sequel 3.21.0 → 3.39.0

data/doc/migration.rdoc

@@ -13,19 +13,21 @@ create the necessary database structure manually using Sequel's schema
 modification methods or another database tool.  However, if you are dealing
 with other developers, you'll have to send them all of the changes you are
 making.  Even if you aren't dealing with other developers, you generally have
-to make the schema changes in 3 places (development, testing, and then
+to make the schema changes in 3 places (development, testing, and
 production), and it's probably easier to use the migrations system to apply
 the schema changes than it is to keep track of the changes manually and
 execute them manually at the appropriate time.
 
 Sequel tracks which migrations you have already run, so to apply migrations
-you generally need to use run Sequel's migrator with <tt>bin/sequel -m</tt>:
+you generally need to run Sequel's migrator with <tt>bin/sequel -m</tt>:
 
   sequel -m path/to/migrations postgres://host/database
 
 Migrations in Sequel use a very simple DSL via the <tt>Sequel.migration</tt>
 method, and inside the DSL, use the <tt>Sequel::Database</tt> schema
 modification methods such as +create_table+ and +alter_table+.
+See the {schema modification guide}[link:files/doc/schema_modification_rdoc.html]
+for details on the schema modification methods you can use.
 
 == A Basic Migration
 
@@ -45,7 +47,7 @@ Here is a fairly basic Sequel migration:
   end
 
 This migration has an +up+ block which adds an artist table with an integer primary key named id,
-and a varchar or text column (depending on the database) named name that doesn't accept NULL values.
+and a varchar or text column (depending on the database) named +name+ that doesn't accept +NULL+ values.
 Migrations should include both up and +down+ blocks, with the +down+ block reversing
 the change made by up.  However, if you never need to be able to migrate down
 (i.e. you are one of the people that doesn't make mistakes), you can leave out
@@ -117,7 +119,8 @@ This looks a little weird, but you need to be aware that inside an up or +down+
 self always refers to the <tt>Sequel::Database</tt> object that the migration is being applied to.
 Since <tt>Database#[]</tt> creates datasets, using <tt>self[:artists]</tt> inside the +up+ block creates
 a dataset on the database representing all columns in the +artists+ table, and updates it to set the
-+location+ column to <tt>'Sacramento'</tt>.
++location+ column to <tt>'Sacramento'</tt>.  You should avoid referencing the <tt>Sequel::Database</tt>
+object directly in your migration, and always use self to reference it, otherwise you may run into problems.
 
 It is possible to use model classes inside migrations, as long as they are loaded into the ruby interpreter,
 but it's a bad habit as changes to your model classes can then break old migrations, and this breakage is
@@ -141,7 +144,7 @@ Migrations themselves do not contain any schema modification methods, but they m
 any of the <tt>Sequel::Database</tt> modification methods, of which there are many.  The main
 ones are +create_table+ and +alter_table+, but Sequel also comes with numerous other schema
 modification methods, most of which are shortcuts for +alter_table+ (all of these methods are
-described in more detail later):
+described in more detail in the {schema modification guide}[link:files/doc/schema_modification_rdoc.html]):
 
 * add_column
 * add_index
@@ -170,14 +173,50 @@ which just executes the code on the underlying database.
 
 == Errors when running migrations
 
-Sequel attempts to run migrations inside of a transaction.  Some databases do not support
-schema modifications made in transactions, and if the migration raises an error, it will
-not rollback the previous schema changes made by the migration.  In that case, you will
+Sequel attempts to run migrations inside of a transaction if the database supports
+transactional DDL statements.  On the databases that don't support transactional DDL
+statements, if there is an error while running a migration, it will not rollback the
+previous schema changes made by the migration.  In that case, you will
 need to update the database by hand.
 
 It's recommended to always run migrations on a test database and ensure they work
 before running them on any production database.
 
