Introduction to
Active Record
Evan ‘Rabble’ Henshaw-Plath
evan@protest.net - Yahoo! Brickhouse
anarchogeek.com - testingrails.com

Active Record is a
Design Pattern
An object that wraps a row in a database table
or view, encapsulates the database access, and
adds domain logic on that data.

Active Record
the Pattern
Person
last_name
first_name
dependents_count
insert
update
get_exemption
is_flagged_for_audit?
get_taxable_earnings?
Active Record uses the most obvious approach,
putting data access logic in the domain object.
- Martin Fowler

One Class Per Table
The Model Code The Database
class User < ActiveRecord::Base CREATE TABLE `users` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
end
`login` varchar(255),
`email` varchar(255),
`crypted_password` varchar(40),
`salt` varchar(40),
`created_at` datetime default NULL,
`updated_at` datetime default NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB;

One Object Per Row

There Are Other Ways
To Do it
Active Record is
just one ‘Data Source
Architectural Pattern’
• Table Data Gateway
• Row Data Gateway
• Data Mapper
• The Anti-Patterns

Standard Active Record
• Direct mapping to the DB
• Class to table
• Object to row
• Simple, no relationship between objects
• Just a finder method with getters and setters

ActiveRecord
the ruby library
Active Record is
a library built
for Ruby on Rails.
Makes CRUD Easy
Create
Read
Update
Delete

ActiveRecord
the ruby library
I have never seen an Active Record
implementation as complete
or as useful as rails. - Martin Fowler

Rails’ ActiveRecord
• DRY Conventions & Assumptions
• Validations
• Before and after filters
• Database Agnostic (mostly)
• Migrations
• Model relationships
• has_many, belongs_to, etc...

What Active
Record Likes
• mapping class names to
table names
• pluralized table names
• integer primary keys
• classname_id foreign keys
• simple schemas
• single table inheritance

Active Record
Doesn’t Like
• views
• stored procedures
• foreign key constraints
• cascading commits
• split or clustered db’s
• enums

The Basics
./app/models/user.rb Loading a user
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
>> user_obj = User.find(2)
end
=> #<User:0x352e8bc
@attributes=
{"salt"=>"d9ef...",
The SQL Log "updated_at"=>"2007-04-19 10:49:15",
"crypted_password"=>"9c1...",
User Load (0.003175) "id"=>"2",
SELECT * FROM users "remember_token"=>"a8d...",
WHERE (users.id = 2) LIMIT 1 "login"=>"rabble",
"created_at"=>"2007-04-19 10:49:15",
"email"=>"evan@protest.net"}>

The Find Method
Find is the primary method of Active Record
Examples:
User.find(23)
User.find(:first)
User.find(:all, :offset => 10, :limit => 10)
User.find(:all, :include => [:account, :friends])
User.find(:all, :conditions =>
[“category in (?), categories, :limit => 50)
User.find(:first).articles

The Four Ways of Find
Find by id: This can either be a specific id (1), a list of ids (1, 5,
6), or an array of ids ([5, 6, 10]).
Find first: This will return the first record matched by the
options used.
Find all: This will return all the records matched by the options
used.
Indirectly: The find method is used for AR lookups via
associations.

Understanding Find
Model#find(:all, { parameters hash }
What Find Does:
* generates sql
* executes sql
* returns an enumerable (array like object)
* creates an AR model object for each row

Find with :conditions
:conditions - An SQL fragment like
"administrator = 1" or [ "user_name = ?", username ].
Student.find(:all, :conditions =>
[‘first_name = ? and status = ?’ ‘rabble’, 1])
New Style (Edge Rails Only)
Student.find(:all, :conditions => {:first_name => “rabble”, :status => 1})
SQL Executed:
SELECT * FROM students WHERE (first_name = 'rabble' and status = 1);

Order By
:order - An SQL fragment like "created_at DESC,
name".
Student.find(:all, :order => ‘updated_at DESC’)
SQL Executed:
SELECT * FROM users ORDER BY created_at;

