Possible rails -> postgresql bug

Rails
1

Hi I have a problem accessing an array field in a Postgresql database.

Here is the table definition.

        View "neil.flashing_codes"
Column    |         Type          | Modifiers

-------------±----------------------±----------
code | character varying(10) |
description | text |
folds | integer[] |
View definition:
SELECT flashings.code, max(flashings.description::text) AS
description, array_accum(flashings.folds) AS folds
FROM flashings
GROUP BY flashings.code;

Here is a sample of the records.

select * from flashing_codes limit 10;
code | description | folds
----------±-----------------------------------------±--------------------
SG.05A | ALUMINIUM FLASHING C/B GIRTH 520MM FOLDS | {1,0,2,3,4,5,6}
DN.03Z | .6MM FLASHING Z/A GIRTH 200MM FOLDS | {0,6,5,4,3,2,1}
SR.05G | .6MM FLASHING GAL GIRTH 300MM FOLDS | {5,4,3,2,1,0,6}
RR.06Z | .6MM FLASHING Z/A GIRTH 400MM FOLDS | {6,5,4,3,2,1,0}
RR.05G | .6MM FLASHING GAL GIRTH 300MM FOLDS | {6,5,4,3,2,1,0}
RR.09C | .6MM FLASHING C/B GIRTH 600MM FOLDS | {6,5,4,3,2,1,0}
BS.09C | .6MM FLASHING C/B GIRTH 600MM FOLDS |
{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}
DN.TAPER | TAPPER CUTTING AND FOLDING SURCHARGE | {}
ST.13G | .6MM FLASHING GAL 601-800MM FOLDS | {0,1,2,3,4,5,6}
SR.06C | .6MM FLASHING C/B GIRTH 400MM FOLDS | {0,6,5,4,3,2,1}
(10 rows)

In the view as part of the debug I put this
<%=h @flashing.inspect() %>
which gave this result.
#<FlashingCode:0xb78791b8 @attributes={“code”=>“SR.05G”,
“description”=>".6MM FLASHING GAL GIRTH 300MM FOLDS",
“folds”=>"{5,4,3,2,1,0,6}"}>

Here is what the problem is this
<%=h @flashing.folds.inspect() if @flashing %>
only gives this as a result.
0

I can’t get the data from the folds array. I have no trouble getting
any of the other fields in this view, or any other table/view I have
setup.

Can anyone give me an idea what’s going on?

Regards Neil.

2

On 2/19/06, Neil D. [email protected] wrote:

SG.05A | ALUMINIUM FLASHING C/B GIRTH 520MM FOLDS | {1,0,2,3,4,5,6}
only gives this as a result.
0

I can’t get the data from the folds array. I have no trouble getting
any of the other fields in this view, or any other table/view I have setup.

Can anyone give me an idea what’s going on?

Regards Neil.

http://dev.rubyonrails.org/ticket/3272

PostgreSQLAdapter isn’t aware of array types, and translate_field_type
returns incorrect results, because of wrong assumption, that only size
constraints can follow column type name, so when you access model
field - @flashing.folds - Column#type_cast tries to parse this value
it as integer, so you receive 0. Btw, what returns @flashing[:folds] ?

To fix it add a check if column type is array and treat them as
strings,
(“fixing” code for ticket #3272 is a bit incorrect, but following
should work ok)
in
activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb,
around line 449:

def translate_field_type(field_type)
# Match the beginning of field_type since it may have a size
constraint on the end.
case field_type
when /[]$/ then ‘string’ # XXX as arrays aren’t
supported, treat them as strings
when /^timestamp/i then ‘datetime’

This fix will give you string representation of your array, but to
access and modify elements in it you’ll have to parse it yourself -
define own getter/setter or extend Column#type_cast and Quoting#quote
to handle arrays.

HTH

3

Lugovoi N. wrote:

code | description | folds
Here is what the problem is this

(“fixing” code for ticket #3272 is a bit incorrect, but following
when /^timestamp/i then ‘datetime’

This fix will give you string representation of your array, but to
access and modify elements in it you’ll have to parse it yourself -
define own getter/setter or extend Column#type_cast and Quoting#quote
to handle arrays.

that worked to fix the problem.
I used the
@flashing[:folds].delete(’{}’).split(’,’)
to convert to an array.

could something like this be put in into the postgresql_adapter.rb file
somewhere? Maybe as its constructing up the hash for output.