# Legacy Table works-except edit? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [January 4, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/legacy-table-works-except-edit/89431 "2006-01-04T18:29:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/legacy-table-works-except-edit/89431/1 "2006-01-04T18:29:53Z")
Greetings, I’m trying to put a Rails face on a Legacy Oracle 10 table. I am currently setting the table\_name and primary\_key, and I get the list and show to work fine. However, when I hit edit I just get the Editing , Edit button, Show, and Back. None of the fields are rendered. Why would I be able to show these fields in the show and list, but not edit them in the edit? My DB user has the power to edit them via TOAD. Thanks, Joe ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/legacy-table-works-except-edit/89431/2 "2006-01-04T19:03:03Z")
I failed to mention that the \_form.rthml is \<%= error\_messages\_for ‘ref\_specification’ %\> But why dosen’t it have the setters in it? The editable coulmns are all varchar and date. Thanks, Joe On 1/4/06, Bothari [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > edit them in the edit? My DB user has the power to edit them via > TOAD. > > Thanks, > Joe – “For a new software system, the requirements will not be completely known until after the users have used it.” Humphrey’s Requirements Uncertainty Principle. ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/legacy-table-works-except-edit/89431/3 "2006-01-04T20:21:32Z")
Just to keep things moving I went ahead and filled in all the values I wanted to update. However, now I have a different problem. When I try to create a new object it’s looking for a sequence that doesn’t exist. I want to use a user-entered sequence. I know this is generally a bad idea. I’ve seen some reference to before\_validate\_on\_create, but I don’t know what to do with it. Thanks, Joe On 1/4/06, Bothari [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Joe > > > > > “For a new software system, the requirements will not be completely > known until after the users have used it.” Humphrey’s Requirements > Uncertainty Principle. – “For a new software system, the requirements will not be completely known until after the users have used it.” Humphrey’s Requirements Uncertainty Principle. ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/legacy-table-works-except-edit/89431/4 "2006-01-05T19:57:33Z")
On 1/4/06, Bothari [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Thanks, > > > all varchar and date. > > > > > However, when I hit edit I just get the Editing > > > > > > , Edit > > > button, Show, and Back. None of the fields are rendered. > > > > > > Why would I be able to show these fields in the show and list, but not > > > edit them in the edit? My DB user has the power to edit them via > > > TOAD. > > > > > > Make sure that you’ve either got the physical tables in the user > > > schema your Rails app runs as, or else you have synonyms for them. > > > > > > For example, if your userid in database.yml is “rails”, and you’re > > > looking for a table called “specifications”… then this has to work: > > > (This is the actual query that the OCIAdapter is executing) > > > > > > select column\_name, data\_type, data\_default, nullable, > > > decode(data\_type, ‘NUMBER’, data\_precision, ‘VARCHAR2’, data\_length, > > > null) as length, > > > decode(data\_type, ‘NUMBER’, data\_scale, null) as scale > > > from user\_catalog cat, user\_synonyms syn, all\_tab\_columns col > > > where cat.table\_name = ‘SPECIFICATIONS’ > > > and syn.synonym\_name (+)= cat.table\_name > > > and col.table\_name = nvl(syn.table\_name, cat.table\_name) > > > and col.owner = nvl(syn.table\_owner, user) > > > > > > If you can wade through that mess, you can see that the table name has > > > to either appear in USER\_CATALOG, or USER\_SYNONYMS, or both, in order > > > for Rails to fetch the proper list of attributes for your model > > > objects. > > > > > > If the table is in the “OTHER” schema instead of the “RAILS” schema, > > > you’ll need to do: > > > CREATE SYNONYM RAILS.SPECIFICATIONS FOR OTHER.SPECIFICATIONS > > > Do that for every model table, and you should be good to go. > > > > > > It would be nice if there were a config option for the Oracle adapter > > > that let you specify which schema the tables are in. That way you > > > could do: ActiveRecord::Base.default\_schema = “OTHER” > > > …and ActiveRecord would qualify all its SQL queries with > > > OTHER.TABLE\_NAME > > > > > > To override the sequence name, put this in your model: > > > > > > class Specification \< ActiveRecord::Base > > > set\_sequence\_name “crazy\_legacyseq” > > > end