Group By
:group - An attribute name by which the result
should be grouped. Uses the GROUP BY SQL-clause.
Student.find(:all, :group => ‘graduating_class’)
SQL Executed:
SELECT * FROM users GROUP BY graduating_class;

Limit & Offset
:limit - An integer determining the limit on the
number of rows that should be returned.
:offset- An integer determining the offset from
where the rows should be fetched. So at 5, it would
skip the first 4 rows.
Student.find(:all, :limit => 10, :offset => 0)
SQL Executed:
SELECT * FROM users LIMIT 0, 10;

Joins
:joins - An SQL fragment for additional joins like "LEFT JOIN
comments ON comments.post_id = id". (Rarely needed).
Student.find(:all, :join =>
"LEFT JOIN comments ON comments.post_id = id")
SQL Executed:
SELECT users.* FROM users, comments LEFT JOIN comments
ON comments.post_id = users.id;
Returns read only objects unless you say :readonly => false

Alternative Finds
find_by_sql
find_by_attribute_and_attribute2
find_or_create
Depreciated Find’s
find_first
find_all
find_on_conditions

Associations
The Four Primary Associations
belongs_to
has_one
has_many
has_and_belongs_to_many
class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to
:portfolio
has_one
:project_manager
has_many
:milestones
has_and_belongs_to_many
:categories
end

Associations
One to One
has_one & belongs_to
Many to One
has_many & belongs_to
Many to Many
has_and_belongs_to_many
has_many :through

One to One
Use has_one in the base, and belongs_to in the
associated model.
class Employee < ActiveRecord::Base
has_one :office
end
class Office < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :employee # foreign key - employee_id
end

One To One Example
>> joe_employee = Employee.find_by_first_name('joe')
SELECT * FROM employees
WHERE (employees.`first_name` = 'joe') LIMIT 1
=> #<Employee:0x36beb14 @attributes={"id"=>"1", "first_name"=>"joe",
"last_name"=>"schmo", "created_at"=>"2007-04-21 09:08:59"}>
>> joes_office = joe_employee.office
SELECT * FROM offices WHERE (offices.employee_id = 1) LIMIT 1
=> #<Office:0x36bc06c @attributes={"employee_id"=>"1", "id"=>"1",
"created_at"=>"2007-04-21 09:11:44", "location"=>"A4302"}>
>> joes_office.employee
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE (employees.`id` = 1)
=> #<Employee:0x36b6ef0 @attributes={"id"=>"1", "first_name"=>"joe",
"last_name"=>"schmo", "created_at"=>"2007-04-21 09:08:59"}>

belongs_to
One to One Relationship.
Use belong to when the foreign key is in THIS table.
• Post#author (similar to Author.find(author_id) )
• Post#author=(author) (similar to post.author_id =
author.id)
• Post#author? (similar to post.author == some_author)
• Post#author.nil?
• Post#build_author (similar to post.author =
Author.new)
• Post#create_author (similar to post.author = Author;
post.author.save;

Defining belongs_to
class Employee < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :firm, :foreign_key => "client_of"
belongs_to :author, :class_name => "Person", :foreign_key => "author_id"
belongs_to :valid_coupon, :class_name => "Coupon",
:foreign_key => "coupon_id", :conditions => 'discounts > #{payments_count}'
belongs_to :attachable, :polymorphic => true
end

has_one
One to One Relationship.
Use has_one when the foreign key is in the OTHER table.
• Account#beneficiary (similar to Beneficiary.find
(:first, :conditions => "account_id = #{id}"))
• Account#beneficiary=(beneficiary) (similar to
beneficiary.account_id = account.id; beneficiary.save)
• Account#beneficiary.nil?
• Account#build_beneficiary (similar to Beneficiary.new
("account_id" => id))
• Account#create_beneficiary (similar to b =
Beneficiary.new("account_id" => id); b.save; b)

Defining has_one
class Employee < ActiveRecord::Base
# destroys the associated credit card
has_one :credit_card, :dependent => :destroy
# updates the associated records foreign key value to null rather than destroying it
has_one :credit_card, :dependent => :nullify
has_one :last_comment, :class_name => "Comment", :order => "posted_on"
has_one :project_manager, :class_name => "Person",
:conditions => "role = 'project_manager'"
has_one :attachment, :as => :attachable
end

