# How easy is using ActiveRecord in a non RoR application?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-easy-is-using-activerecord-in-a-non-ror-application/145580>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [August 11, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-easy-is-using-activerecord-in-a-non-ror-application/145580 "2008-08-11T19:33:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ISSSSaki\_Baz\_C](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@ISSSSaki\_Baz\_C](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ISSSSaki_Baz_C)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-easy-is-using-activerecord-in-a-non-ror-application/145580/1 "2008-08-11T19:33:16Z")

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Hi, I plan to use ActiveRecord in a non RubyOnRails application (just  
pure  
Ruby app). How easy is it? is just loading the library?

---

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**Author:** ![ISSSSaki\_Baz\_C](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@ISSSSaki\_Baz\_C](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ISSSSaki_Baz_C)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-easy-is-using-activerecord-in-a-non-ror-application/145580/2 "2008-08-11T19:42:39Z")

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It’s pretty much easy as pie. 🙂 It’s along the lines of

require ‘rubygems’  
require ‘active\_record’

class Model \< ActiveRecord::Base  
has\_many :other\_models  
belongs\_to :parent\_model

…

end

There’s other database modeling packages out there as well that you  
could  
consider too – Sequel, DataMapper, etc…

–  
Bryan

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**Author:** ![ISSSSaki\_Baz\_C](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@ISSSSaki\_Baz\_C](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ISSSSaki_Baz_C)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-easy-is-using-activerecord-in-a-non-ror-application/145580/3 "2008-08-11T19:44:24Z")

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On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 1:30 PM, Iñaki Baz C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Hi, I plan to use ActiveRecord in a non RubyOnRails application (just pure  
> Ruby app). How easy is it? is just loading the library?

Very easy. I wrote a long article about it a while back:

> **[O'Reilly Media - Technology and Business Training](https://www.oreilly.com)**
>
> Gain technology and business knowledge and hone your skills with learning resources created and curated by O'Reilly's experts: live online training, video, books, our platform has content from 200+ of the world's best publishers.

But you’ll only need bits and pieces of it to get rolling.

-greg

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**Author:** ![ISSSSaki\_Baz\_C](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@ISSSSaki\_Baz\_C](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ISSSSaki_Baz_C)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-easy-is-using-activerecord-in-a-non-ror-application/145580/4 "2008-08-11T19:48:30Z")

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El Lunes, 11 de Agosto de 2008, Iñaki Baz C. escribió:

> Hi, I plan to use ActiveRecord in a non RubyOnRails application (just pure  
> Ruby app). How easy is it? is just loading the library?

Thanks to all, it really seems easy 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ISSSSaki\_Baz\_C](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@ISSSSaki\_Baz\_C](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ISSSSaki_Baz_C)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-easy-is-using-activerecord-in-a-non-ror-application/145580/5 "2008-08-11T20:00:50Z")

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Iñaki Baz C. wrote:

> Hi, I plan to use ActiveRecord in a non RubyOnRails application (just pure  
> Ruby app). How easy is it? is just loading the library?

really easy. just go ahead.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ISSSSaki\_Baz\_C](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@ISSSSaki\_Baz\_C](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ISSSSaki_Baz_C)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-easy-is-using-activerecord-in-a-non-ror-application/145580/6 "2008-08-11T19:45:35Z")

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On Aug 11, 1:30 pm, Iñaki Baz C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Hi, I plan to use ActiveRecord in a non RubyOnRails application (just pure  
> Ruby app). How easy is it? is just loading the library?
> 
> –  
> Iñaki Baz C.

easy. i use activerecord in my db operations as i dont have to break  
my head for sql operations. u just create a model class and requrie it  
and use it just as u would do in rails.

require ‘active\_record’  
ActiveRecord::Base.establish\_connection(  
:adapter =\> “mysql”,  
:host =\> “localhost”,  
:database =\> “mydb”,  
:username =\> “root”  
)  
class Tag \< ActiveRecord::Base  
set\_table\_name “tags”  
has\_and\_belongs\_to\_many :trades

end