Comments on: Structural Data in Rails http://barelyenough.org/blog/2006/03/structural-data-in-rails/ Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:26:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Peter Williams » Blog Archive » Rake is Sweet http://barelyenough.org/blog/2006/03/structural-data-in-rails/#comment-15053 Peter Williams » Blog Archive » Rake is Sweet Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:31:30 +0000 http://pezra.barelyenough.org/blog/?p=220#comment-15053 <p>[...] There is one slight issue with using migrations to manage foundation data, though. Only the structure of the development database gets automatically copied to the test database. So the code that requires the foundation data will fail its tests because that data does not exist. I have run into this problem before. That time I solved it by changing the way Rails creates the test database such that it used the migrations rather than copying the development database’s structure. It is a very nice approach but unfortunately it does not work for my current project. [...]</p> […] There is one slight issue with using migrations to manage foundation data, though. Only the structure of the development database gets automatically copied to the test database. So the code that requires the foundation data will fail its tests because that data does not exist. I have run into this problem before. That time I solved it by changing the way Rails creates the test database such that it used the migrations rather than copying the development database’s structure. It is a very nice approach but unfortunately it does not work for my current project. […]

]]> By: Peter Williams http://barelyenough.org/blog/2006/03/structural-data-in-rails/#comment-10316 Peter Williams Wed, 14 Feb 2007 01:04:38 +0000 http://pezra.barelyenough.org/blog/?p=220#comment-10316 <p>This plug-in is, for all intents and purposes, an orphan. I am not longer associated with the project in which it originated and I don't have any need of it in my current projects. Please feel free to take it and modify it if you are so inclined</p> <p>This plugin, as provided here, will only work against rails 1.0. That means it will require some, probably significant, effort to port it to a more modern Rails. Given all that you might consider Mr. Voorhis' suggestion of using fixtures for this purpose. It would probably be easier.</p> This plug-in is, for all intents and purposes, an orphan. I am not longer associated with the project in which it originated and I don’t have any need of it in my current projects. Please feel free to take it and modify it if you are so inclined

This plugin, as provided here, will only work against rails 1.0. That means it will require some, probably significant, effort to port it to a more modern Rails. Given all that you might consider Mr. Voorhis’ suggestion of using fixtures for this purpose. It would probably be easier.

]]> By: Jason http://barelyenough.org/blog/2006/03/structural-data-in-rails/#comment-10302 Jason Tue, 13 Feb 2007 19:15:16 +0000 http://pezra.barelyenough.org/blog/?p=220#comment-10302 <p>Is this thread still alive ? I am running version 1.1.4 of rails, and the shield_nonfixture_data is not working for me. I think it needs to be updated. Can anyone help ?</p> Is this thread still alive ? I am running version 1.1.4 of rails, and the shield_nonfixture_data is not working for me. I think it needs to be updated. Can anyone help ?

]]> By: Peter Williams http://barelyenough.org/blog/2006/03/structural-data-in-rails/#comment-2072 Peter Williams Sun, 13 Aug 2006 20:09:10 +0000 http://pezra.barelyenough.org/blog/?p=220#comment-2072 <p>Jonathon, I have not used RadRails very much and not at all in a long time so unfortunatly I do not have any ideas about what might be the problem.</p> Jonathon, I have not used RadRails very much and not at all in a long time so unfortunatly I do not have any ideas about what might be the problem.

]]> By: Jonathan http://barelyenough.org/blog/2006/03/structural-data-in-rails/#comment-2067 Jonathan Sat, 12 Aug 2006 19:25:42 +0000 http://pezra.barelyenough.org/blog/?p=220#comment-2067 <p>Nice work, it's hard to believe rails has no support for this itself! However, I'm having a slight problem. When I enable the migration with test database, "rake test" works fine. However, when I execute "all tests" in radrails 0.7, the IDE completely blocks (I have to close it forcefully). I know this is probably a problem with radrails, but maybe you have some idea?</p> Nice work, it’s hard to believe rails has no support for this itself! However, I’m having a slight problem. When I enable the migration with test database, “rake test” works fine. However, when I execute “all tests” in radrails 0.7, the IDE completely blocks (I have to close it forcefully). I know this is probably a problem with radrails, but maybe you have some idea?

]]> By: Paul Legato http://barelyenough.org/blog/2006/03/structural-data-in-rails/#comment-905 Paul Legato Mon, 29 May 2006 18:47:40 +0000 http://pezra.barelyenough.org/blog/?p=220#comment-905 <p>Peter, Thanks for the code! This is <em>exactly</em> what I've been looking for.</p> <p>Though I haven't worked on the fixture protection piece yet, I've ported the rakefile to 1.1.2 format. It took a little more work than I expected, since Rake doesn't allow one to (easily) delete or redefine tasks, only enhance them. The updated rakefile is at http://www.bluevoodoomagic.com/migration_schema_type.rake and it should be backwards-compatible with earlier versions of Rails.</p> Peter,
Thanks for the code! This is exactly what I’ve been looking for.