One to Many
One-to-many
Use has_many in the base, and belongs_to in
the associated model.
class Manager < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :employees
end
class Employee < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :manager # foreign key - manager_id
end

One to Many
>> benevolent_dictator = Manager.find(:first, :conditions => ['name = "DHH"'])
SELECT * FROM managers WHERE (name = "DHH") LIMIT 1
=> #<Manager:0x369b7b8 @attributes={"name"=>"DHH", "id"=>"1",
"created_at"=>"2007-04-21 09:59:24"}>
>> minions = benevolent_dictator.employees
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE (employees.manager_id = 1)
=> [#<Employee:0x36926a4 @attributes={"manager_id"=>"1", "id"=>"1",
"first_name"=>"joe", "last_name"=>"schmo", "created_at"=>"2007-04-21
09:08:59"}>,
#<Employee:0x36925f0 @attributes={"manager_id"=>"1", "id"=>"2",
"first_name"=>"funky", "last_name"=>"monkey", "created_at"=>"2007-04-21
09:58:20"}>]

has_many
Augmenting the Model
• Firm#clients (similar to Clients.find :all, :conditions =>
"firm_id = #{id}")
• Firm#clients<<
• Firm#clients.delete
• Firm#client_ids
• Firm#client_ids=
• Firm#clients=

has_many
• Firm#client.clear
• Firm#clients.empty? (similar to firm.clients.size
== 0)
• Firm#clients.size (similar to Client.count
"firm_id = #{id}")
• Firm#clients.find (similar to Client.find(id, :conditions
=> "firm_id = #{id}"))
• Firm#clients.build (similar to Client.new
("firm_id" => id))
• Firm#clients.create (similar to c = Client.new
("firm_id" => id); c.save; c)

has_many examples
class Employee < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :comments, :order => "posted_on"
has_many :comments, :include => :author
has_many :people, :class_name => "Person", :conditions => "deleted = 0", :order => "name"
has_many :tracks, :order => "position", :dependent => :destroy
has_many :comments, :dependent => :nullify
has_many :tags, :as => :taggable
has_many :subscribers, :through => :subscriptions, :source => :user
has_many :subscribers, :class_name => "Person", :finder_sql =>
'SELECT DISTINCT people.* ' +
'FROM people p, post_subscriptions ps ' +
'WHERE ps.post_id = #{id} AND ps.person_id = p.id ' +
'ORDER BY p.first_name'
end

Many to Many
Simple Joiner Table
has_and_belongs_to_many
Joiner Model
has_many :through

has_and_belongs_to_many
The Simple Joiner Table Way

has_and_belongs_to_many
neglected
by
rails-core

has_and_belongs_to_many
Augmenting the Model
• Developer#projects
• Developer#projects<<
• Developer#projects.delete
• Developer#projects=
• Developer#projects_ids
• Developer#projects_ids=
• Developer#clear

has_and_belongs_to_many
• Developer#projects.empty?
• Developer#projects.size
• Developer#projects.find(id) # Also find(:first / :all)
• Developer#projects.build #(similar to Project.new
("project_id" => id))
• Developer#projects.create (similar to c =
Project.new("project_id" => id); c.save; c)

habtm example
create_table :developers do |t|
t.column :name, :string
t.column :created_at, :datetime
end
create_table :projects do |t|
t.column :name, :string
t.column :created_at, :datetime
end
create_table(:developers_projects, :id => false) do |t|
t.column :developer_id, :integer
t.column :project_id, :integer
end

habtm example
>> d = Developer.find(1)
SELECT * FROM developers WHERE (developers.`id` = 1)
=> #<Developer:0x32bc7dc @attributes={"name"=>"rabble", "id"=>"1",
"created_at"=>nil}>
>> d.projects
SELECT * FROM projects INNER JOIN developers_projects ON projects.id =
developers_projects.project_id WHERE (developers_projects.developer_id = 1 )
=> [#<Project:0x3257cc4
@attributes=
{"name"=>"ragi",
"project_id"=>"1",
"id"=>"1",
"developer_id"=>"1",
"created_at"=>nil}>,
#<Project:0x3257c10
@attributes=
{"name"=>"acts_as_autenticated",
"project_id"=>"3",
"id"=>"3",
"developer_id"=>"1",
"created_at"=>nil}>]