+== Transactions
+
+You can manually specify to use transactions on a per migration basis.  For example,
+if you want to force transaction use for a particular migration, call the transaction
+method in the Sequel.migration block:
+
+  Sequel.migration do
+    transaction
+    change do
+      # ...
+    end
+  end
+
+Likewise, you can disable transaction use via no_transaction:
+
+  Sequel.migration do
+    no_transaction
+    change do
+      # ...
+    end
+  end
+
+This is necessary in some cases, such as when attempting to use CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY
+on PostgreSQL (which supports transactional schema, but not that statement inside a
+transaction).
+
+You can also override the transactions setting at the migrator level, either by forcing
+transactions even if no_transaction is set, or by disabling transactions all together:
+
+  # Force transaction use
+  Sequel::Migrator.run(DB, '/path/to/migrations/dir', :use_transactions=>true)
+
+  # Disable use of transactions
+  Sequel::Migrator.run(DB, '/path/to/migrations/dir', :use_transactions=>false)
+
 == Migration files
 
 While you can create migration objects yourself and apply them manually, most of the
@@ -263,7 +302,7 @@ is important though, as it is used to mean that all migrations should be unappli
 === +TimestampMigrator+ Filenames
 
 With the +TimestampMigrator+, the version integer should represent a timestamp, though this isn't strictly
-required.  
+required.
 
 For example, for <tt>5/10/2010 12:00:00pm</tt>, you could use any of the following formats:
 
@@ -283,6 +322,9 @@ be difficult to unapply some the affected migrations correctly.
 The +TimestampMigrator+ will be used if any filename in the migrations directory has a version
 greater than 20000101.  Otherwise, the +IntegerMigrator+ will be used.
 
+You can force the use of the +TimestampMigrator+ in the API by calling TimestampMigrator.apply
+instead of Migrator.apply.
+
 === How to choose
 
 Basically, unless you need the features provided by the +TimestampMigrator+, stick with the
@@ -318,8 +360,8 @@ you should give it some thought before using it.
 
 Just don't do it.
 
-In general, you should not modify any migration that has been run on the database and been committed
-the source control repository, unless the migration contains a error that causes data loss.  As long
+In general, you should not modify any migration that has been run on the database and been committed to
+the source control repository, unless the migration contains an error that causes data loss.  As long
 as it is possible to undo the migration without losing data, you should just add another migration
 that undoes the actions of the previous bad migration, and maybe does the correct action afterward.
 
@@ -343,545 +385,18 @@ reverses the changes made by the +up+ block:
     down{...}
   end
 
