# Newbie: Syntax for handling hash/arrays returned through SQL

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-syntax-for-handling-hash-arrays-returned-through-sql/87903>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [March 6, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-syntax-for-handling-hash-arrays-returned-through-sql/87903 "2007-03-06T19:05:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tgifriday](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/c37758/32.png) [@tgifriday](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tgifriday)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-syntax-for-handling-hash-arrays-returned-through-sql/87903/1 "2007-03-06T19:05:05Z")

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I successfully created a few tables, controllers, models, etc., but  
I’m hung up on taking the results that I receive back from a database  
search. I started with higher level ActiveRecord usage and have gone  
down to a raw sql query:

dailyReading = ActiveRecord::Base.connection.select\_all(“select \* from  
dailyreadings where month = ‘3’ and day = ‘6’”)

I can see in the development.log that the query is fine. I’m simply  
struggling with the syntax that will allow me to take the resultset  
and use it. I’ve tried:

- bookTitleStart = dailyReading[:start\_book\_title]
- bookTitleStart = dailyReading(:start\_book\_title)
- bookTitleStart = dailyReading[0]
- etc.

I either get the whole array or nothing at all. The books and  
resources I’ve seen so far haven’t addressed this level of direct sql  
query/result usage. However, this has to be simple, but I’ve just not  
figured it out yet.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tgifriday](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/c37758/32.png) [@tgifriday](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tgifriday)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-syntax-for-handling-hash-arrays-returned-through-sql/87903/2 "2007-03-06T19:56:13Z")

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> I successfully created a few tables, controllers, models, etc., but  
> I’m hung up on taking the results that I receive back from a database  
> search. I started with higher level ActiveRecord usage and have gone  
> down to a raw sql query:

What was wrong with using ActiveRecord?

> - etc.  
> To get the ‘start\_book\_title’ field of the first record returned you  
> want:

dailyReading[0][‘start\_book\_title’]

-philip

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tgifriday](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/c37758/32.png) [@tgifriday](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tgifriday)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 10:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-syntax-for-handling-hash-arrays-returned-through-sql/87903/3 "2007-03-06T22:27:35Z")

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> What was wrong with using ActiveRecord?

Two things.

One is figuring out the syntax. I setup a Dailyreading controller and  
the scaffolding code works fine. I’d like to call the view method on  
the controller, but add constraints to essentially do what I did  
through sql. While I had some things working, I decided to eliminate  
that variable by going with pure sql. Now that you’ve help fix my  
array issues, I can go back to it.

Second, the tables don’t have a standard relationship. Daily readings  
involve a start point and an end point, so it doesn’t really fit the  
standard relational model. Still, I can use much of what ActiveRecord  
provides to avoid using too much sql and custom manipulation.

> To get the ‘start\_book\_title’ field of the first record returned you want:
> 
> dailyReading[0][‘start\_book\_title’]

Perfect!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tgifriday](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/c37758/32.png) [@tgifriday](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tgifriday)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 10:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-syntax-for-handling-hash-arrays-returned-through-sql/87903/4 "2007-03-06T22:41:36Z")

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> > What was wrong with using ActiveRecord?
> 
> Two things.
> 
> One is figuring out the syntax. I setup a Dailyreading controller and

in your controller…

@daily\_readings = DailyReading.find(:all,  
:conditions =\> [“month = ? AND day = ?”, 3, 6],  
:order =\> “month, day”)

# you probably want to order by something…

in your view…

\<% dailyReadings.each do |dr| %\>  
Start Book Title = \<%= dr.start\_book\_title %\>  
  
  
\<% end %\>

You also get the advantage that (assuming start\_book\_title is a  
datetime)  
you get all the nice date/time functions rails/ruby provides…