has_many :through
DHH’s
One True Way
of Many to Many

has_many :through
Full Joiner Model

has_many :through
class Appearance < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :dancer
belongs_to :movie
end
class Dancer < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :appearances, :dependent => true
has_many :movies, :through => :appearances
end
class Movie < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :appearances, :dependent => true
has_many :dancers, :through => :appearances
end

Validations
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
validates_confirmation_of :login, :password
validates_confirmation_of :email,
:message => "should match confirmation"
validates_format_of :email,
:with => /A([^@s]+)@((?:[-a-z0-9]+.)+[a-z]{2,})/i,
:on => :create
end

Validations
• Keeping Data Clean
• In object validation of fields, calculated
validations
• Instead of key constraints
• The database is for storage, the model is for
the business logic
• Kinds of validations, custom validations, etc...

But Wait?
• Aren’t format, presence, relationship
validations supposed to be the database’s
job?
• Traditionally, yes.
• ActiveRecord does constraints in the
model, not the database

But Why?
• Validations & Constraints are Business Logic
• Business logic should be in the model
• It makes things easy
• End users can get useful error messages
• Makes the postback pattern work well

Data Integrity?
• It’s still possible to do constraints in the db
• But it’s not as necessary
• Validations are constraints which make
sense in terms of functionality of the app
• The rails ways is to just use validations
• Most DBA’s insist on foreign_key
constraints

What AR Returns?
• Arrays of Model Objects
• Preselects and instantiates objects
• Nifty methods: to_yaml, to_xml, to_json

Output Formats
ruby - inspect to_yaml
#<Employee:0x36926a4 --- !ruby/object:Employee
@attributes= attributes:
{"manager_id"=>"1", manager_id: "1"
"id"=>"1", id: "1"
"first_name"=>"joe", first_name: joe
"last_name"=>"schmo", last_name: schmo
"created_at"=>"2007-04-21 09:08:59"}> created_at: 2007-04-21 09:08:59
to_xml to_json
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
{attributes:
<employee>
{manager_id: "1",
<created-at
id: "1",
type="datetime">2007-04-21T09:08:59-07:00</
created-at> first_name: "joe",
<first-name>joe</first-name>
last_name: "schmo",
<id type="integer">1</id>
created_at: "2007-04-21 09:08:59"}}
<last-name>schmo</last-name>
<manager-id type="integer">1</manager-id>
</employee>

Before & After
Callbacks
* (-) save
class Subscription < ActiveRecord::Base
* (-) valid?
before_create :record_signup
* (1) before_validation
private * (2) before_validation_on_create
def record_signup * (-) validate
self.signed_up_on = Date.today
* (-) validate_on_create
end
* (3) after_validation
end
* (4) after_validation_on_create
* (5) before_save
class Firm < ActiveRecord::Base
# Destroys the associated clients and * (6) before_create
#people when the firm is destroyed * (-) create
before_destroy { * (7) after_create
|record| Person.destroy_all "firm_id = #{record.id}" }
* (8) after_save
before_destroy {
|record| Client.destroy_all "client_of = #{record.id}" }
end

Optimizing AR
• Eager Loading
• Use Memecached
• Add index to your migrations

Security

Doing it Securely
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
def self.authenticate_unsafely(user_name, password)
find(:first, :conditions =>
"user_name = '#{user_name}' AND password = '#{password}'")
end
def self.authenticate_safely(user_name, password)
find(:first, :conditions =>
[ "user_name = ? AND password = ?", user_name, password ])
end
# Edge Rails Only (Rails 2.0)
def self.authenticate_safely_simply(user_name, password)
find(:first, :conditions =>
{ :user_name => user_name, :password => password })
end
end