-== Schema modification methods
-
-Inside your migration's down and +up+ blocks is where you will call the +Database+ schema modification methods.
-Here's a brief description of the most common schema modification methods:
-
-=== +create_table+
-
-+create_table+ is the most common schema modification method, and it's used for adding new tables
-to the schema.  You provide it with the name of the table as a symbol, as well a block:
-
-  create_table(:artists) do
-    primary_key :id
-    String :name
-  end
-
-Not that if you want a primary key for the table, you need to specify it, Sequel does not create one
-by default.
-
-==== Column types
-
-Most method calls inside the create_table block will create columns, since +method_missing+ calls +column+
-Columns are generally created by specifying the column type as the method
-name, followed by the column name symbol to use, and after that any options that should be used.
-If the method is a ruby class name that Sequel recognizes, Sequel will transform it into the appropriate
-type for the given database.  So while you specified +String+, Sequel will actually use +varchar+ or
-+text+ depending on the underlying database.  Here's a list of all of ruby classes that Sequel will
-convert to database types:
-
-  create_table(:columns_types) do       # common database type used
-    Integer :a0                         # integer
-    String :a1                          # varchar(255)
-    String :a2, :size=>50               # varchar(50)
-    String :a3, :fixed=>true            # char(255)
-    String :a4, :fixed=>true, :size=>50 # char(50)
-    String :a5, :text=>true             # text
-    File :b,                            # blob
-    Fixnum :c                           # integer
-    Bignum :d                           # bigint
-    Float :e                            # double precision
-    BigDecimal :f                       # numeric
-    BigDecimal :f2, :size=>10           # numeric(10)
-    BigDecimal :f3, :size=>[10, 2]      # numeric(10, 2)
-    Date :g                             # date
-    DateTime :h                         # timestamp
-    Time :i                             # timestamp
-    Time :i2, :only_time=>true          # time
-    Numeric :j                          # numeric
-    TrueClass :k                        # boolean
-    FalseClass :l                       # boolean
-  end
-
-Note that in addition to the ruby class name, Sequel also pays attention to the column options when
-determining which database type to use.
-
-Also note that this conversion is only done if you use a supported ruby class name.  In all other
-cases, Sequel uses the type specified verbatim:
-
-  create_table(:columns_types) do  # database type used
-    string :a1                     # string
-    datetime :a2                   # datetime
-    blob :a3                       # blob
-    inet :a4                       # inet
-  end
-
-In addition to specifying the types as methods, you can use the +column+ method and specify the types
-as the second argument, either as ruby classes, symbols, or strings:
-
-  create_table(:columns_types) do  # database type used
-    column :a1, :string            # string
-    column :a2, String             # varchar(255)
-    column :a3, 'string'           # string
-    column :a4, :datetime          # datetime
-    column :a5, DateTime           # timestamp
-    column :a6, 'timestamp(6)'     # timestamp(6)
-  end
-
-==== Column options
-
-When using the type name as method, the third argument is an options hash, and when using the +column+
-method, the fourth argument is the options hash.  The following options are supported:
-
-:default :: The default value for the column.
-:index :: Create an index on this column.
-:null :: Mark the column as allowing NULL values (if true),
-         or not allowing NULL values (if false).  If unspecified, will default
-         to whatever the database default is.
-:size :: The size of the column, generally used with string
-         columns to specify the maximum number of characters the column will hold.
-         An array of two integers can be provided to set the size and the
-         precision, respectively, of decimal columns.
-:unique :: Mark the column as unique, generally has the same effect as
-           creating a unique index on the column.
-:unsigned :: Make the column type unsigned, only useful for integer
-             columns.
-
-==== Other methods
-
-In addition to the +column+ method and other methods that create columns, there are a other methods that can be used:
-
-==== +primary_key+
-
-You've seen this one used already.  It's used to create an autoincrementing integer primary key column.
-
-  create_table(:a0){primary_key :id}
-
-If you want to create a primary key column that doesn't use an autoincrementing integer, you should
-not use this method.  Instead, you should use the :primary_key option to the +column+ method or type
-method:
-
-  create_table(:a1){Integer :id, :primary_key=>true} # Non autoincrementing integer primary key
-  create_table(:a2){String :name, :primary_key=>true} # varchar(255) primary key
-
-If you want to create a composite primary key, you should call the +primary_key+ method with an
-array of column symbols:
-
-  create_table(:items) do
-    Integer :group_id
-    Integer :position
-    primary_key [:group_id, :position]
-  end 
-
-If provided with an array, +primary_key+ does not create a column, it just sets up the primary key constraint.
-
-==== +foreign_key+
-
-+foreign_key+ is used to create a foreign key column that references a column in another table (or the same table).
-It takes the column name as the first argument, the table it references as the second argument, and an options hash
-as it's third argument.  A simple example is:
-
-  create_table(:albums) do
-    primary_key :id
-    foreign_key :artist_id, :artists
-    String :name
-  end
-
-+foreign_key+ accepts some specific options:
-
-:deferrable :: Makes the foreign key constraint checks deferrable, so they aren't checked
-               until the end of the transaction.
-:key :: For foreign key columns, the column in the associated table
-        that this column references.  Unnecessary if this column
-        references the primary key of the associated table, at least
-        on most databases.
-:on_delete :: Specify the behavior of this foreign key column when the row with the primary key
-              it references is deleted , can be :restrict, :cascade, :set_null, or :set_default.
-:on_update :: Specify the behavior of this foreign key column when the row with the primary key
-              it references modifies the value of the primary key, can be
-              :restrict, :cascade, :set_null, or :set_default.
-
-Like +primary_key+, if you provide +foreign_key+ with an array of symbols, it will not create a
-column, but create a foreign key constraint:
-
-  create_table(:artists) do
-    String :name
-    String :location
-    primary_key [:name, :location]
-  end
-  create_table(:albums) do
-    String :artist_name
-    String :artist_location
-    String :name
-    foreign_key [:artist_name, :artist_location], :artists
-  end
-
-==== +index+
-
-+index+ creates indexes on the table.  For single columns, calling index is the same as using the
