Globalize and SQL Server

[casper_the_ghost]

Hello,

At my work we have a lot of international clients and i10n is a big
issue.
We’re now planning to migrate our main application to ruby on rails.
The problem is that we still have to use MS SQL Server because this is
a selling point to big clients (don’t ask why) and Globalize doesn’t
support this.

My question is if anyone knows of a way to get around this?

• is it possible (and not too hard) to write our own ms sql layer for
  globalize?
• can something be done using odbc?
• or is it possible for Globalize to connect to a separate server
  ( e.g. mysql)?

Many thanks in advance, this would really help us out.

[casper_the_ghost]

On 20/04/07, [email protected] [email protected] wrote:

My question is if anyone knows of a way to get around this?

• is it possible (and not too hard) to write our own ms sql layer for
  globalize?
• can something be done using odbc?
• or is it possible for Globalize to connect to a separate server
  ( e.g. mysql)?

I’m not sure why Globalize doesn’t support SQL Server - have you
actually tried getting it to run? I’ve had a quick look at the code
and can’t see any database dependent features being used anywhere. My
advice would be create a dummy app and try it against SQL Server. It
may well work without modification. If it doesn’t, you could either
patch it yourself, or maybe use SQLite to store your localizations.

Tom

[casper_the_ghost]

Yeah sorry my bad.

The features page on Globalize (http://www.globalize-rails.org/
globalize/show/Features#overview) says:

“Databases
* Supports PostgreSQL, MySQL and Sqlite3
And, it’s ridiculously easy to add to your app.”

Therefore i thought it wouldn’t support SQL Server.
Meanwhile i’ve already contacted Sven F. of the Globalize team who
quickly gave me an excellent response:

…

“Of the top of my head I’d say: Globalize is nothing but a plugin to
Ruby on Rails. RoR itself should be able to cope with MS SQL Server I
guess (e.g. see [1]). Thus, there should be no problem to use
Globalize with MS SQL Server as well.”

…

“Your question regarding a custom MS SQL layer for Globalize is really
the question if ActiveRecord (i.e. RoR) supports MS SQL and if there
are any serious limitations. (Unfortunately I’m really not qualified
to answer this question. I’d love to learn about this though as well
as help with possible solutions of any problems.)”

…

So it will probably support MS SQL Server. I will let you know if
things worked out.

Thanks,

Ben