# Any easy way to change a Name for a Model? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [September 20, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/any-easy-way-to-change-a-name-for-a-model/195263 "2010-09-20T18:29:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nobosh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/ecb155/32.png) [@nobosh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nobosh)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/any-easy-way-to-change-a-name-for-a-model/195263/1 "2010-09-20T18:29:55Z")
Hello, I’ve been building an app recently that has a model Books that is a database table and linked to several models/controllers. I recently learned that instead of Books it needs to be called publications (just an example)… I now want to update the database and all the mentions throughout the app. Is there a simple way to do that in Rails 3. Or do I have to migrate that particular table (via version?) and manually update all the references throughout the app? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![nobosh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/ecb155/32.png) [@nobosh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nobosh)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/any-easy-way-to-change-a-name-for-a-model/195263/2 "2010-09-20T19:32:21Z")
nobosh wrote: > Hello, I’ve been building an app recently that has a model Books That should be Book. Rails model names are singular by convention. Table names are plural. > that > is a database table No! Models are not database tables; please don’t think of them that way. They _refer_ to database tables, but the Ruby objects and the DB records and tables are not the same thing. > and linked to several models/controllers. I > recently learned that instead of Books it needs to be called > publications (just an example)… > > I now want to update the database and all the mentions throughout the > app. Is there a simple way to do that in Rails 3. Or do I have to > migrate that particular table (via version?) Version? Huh? Just write a migration that changes the name of the table. Note also that you can use set\_table\_name to specify a different table name than the one Rails would expect. Thus, you can change the class name or the table name without also changing the other. I wouldn’t advise breaking the Rails conventions unless you have a good reason to. > and manually update all > the references throughout the app? Yup. Your automated tests will break when they encounter the old class name and let you know where to change it. > Thanks ## Best, Marnen Laibow-Koser [http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![nobosh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/ecb155/32.png) [@nobosh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nobosh)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/any-easy-way-to-change-a-name-for-a-model/195263/3 "2010-09-20T22:47:32Z")
Thanks Marnen. Regarding writing a migration that changes the name of the table, for some reason I feel like this situation is going to happen frequently and that could fill up the migrations. GIven that I’m only a few weeks into development and I have no real data, for some reason I feel it’d be cleaner to revert the book migration and add one that’s correct? ---
**Author:** ![nobosh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/ecb155/32.png) [@nobosh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nobosh)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/any-easy-way-to-change-a-name-for-a-model/195263/4 "2010-09-20T23:06:16Z")
migrations dont fill up , and if you want to get the result of all migrations on one go , do rake db:schema , it will load the schema. ---
**Author:** ![nobosh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/ecb155/32.png) [@nobosh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nobosh)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 11:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/any-easy-way-to-change-a-name-for-a-model/195263/5 "2010-09-20T23:23:43Z")
nobosh wrote: > Thanks Marnen. Regarding writing a migration that changes the name of > the table, for some reason I feel like this situation is going to > happen frequently and that could fill up the migrations. You can’t fill up migrations. > GIven that > I’m only a few weeks into development and I have no real data, for > some reason For what reason? > I feel Programming is not generally about feelings. > it’d be cleaner to revert the book migration and > add one that’s correct? You could in this case, yes. I normally don’t advise it. And of course it would be suicidally stupid to do so I. The general case where you do have data. Best, –Â Marnen Laibow-Koser [http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid Sent from my iPhone ---
**Author:** ![nobosh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/ecb155/32.png) [@nobosh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nobosh)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/any-easy-way-to-change-a-name-for-a-model/195263/6 "2010-09-21T14:22:40Z")
You also have to search and replace all occurrences of Books. I hope you have some tests to back you up. ---
**Author:** ![nobosh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/ecb155/32.png) [@nobosh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nobosh)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/any-easy-way-to-change-a-name-for-a-model/195263/7 "2010-09-20T23:32:02Z")
On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 4:23 PM, Marnen Laibow-Koser [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Programming is not generally about feelings. I feel good when I use Ruby, I feel bad when I use PHP. 🙂 – Greg D. [destiney.com](http://destiney.com) | [gregdonald.com](http://gregdonald.com) ---
**Author:** ![nobosh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/ecb155/32.png) [@nobosh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nobosh)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/any-easy-way-to-change-a-name-for-a-model/195263/8 "2010-09-21T14:23:44Z")
> > Programming is not generally about feelings. > > I feel good when I use Ruby, I feel bad when I use PHP. Stop sleeping with your computer!