-<tt>:index</tt> option when creating the column:
-
-  create_table(:a){Integer :id, :index=>true}
-  # Same as:
-  create_table(:a) do
-    Integer :id
-    index :id
-  end
-
-Similar to the +primary_key+ and +foreign_key+ methods, calling +index+ with an array of symbols
-will create a multiple column index:
-
-  create_table(:albums) do
-    primary_key :id
-    foreign_key :artist_id, :artists
-    Integer :position
-    index [:artist_id, :position]
-  end
-
-The +index+ method also accepts some options:
-
-:name :: The name of the index (generated based on the table and column names if not provided).
-:type :: The type of index to use (only supported by some databases)
-:unique :: Make the index unique, so duplicate values are not allowed.
-:where :: Create a partial index (only supported by some databases)
-
-==== +unique+
-
-The +unique+ method creates a unique constraint on the table.  A unique constraint generally
-operates identically to a unique index, so the following three +create_table+ blocks are
-pretty much identical:
-
-  create_table(:a){Integer :a, :unique=>true}
-
-  create_table(:a) do
-    Integer :a
-    index :a, :unique=>true
-  end
-
-  create_table(:a) do
-    Integer :a
-    unique :a
-  end
-
-Just like +index+, +unique+ can set up a multiple column unique constraint, where the
-combination of the columns must be unique:
-
-  create_table(:a) do
-    Integer :a
-    Integer :b
-    unique [:a, :b]
-  end
-
-==== +full_text_index+ and +spatial_index+
-
-Both of these create specialized index types supported by some databases.  They
-both take the same options as +index+.
-
-==== +constraint+
-
-+constraint+ creates a named table constraint:
-
-  create_table(:artists) do
-    primary_key :id
-    String :name
-    constraint(:name_min_length){char_length(name) > 2}
-  end
-  
-Instead of using a block, you can use arguments that will be handled similarly
-to <tt>Dataset#filter</tt>:
-
-  create_table(:artists) do
-    primary_key :id
-    String :name
-    constraint(:name_length_range, :char_length.sql_function(:name)=>3..50)
-  end
-  
-==== +check+
-
-+check+ operates just like +constraint+, except that it doesn't take a name
-and it creates an unnamed constraint
-
-  create_table(:artists) do
-    primary_key :id
-    String :name
-    check{char_length(name) > 2}
-  end
-  
-=== +alter_table+
-
-+alter_table+ is used to alter existing tables, changing their columns, indexes,
-or constraints.  It it used just like +create_table+, accepting a block which
-is instance_evaled, and providing its own methods:
-
-==== +add_column+
-
-One of the most common methods, +add_column+ is used to add a column to the table.
-Its API is similar to that of +create_table+'s +column+ method, where the first
-argument is the column name, the second is the type, and the third is an options
-hash:
-
-  alter_table(:albums) do
-    add_column :copies_sold, Integer, :default=>0
-  end
-
-When adding a column, it's a good idea to provide a default value, unless you
-want the value for all rows to be set to NULL.
-
-==== +drop_column+
-
-As you may expect, +drop_column+ takes a column name and drops the column.  It's
-often used in the +down+ block of a migration to drop a column added in an +up+ block:
-
-  alter_table(:albums) do
-    drop_column :copies_sold
-  end
-
-==== +rename_column+
-
-+rename_column+ is used to rename a column.  It takes the old column name as the first
-argument, and the new column name as the second argument:
-
-  alter_table(:albums) do
-    rename_column :copies_sold, :total_sales
-  end
-
-==== +add_primary_key+
-
-If you forgot to include a primary key on the table, and want to add one later, you
-can use +add_primary_key+.  A common use of this is to make many_to_many association
-join tables into real models:
-
-  alter_table(:albums_artists) do
-    add_primary_key :id
-  end
-
-Just like +create_table+'s +primary_key+ method, if you provide an array of symbols,
-Sequel will not add a column, but will add a composite primary key constraint:
-
-  alter_table(:albums_artists) do
-    add_primary_key [:album_id, :artist_id]
-  end
-
-If you just want to take an existing single column and make it a primary key, call
-+add_primary_key+ with an array with a single symbol:
-
-  alter_table(:artists) do
-    add_primary_key [:id]
-  end
-
-==== +add_foreign_key+
-
-+add_foreign_key+ can be used to add a new foreign key column or constraint to a table.
-Like +add_primary_key+, if you provide it with a symbol as the first argument, it
-creates a new column:
-
-  alter_table(:albums) do
-    add_foreign_key :artist_id, :artists
-  end
-
-If you want to add a new foreign key constraint to an existing column, you provide an
-array with a single element:
-
-  alter_table(:albums) do
-    add_foreign_key [:artist_id], :artists
-  end
-
-To set up a multiple column foreign key constraint, use an array with multiple column
-symbols:
-
-  alter_table(:albums) do
-    add_foreign_key [:artist_name, :artist_location], :artists
-  end
-
-==== +add_index+
-
-+add_index+ works just like +create_table+'s +index+ method, creating a new index on
-the table:
-
-  alter_table(:albums) do
-    add_index :artist_id
-  end
-
-It accepts the same options as +create_table+'s +index+ method, and you can set up
-a multiple column index using an array:
-
-  alter_table(:albums_artists) do
-    add_index [:album_id, :artist_id], :unique=>true
-  end
-
-==== +drop_index+
-
-As you may expect, +drop_index+ drops an existing index:
-
-  alter_table(:albums) do
-    drop_index :artist_id
-  end
-
-Just like +drop_column+, it is often used in the +down+ block of a migration.
-
-==== +add_full_text_index+, +add_spatial_index+
-
-Corresponding to +create_table+'s +full_text_index+ and +spatial_index+ methods,
-these two methods create new indexes on the table.
-
-==== +add_constraint+
-
-This adds a named constraint to the table, similar to +create_table+'s +constraint+
-method:
-
-  alter_table(:albums) do
-    add_constraint(:name_min_length){char_length(name) > 2}
-  end
-
-There is no method to add an unnamed constraint, but you can pass nil as the first
-argument of +add_constraint+ to do so.  However, it's not recommend to do that
-as it is difficult to drop such a constraint.
-
-==== +add_unique_constraint+
-
-This adds a unique constraint to the table, similar to +create_table+'s +unique+
-method.  This usually has the same effect as adding a unique index.
-
-  alter_table(:albums) do
-    add_unique_constraint [:artist_id, :name]
-  end
-
-==== +drop_constraint+
-
-This method drops an existing named constraint:
-
-  alter_table(:albums) do
-    drop_constraint(:name_min_length)
-  end
-
-There is no database independent method to drop an unnamed constraint.  Generally, the
-database will give it a name automatically, and you will have to figure out what it is.
-For that reason, you should not add unnamed constraints that you ever might need to remove.
-
-==== +set_column_default+
-
-This modifies the default value of a column:
-
-  alter_table(:albums) do
-    set_column_default :copies_sold, 0
-  end
-
-==== +set_column_type+
+or they should use the reversible migrations feature with a +change+ block:
 