Though I haven’t worked on the fixture protection piece yet, I’ve ported the rakefile to 1.1.2 format. It took a little more work than I expected, since Rake doesn’t allow one to (easily) delete or redefine tasks, only enhance them. The updated rakefile is at
http://www.bluevoodoomagic.com/migration_schema_type.rake and it should be backwards-compatible with earlier versions of Rails.

]]> By: Peter Williams http://barelyenough.org/blog/2006/03/structural-data-in-rails/#comment-719 Peter Williams Thu, 04 May 2006 23:06:52 +0000 http://pezra.barelyenough.org/blog/?p=220#comment-719 <p>Blair,</p> <p>It does not work on 1.1.2. I don't think it would be particularly hard to make it work on 1.1.2 but I have not ported it.</p> Blair,

It does not work on 1.1.2. I don’t think it would be particularly hard to make it work on 1.1.2 but I have not ported it.

]]> By: Blair Zajac http://barelyenough.org/blog/2006/03/structural-data-in-rails/#comment-717 Blair Zajac Thu, 04 May 2006 19:46:31 +0000 http://pezra.barelyenough.org/blog/?p=220#comment-717 <p>Does this work against Ruby on Rails 1.1.2? I just tried it against my application and it doesn't work:</p> <p>$ psql -U spi-ed-test spi-ed-test 0 AND NOT a.attisdropped ORDER BY a.attnum from</p> <p>It doesn't appear to be running the migrations.</p> <p>They redid much of the rake in the 1.0 to 1.1 transition, so maybe this plugin only works with 1.0?</p> <p>Also, to clear the database, it would be nice to use the reverse migration by passing nil to the migrate function:</p> <p>ActiveRecord::Migrator.migrate("db/migrate/", nil)</p> <p>Also, consider putting this plugin in the wiki at</p> <p>http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/Plugins</p> <p>so more people can find it. It was only through Googling that I refound this blog.</p> <p>Regards, Blair</p> Does this work against Ruby on Rails 1.1.2? I just tried
it against my application and it doesn’t work:

$ psql -U spi-ed-test spi-ed-test 0 AND NOT a.attisdropped
ORDER BY a.attnum
from

It doesn’t appear to be running the migrations.

They redid much of the rake in the 1.0 to 1.1 transition, so maybe
this plugin only works with 1.0?

Also, to clear the database, it would be nice to use the reverse
migration by passing nil to the migrate function:

ActiveRecord::Migrator.migrate(”db/migrate/”, nil)

Also, consider putting this plugin in the wiki at

http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/Plugins

so more people can find it. It was only through Googling that I
refound this blog.

Regards,
Blair

]]> By: Peter Williams http://barelyenough.org/blog/2006/03/structural-data-in-rails/#comment-626 Peter Williams Fri, 31 Mar 2006 18:27:28 +0000 http://pezra.barelyenough.org/blog/?p=220#comment-626 <p>Interesting approach... I can see this that the migration approach might become an issue with large amounts of data.</p> <p>Did you have any purely test data for the tables that contained this large set of structural/application data? Or did you rely on the real data being sufficient varied to support effective testing?</p> Interesting approach… I can see this that the migration approach might become an issue with large amounts of data.

Did you have any purely test data for the tables that contained this large set of structural/application data? Or did you rely on the real data being sufficient varied to support effective testing?

]]> By: Jeremy Voorhis http://barelyenough.org/blog/2006/03/structural-data-in-rails/#comment-625 Jeremy Voorhis Fri, 31 Mar 2006 17:30:14 +0000 http://pezra.barelyenough.org/blog/?p=220#comment-625 <p>Yup. Having vital structural data (or application data as I call it) not managed by SCM is deadly. Migrations are one approach that definitely works quite well for a smaller amount of data. Another approach we have taken at PLANET ARGON is to keep a separate directory of fixtures containing information for structural data, along with a Rake task to manage that structural data.</p> <p>For the Globalize plugin (http://globalize-rails.org/), we had a large dataset (read: nearly 4000 records) managed by a migration. I found this data much easier to manage after making a custom set of Rake tasks and separating the data into its own directory. Rake is good.</p> Yup. Having vital structural data (or application data as I call it) not managed by SCM is deadly. Migrations are one approach that definitely works quite well for a smaller amount of data. Another approach we have taken at PLANET ARGON is to keep a separate directory of fixtures containing information for structural data, along with a Rake task to manage that structural data.

For the Globalize plugin (http://globalize-rails.org/), we had a large dataset (read: nearly 4000 records) managed by a migration. I found this data much easier to manage after making a custom set of Rake tasks and separating the data into its own directory. Rake is good.

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