Running external scripts that know about a minimal Rails env

Rails
1

I’ve been exploring the options for running external scripts from the
Rails env.

The list I have is this:

Cron
ScriptRunner (in the script/ dir under rails projects)
RailsCron

The most likely candidate for me is the ScriptRunner because my external
script needs to know about a model which it has to save to the database
from my Rails environment, and it needs to start running as soon as I
tell it to. Unfortunately, running this external command many times in
a row is a bottleneck since each ScriptRunner instance has to load up
the entire rails env.

What I’m wondering is what is the easiest way to create a script which
knows only about the model I need to work with, and it’s database
location, so that my script doesn’t need to load the entire Rails env.

I’m thinking if I can load the activerecord gem with a slim config
setup, that might work, but I’m not sure how to use activerecord outside
the context of the Rail’s env.

Anyone else ever tackle this issue?

2

On 4/3/06, Nate A. [email protected] wrote:

script needs to know about a model which it has to save to the database
setup, that might work, but I’m not sure how to use activerecord outside

Hi Nate,
To run a minimal script that just loads the activerecord gem and
connects to mysql on localhost takes just over a second on my G4
powerbook, and the same amount of time on my dedicated linux server.

The other option is a persistant Rails environment, of which RailsCron
is the only one I am aware. Let me know how you like it.

–
Kyle M.
Chief Technologist
E Factor Media // FN Interactive
[email protected]
1-866-263-3261