-This modifies a column's type.  Most databases will attempt to convert existing values in
-the columns to the new type:
-
-  alter_table(:albums) do
-    set_column_type :copies_sold, Bignum
-  end
-
-You can specify the type as a string or symbol, in which case it is used verbatim, or as a supported
-ruby class, in which case it gets converted to an appropriate database type.
-
-==== +set_column_allow_null+
-
-This changes the NULL or NOT NULL setting of a column:
-
-  alter_table(:albums) do
-    set_column_allow_null :artist_id, true    # NULL
-    set_column_allow_null :copies_sold, false # NOT NULL
-  end
-
-=== Other +Database+ schema modification methods
-
-<tt>Sequel::Database</tt> has many schema modification instance methods,
-most of which are shortcuts to the same methods in +alter_table+.  The
-following +Database+ instance methods just call +alter_table+ with a
-block that calls the method with the same name inside the +alter_table+
-block with all arguments after the first argument (which is used as
-the table name):
-
-* +add_column+
-* +drop_column+
-* +rename_column+
-* +add_index+
-* +drop_index+
-* +set_column_default+
-* +set_column_type+
-
-For example, the following two method calls do the same thing:
-
-  alter_table(:artists){add_column :copies_sold, Integer}
-  add_column :artists, :copies_sold, Integer
-
-There are some other schema modification methods that have no +alter_table+
-counterpart:
-
-==== +drop_table+
-
-+drop_table+ takes multiple arguments and treats all arguments as a
-table name to drop:
-
-  drop_table(:albums_artists, :albums, :artists)
-
-Note that when dropping tables, you may need to drop them in a specific order
-if you are using foreign keys and the database is enforcing referential
-integrity.  In general, you need to drop the tables containing the foreign
-keys before the tables containing the primary keys they reference.
-
-==== +rename_table+
-
-You can rename an existing table using +rename_table+.  Like +rename_column+,
-the first argument is the current name, and the second is the new name:
-
-  rename_table(:artist, :artists)
-
-==== <tt>create_table!</tt>
-
-<tt>create_table!</tt> with the bang drops the table unconditionally (swallowing
-any errors) before attempting to create it, so:
-
-  create_table!(:artists)
-    primary_key :id
-  end
-
-is the same as:
-
-  drop_table(:artists) rescue nil
-  create_table(:artists)
-    primary_key :id
-  end
-
-It should not be used inside migrations, as if the table does not exist, it may
-mess up the migration.
-
-==== <tt>create_table?</tt>
-
-<tt>create_table?</tt> with a question mark only creates the table if it does
-not already exist, so:
-
-  create_table!(:artists)
-    primary_key :id
+  Sequel.migration do
+    change{...}
   end
 