Use The ActiveRecord Relationships
Anti-Pattern #1: Manually specifying the IDs when you construct the queries;
def show
unless @todo_list = TodoList.find_by_id_and_user_id(params[:id], current_user.id)
redirect_to '/'
end
Anti-Pattern #2: Querying globally, then checking ownership after the fact;
def show
@todo_list = TodoList.find(params[:id])
redirect_to '/' unless @todo_list.user_id = current_user.id
end
Anti-Pattern #3: Abusing with_scope for a this simple case either directly, or in an around_filter.
def show
with_scope(:find=>{:user_id=>current_user.id}) do
@todo_list = TodoList.find(params[:id])
end
end
Best Practice: The most effective way to do this is to call find on the todo_lists association.
def show
@todo_list = current_user.todo_lists.find(params[:id])
end
Examples Stolen From: http://www.therailsway.com/2007/3/26/association-proxies-are-your-friend

Create Via Association Proxies
The Bad Way
def create
@todo_list = TodoList.new(params[:todo_list])
@todo_list.user_id = current_user.id
@todo_list.save!
redirect_to todo_list_url(@todo_list)
end
A Better Way: Use association proxies for creation.
def create
@todo_list = current_user.todo_lists.create! params[:todo_list]
redirect_to todo_list_url(@todo_list)
end
The Best Practice - Handle exceptions for the user.
def create
@todo_list = current_user.todo_lists.build params[:todo_list]
if @todo_list.save
redirect_to todo_list_url(@todo_list)
else
render :action=>'new'
end
end Examples Stolen From: http://www.therailsway.com/2007/3/26/association-proxies-are-your-friend

Special Fields
* created_at * #{table_name}_count
* position
* created_on
* parent_id
* updated_at
* lft
* updated_on
* rgt
* lock_version
* quote
* type
* template
* id

Table Inheritance
Class Table Inheritance: Represents an inheritance
hierarchy of classes with one table for each class1.
Single Table Inheritance: Represents an inheritance
hierarchy of classes as a single table that has
columns for all the fields of the various classes2.
Concrete Table Inheritance: Represents an
inheritance hierarchy of classes with one table per
concrete class in the hierarchy

STI - Single Table Inheritance
Represents an inheritance hierarchy of classes as a single
table that has columns for all the fields of the various classes.

STI - Single Table Inheritance
CREATE TABLE `companies` (
class Company < ActiveRecord::Base; end
`id` int(11) default NULL,
class Firm < Company; end
`name` varchar(255) default NULL,
class Client < Company; end `type` varchar(32) default NULL
class PriorityClient < Client; end )
Company.find(:first)
SELECT * FROM companies LIMIT 1;
Firm.find(:first)
SELECT * FROM companies WHERE type = ‘firm’ LIMIT 1;

Legacy Databases
How to do legacy databases with Active Record?
http://sl33p3r.free.fr/tutorials/rails/legacy/legacy_databases.html

Supporting Legacy DB’s
class CustomerNote < ActiveRecord::Base
set_primary_key "client_comment_id"
set_sequence_name "FooBarSequences"
def self.table_name() "client_comment" end
def body
read_attribute "client_comment_body"
end
def body=(value)
write_attribute "client_comment_body", value
end
end
Thanks to: http://www.robbyonrails.com/articles/2005/07/25/the-legacy-of-databases-with-rails

Changing ActiveRecord
Modify Active Record
ActiveRecord::Base.table_name_prefix = "my_"
ActiveRecord::Base.table_name_suffix = "_table"
ActiveRecord::Base.pluralize_table_names = false
Fixing the Auto-Increment / Sequence Problem
module ActiveRecord
module ActiveRecord
module ConnectionAdapters
class Base
class MysqlAdapter
class << self
def prefetch_primary_key?(table_name = nil)
def reset_sequence_name
true
"#{table_name}_sequence"
end
end
end
end
end
end
end
end
Thanks to: http://fora.pragprog.com/rails-recipes/write-your-own/post/84

