# Adding a column to a table **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [April 26, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/adding-a-column-to-a-table/58856 "2006-04-26T16:51:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/adding-a-column-to-a-table/58856/1 "2006-04-26T16:51:30Z")
This is a real newbie question with what i’m sure will be a simple answer… If i add a column a table (in a development application), how do i update my models to reflect this change? Cheers, Steve ---
**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/adding-a-column-to-a-table/58856/2 "2006-04-26T16:55:00Z")
Stephen B. wrote: > This is a real newbie question with what i’m sure will be a simple > answer… > > If i add a column a table (in a development application), how do i > update my models to reflect this change? Hi STeve, You don’t actually have to update your models. If you look insde the model code, you’ll see it’s empty 🙂 You _may_ have to update the views/forms etc that the scaffold generated. Unfortunately there’s no way to ncrementally do this, you just have to destroy, then re-generate the scaffold (or just add the field by hand). Alan ---
**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 4:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/adding-a-column-to-a-table/58856/3 "2006-04-26T16:57:29Z")
If there’s nothing special your model needs to do with the column, you don’t have to do anything. In development mode, your application will be magically aware of the new field instantly. If there’s something your model needs to know about the field, like a foreign-key relationship (belongs\_to, has\_many, etc.) or an attr\_accessor declaration or something like that, then you put that in your model and you’re all set. In production mode, when you make changes like this, you need to restart the application, either by restrting the webserver or restarting any FCGI processes, depending on your production environment. Stephen B. wrote: > This is a real newbie question with what i’m sure will be a simple > answer… > > If i add a column a table (in a development application), how do i > update my models to reflect this change? > > Cheers, > > Steve ---
**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 4:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/adding-a-column-to-a-table/58856/4 "2006-04-26T16:57:48Z")
On 4/26/06, Stephen B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > This is a real newbie question with what i’m sure will be a simple answer… > > If i add a column a table (in a development application), how do i > update my models to reflect this change? > > Cheers, > > Steve It will happen automatically. Your models determine which attributes they have from the database on their own. In development mode, that will happen every time a page loads. In production, you need to restart the app. ---
**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/adding-a-column-to-a-table/58856/5 "2006-04-26T17:01:07Z")
That’s embarrassingly simple :0) Cheers, Steve