-is the same as:
-
-  create_table(:artists)
-    primary_key :id
-  end unless table_exists?(:artists)
-
-Like <tt>create_table!</tt>, it should not be used inside migrations.
-
-==== +create_view+ and +create_or_replace_view+
-
-These can be used to create views.  The difference between them is that
-+create_or_replace_view+ will unconditionally replace an existing view of
-the same name, while +create_view+ will probably raise an error.  Both methods
-take the name as the first argument, and either an string or a dataset as the
-second argument:
-
-  create_view(:gold_albums, DB[:albums].filter{copies_sold > 500000})
-  create_or_replace_view(:gold_albums, "SELECT * FROM albums WHERE copies_sold > 500000")
-
-==== +drop_view+
-
-+drop_view+ drops existing views.  Just like +drop_table+, it can accept multiple
-arguments:
-
-  drop_view(:gold_albums, :platinum_albums)
-
 == What to put in your migration's +down+ block
 
 It's usually easy to determine what you should put in your migration's +up+ block,
 as it's whatever change you want to make to the database.  The +down+ block is
 less obvious.  In general, it should reverse the changes made by the +up+ block, which means
-it should execute the opposite of what the +up+ block does in the reverse order in which 
+it should execute the opposite of what the +up+ block does in the reverse order in which
 the +up+ block does it.  Here's an example where you are switching from having a single
 artist per album to multiple artists per album:
 