Changing ActiveRecord
Telling ActiveRecord to fetch the primary key
module ActiveRecord
module ConnectionAdapters
class MysqlAdapter
def prefetch_primary_key?(table_name = nil)
true
end
def next_sequence_value(sequence_name)
sql = "UPDATE #{ sequence_name} SET Id=LAST_INSERT_ID(Id+1);"
update(sql, "#{sequence_name} Update")
select_value("SELECT Id from #{ sequence_name}",'Id')
end
end
end
Thanks to: http://fora.pragprog.com/rails-recipes/write-your-own/post/84

Ruby on Rails
AR Alternatives
Ruby DataMapper
iBatis - rBatis

Ruby DataMapper
http://rubyforge.org/projects/datamapper
class FasterAuthor < DataMapper::Base
set_table_name 'authors'
property :name, :string, :size => 100
property :url, :string, :size => 255
property :is_active?, :boolean
property :email, :string, :size => 255
property :hashed_pass, :string, :size => 40
property :created_at, :datetime
property :modified_at, :datetime
has_many :posts, :class => 'FasterPost' # :foreign_key => 'post_id'
# prepends HTTP to a URL if necessary
def self.prepend_http(url = '')
if url and url != '' and not(url =~ /^http/i)
url = 'http://' + url
end
return url
end
end

iBatis - rBatis
iBatis for Ruby (RBatis) is a port of Apache's iBatis library to Ruby
and Ruby on Rails. It is an O/R-mapper that allows for complete
customization of SQL. http://ibatis.apache.org
Not Very DRY / Rails Like

Drink the Kool aid?

Flickr Photos Used:
http://flickr.com/photos/brraveheart/114402291/
http://flickr.com/photos/ryangreenberg/57722319/
http://flickr.com/photos/bright/253175260/
http://flickr.com/photos/benandliz/11065337/
http://flickr.com/photos/good_day/63617697/
http://flickr.com/photos/gaspi/12944421/
http://flickr.com/photos/rickharris/416150393/
http://flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/221827536/
http://flickr.com/photos/babasteve/3322247/
http://flickr.com/photos/brianboulos/7707518/
http://flickr.com/photos/olivander/28058685/
http://flickr.com/photos/ross/28330560/
http://flickr.com/photos/brraveheart/44052308/
http://flickr.com/photos/emdot/45249090/
http://flickr.com/photos/ednothing/142393509/
http://flickr.com/photos/farhang/428136695/
http://flickr.com/photos/alltheaces/87505524/
http://flickr.com/photos/belljar/67877047/
http://flickr.com/photos/alfr3do/7436142/
http://flickr.com/photos/pulpolux/34545782/
http://flickr.com/photos/gdominici/57975123/
http://flickr.com/photos/monkeyc/107979135/
http://flickr.com/photos/josefstuefer/72512671/
http://flickr.com/photos/pedrosimoes7/449314732/
http://flickr.com/photos/uqbar/105440294/
http://flickr.com/photos/dincordero/405452471/
http://flickr.com/photos/auntiep/17135231/
http://flickr.com/photos/andidfl/203883534/
http://flickr.com/photos/einsame_spitze/406992131/
http://flickr.com/photos/ivanomak/434387836/
http://flickr.com/photos/beija-flor/63758047/
http://flickr.com/photos/nrvica/23858419/
http://flickr.com/photos/amerune/174617912/
http://flickr.com/photos/thespeak/137012632/
http://flickr.com/photos/hungry_i/47938311/
http://flickr.com/photos/thowi/31533027/
http://flickr.com/photos/santos/13952912/
http://flickr.com/photos/thelifeofbryan/468557520/
http://flickr.com/photos/supermietzi/179962496/
http://flickr.com/photos/eecue/289208982/
http://flickr.com/photos/traveller2020/206931940/
http://flickr.com/photos/estherase/14110154/
http://flickr.com/photos/ko_an/318906221/
http://flickr.com/photos/ehnmark/118117670/

Questions?
Introduction to
Active Record
Evan ‘Rabble’ Henshaw-Plath
evan@protest.net - Yahoo! Brickhouse
anarchogeek.com - testingrails.com