems - railties - Versions diffs - 3.2.22.5 → 4.0.0.beta1 - Mend

railties 3.2.22.5 → 4.0.0.beta1

Files changed (450) hide show

data/guides/source/migrations.textile DELETED

@@ -1,900 +0,0 @@
-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+).