@@ -897,8 +412,8 @@ artist per album to multiple artists per album:
       # Insert one row in the albums_artists table
       # for each row in the albums table where there
       # is an associated artist
-      DB[:albums_artists].insert([:album_id, :artist_id],
-       DB[:albums].select(:id, :artist_id).exclude(:artist_id=>nil))
+      self[:albums_artists].insert([:album_id, :artist_id],
+       self[:albums].select(:id, :artist_id).exclude(:artist_id=>nil))
 
       # Drop the now unnecesssary column from the albums table
       drop_column :albums, :artist_id
@@ -910,12 +425,12 @@ artist per album to multiple artists per album:
       # If possible, associate each album with one of the artists
       # it was associated with.  This loses information, but
       # there's no way around that.
-      DB[:albums_artists].
+      self[:albums_artists].
        group(:album_id).
        select{[album_id, max(artist_id).as(artist_id)]}.
        having{artist_id >  0}.
        all do |r|
-         DB[:artists].
+         self[:artists].
           filter(:id=>r[:album_id]).
           update(:artist_id=>r[:artist_id])
        end
@@ -925,12 +440,12 @@ artist per album to multiple artists per album:
     end
   end
 
-Note that the order in which things were done in the +down+ block is in
-reverse order to how they were done in the +up+ block.  Also note how it
-isn't always possible to reverse exactly what was done in the +up+ block.
-You should try to do so as much as possible, but if you can't, you may
-want to have your +down+ block raise a <tt>Sequel::Error</tt> exception
-saying why the migration cannot be reverted.
+Note that the operations performed in the +down+ block are performed in the
+reverse order of how they are performed in the +up+ block.  Also note how it
+isn't always possible to reverse exactly what was done in the +up+ block.  You
+should try to do so as much as possible, but if you can't, you may want to have
+your +down+ block raise a <tt>Sequel::Error</tt> exception saying why the
+migration cannot be reverted.
 
 == Running migrations
 
@@ -1008,17 +523,34 @@ The main difference between the two is that <tt>-d</tt> will use the type method
 with the database independent ruby class types, while <tt>-D</tt> will use
 the +column+ method with string types.
 
-Note that Sequel cannot dump constraints other than primary key constraints,
-so it dumps foreign key columns as plain integers.  If you are using any real
-database features such as foreign keys, constraints, or triggers, you should
-use your database's dump and restore programs instead of Sequel's schema
-dumper.
+Note that Sequel cannot dump constraints other than primary key and possibly
+foreign key constraints constraints.  If you are using database features such
+as constraints or triggers, you should use your database's dump and restore
+programs instead of Sequel's schema dumper.
 
 You can take the migration created by the schema dumper to another computer
 with an empty database, and attempt to recreate the schema using:
 
   sequel -m db/migrations postgres://host/database
 
+== Checking for Current Migrations
+
+In your application code, you may want to check that you are up to date in
+regards to migrations (i.e. you don't have any unapplied migrations).  Sequel
+offers two separate methods to do that.  The first is Sequel::Migrator.check_current.
+This method raises an exception if there are outstanding migrations that need to
+be run.  The second is Sequel::Migrator.is_current?, which returns true if there
+are no outstanding migrations, and false if there are outstanding migrations.
+
+If you want to ensure that your application code is up to date, you may want to
+add the following code after connecting to your database:
+
+  Sequel.extension :migration
+  Sequel::Migrator.check_current(DB, '/path/to/migrations')
+
+This will cause your application to raise an error when you start it if you have
+any outstanding migrations.
+
 == Old-style migration classes
 
 Before the <tt>Sequel.migration</tt> DSL was introduced, Sequel used classes