# Fixtures for inititializing db

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fixtures-for-inititializing-db/48401>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [November 19, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fixtures-for-inititializing-db/48401 "2005-11-19T21:37:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![benanderson.us](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@benanderson.us](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/benanderson.us)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fixtures-for-inititializing-db/48401/1 "2005-11-19T21:37:47Z")

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Hi,  
Is there a quick and dirty way to use fixtures inside of migrations?  
I’d like to be able to blow away my db and recreate it, with some  
predefined values. I know i can use a db export/import, but it looks  
like fixtures would be a good fit here. I tried doing this to my  
migrations:

added:  
require File.dirname( **FILE** ) + ‘/…/test\_helper’

class AddANewTable \< ActiveRecord::Migration  
def self.up  
…  
fixtures :articles  
end  
…

but it doesn’t seem to be performing correctly. Is anyone usign this  
approach? Is there a best way to do it?  
Thanks,  
Ben

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**Author:** ![benanderson.us](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@benanderson.us](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/benanderson.us)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fixtures-for-inititializing-db/48401/2 "2005-11-19T23:05:58Z")

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Without db tables defined how would you identify sql column types from a  
fixture file?

-Peter

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![benanderson.us](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@benanderson.us](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/benanderson.us)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fixtures-for-inititializing-db/48401/3 "2005-11-19T23:19:36Z")

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Hey Ben,

Haven’t toyed with it much, but I seen a rake task for this:

[root@inimit rails]# rake -T  
…  
rake load\_fixtures # Load fixtures into the current  
environment’s database  
…

HTH.

Warmest regards,  
Nathan.

* * *

Nathaniel S. H. Brown Toll Free 1.877.4.INIMIT  
Inimit Innovations Phone 604.724.6624  
[www.inimit.com](http://www.inimit.com) Fax 604.444.9942

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![benanderson.us](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@benanderson.us](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/benanderson.us)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 12:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fixtures-for-inititializing-db/48401/4 "2005-11-21T12:29:56Z")

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Thanks Nathan - yeah that is what I was looking for. Seems to be  
working great.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![benanderson.us](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@benanderson.us](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/benanderson.us)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 11:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fixtures-for-inititializing-db/48401/5 "2005-11-19T23:50:26Z")

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On Nov 19, 2005, at 2:05 PM, Peter M. wrote:

> Without db tables defined how would you identify sql column types  
> from a fixture file?

Types are inferred since they are (mostly) unambiguous. Databases’  
treatment of boolean is a sore spot, however: true/false, ‘t’/‘f’,  
1/0, etc etc.

jeremy  
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