# Access Data Outside of Active Record **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [July 9, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/access-data-outside-of-active-record/142538 "2008-07-09T00:39:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jobu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ea5d25/32.png) [@jobu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jobu)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/access-data-outside-of-active-record/142538/1 "2008-07-09T00:39:07Z")
I’d like to write a data import script as a rake task. It would execute a moderately complex query against some legacy tables returning a recordset. I’d like to get the results of that recordset into the rake task and iterate over it creating instances of ActiveRecord derived models. ---
**Author:** ![jobu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ea5d25/32.png) [@jobu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jobu)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 11:43am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/access-data-outside-of-active-record/142538/2 "2008-07-09T11:43:41Z")
On Jul 8, 11:38 pm, Jobu [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I’d like to write a data import script as a rake task. It would > execute a moderately complex query against some legacy tables > returning a recordset. I’d like to get the results of that recordset > into the rake task and iterate over it creating instances of > ActiveRecord derived models. Seems reasonable enough, but what’s the question you’re asking ? Fred ---
**Author:** ![jobu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ea5d25/32.png) [@jobu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jobu)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/access-data-outside-of-active-record/142538/3 "2008-07-09T16:35:16Z")
On Jul 9, 5:31 am, Frederick C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > On Jul 8, 11:38 pm, Jobu [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > I’d like to write a data import script as a rake task. It would > > execute a moderately complex query against some legacy tables > > returning a recordset. I’d like to get the results of that recordset > > into the rake task and iterate over it creating instances of > > ActiveRecord derived models. > > Seems reasonable enough, but what’s the question you’re asking ? I’d like to know how to do the first part. How do I execute a non- CRUD query against the legacy tables and receive a recordset of those results? There’s currently no ActiveRecord derived model in place for the legacy tables. ---
**Author:** ![jobu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ea5d25/32.png) [@jobu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jobu)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/access-data-outside-of-active-record/142538/4 "2008-07-09T16:42:23Z")
On 9 Jul 2008, at 15:23, Jobu wrote: > > > ActiveRecord derived models. > > > > Seems reasonable enough, but what’s the question you’re asking ? > > I’d like to know how to do the first part. How do I execute a non- > CRUD query against the legacy tables and receive a recordset of those > results? There’s currently no ActiveRecord derived model in place for > the legacy tables. > Have you played with ActiveRecord::Base.connection.select\_all ? Fred ---
**Author:** ![jobu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ea5d25/32.png) [@jobu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jobu)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/access-data-outside-of-active-record/142538/5 "2008-07-09T16:56:40Z")
On Jul 9, 2008, at 10:23 AM, Jobu wrote: > > Seems reasonable enough, but what’s the question you’re asking ? > > I’d like to know how to do the first part. How do I execute a non- > CRUD query against the legacy tables and receive a recordset of those > results? There’s currently no ActiveRecord derived model in place for > the legacy tables. Something like (assuming the legacy tables are in the same database): If legacy\_table has columns foo and bar foo bar * * * ``` 1 one 2 two ``` ActiveRecord::Base.connection.select\_all(“SELECT \* FROM legacy\_table”) returns an array of hashes: [{‘foo’=\>‘1’, ‘bar’=\>‘one’}, {‘foo’=\>‘2’, ‘bar’=\>‘two’}] -Rob Rob B. [http://agileconsultingllc.com](http://agileconsultingllc.com) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![jobu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ea5d25/32.png) [@jobu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jobu)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 12:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/access-data-outside-of-active-record/142538/6 "2008-07-10T00:23:37Z")
On Jul 9, 10:41 am, Frederick C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > > I’d like to write a data import script as a rake task. It would > > > > results? There’s currently no ActiveRecord derived model in place for > > > > the legacy tables. > > Have you played with ActiveRecord::Base.connection.select\_all ? Nope, that’s what I needed. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![jobu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ea5d25/32.png) [@jobu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jobu)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 5:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/access-data-outside-of-active-record/142538/7 "2008-07-09T17:29:38Z")
If you can torture your query to the point where it will return records that mimic the model table, you could pass that into YourModel.find\_by\_sql. That may be convenient…