# Scaffolding for pre-existing database table in 2.0.1 **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [December 10, 2007, 4:16am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612 "2007-12-10T04:16:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 4:16am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/1 "2007-12-10T04:16:54Z")
Hi, first of all I will apologize in advance for my presumably noobish question, but I’m only starting to learn Rails and am a little confused with all the changes in 2.0.1. There are as good as no tutorials out yet and the 2 or 3 screencasts I’ve seen deal with the creation of both the app and the database. Now my problem is that I already have a database with a fair amount of records in it (contacts with columns id:integer, first\_name:string, last\_name:string). In order to get a simple CRUD interface (that’s all I want for now), with the pre-2.0 version of Rails, I could simply “generate scaffold contacts” and the framework would provide me with all the necessary files to get started with (controller, model and views). When I try the same command (“generate scaffold contacts”) in 2.0.1 it will almost do the same thing, but somehow it misses all the fields from the database. The list-view solely contains a long listing of “Show Edit Destroy” lines (no first or last name listed here). When I click on Edit, the form just provides me with an update button. So no fields for first- and last name here either. Is it supposed to be this way now in 2.0.1? If so, what can I do to bring back the old functionality? Regards, Sebastian ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 4:43am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/2 "2007-12-10T04:43:15Z")
New way is to specify the fields. script/generate scaffold person first\_name:string last\_name:string On Dec 10, 2007 1:46 PM, Sebastian [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > records in it (contacts with columns id:integer, first\_name:string, > click on Edit, the form just provides me with an update button. So no > fields for first- and last name here either. > > Is it supposed to be this way now in 2.0.1? If so, what can I do to > bring back the old functionality? > > Regards, > > Sebastian > > > – Ryan B. > **[frozenplague.net](http://www.frozenplague.net)** > > This domain may be for sale! ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 4:53am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/3 "2007-12-10T04:53:11Z")
Hey Ryan, thanks for the quick answer. I tried that multiple times before via the generator function in the RadRails IDE and it didn’t work (nothing happened, no error message). It simply didn’t create any controllers/views/models. Just now I tried it again via the windows console, et voilà, ROR creates all the classes like it used to. So it seems that this malfunction was due to a bug/2.0-incompatibility in RadRails. Hope, they’ll fix this soon! Thanks again, Sebastian ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 4:47pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/4 "2007-12-10T16:47:17Z")
On 12/9/07, Ryan B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > New way is to specify the fields. > > script/generate scaffold person first\_name:string last\_name:string And if the table already exists you might want to add --skip-migration script/generate scaffold person first\_name:string last\_name:string –skip-migration – Rick DeNatale My blog on Ruby [http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/](http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/) ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 7:22am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/5 "2007-12-11T07:22:02Z")
Ok, been following this all day. Scaffolding is really not great for production, but it is nice to have it build the forms for you. It saves me some typing at least, and I find that’s what most people are after with the scaffolding. With that in mind, I took some of the old scaffolding code and made it into a gem. It’s designed to work off of a pre-existing model. sudo gem install scaffold\_form\_generator Then just do ruby script/generate scaffold\_form User users It will build these files /app/views/users/new.html.erb /app/views/users/edit.html.erb /app/views/users/\_form.html.erb The form builder skips created\_at, updated\_at, lock\_version, and anything with \_id at the end. It also makes boolean fields checkboxes instead of true/false dropdowns. Learn more at [http://scaffoldform.rubyforge.org](http://scaffoldform.rubyforge.org) Now, it doesn’t do “everything” completely RESTful yet but it’s a really good start. If you have suggestions, let me know. It’s not going to ever be extended to handle relationships - I looked into it and it’s not worth trying - too hard to know what you are trying to relate, what you want to show in your dropdowns, etc. -bph ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/6 "2007-12-10T21:27:25Z")
I did this yesterday. You _HAVE_ to specify --skip-migration in case its an existing model, else it will stop the whole “generate scaffold” task before it creates the controller. ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 6:14am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/7 "2008-01-08T06:14:54Z")
Ryan B. wrote: > New way is to specify the fields. > > script/generate scaffold person first\_name:string last\_name:string I’m considering Ruby on Rails, but I already have a big database schema, and I’d rather not re-type firstname:string lastname:string, for the dozens of fields in my dozens of tables. Is there some way for Ruby to build the scaffold based on what it finds in the existing database? Wasn’t that the whole point in previous versions? This seems like a big step backwards… ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 6:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/8 "2008-01-08T06:21:21Z")
… and one more comment/question… how can I prevent Ruby from pluralizing my model. Say my table is called “game.” If I try this new scaffold with… ruby script/generate scaffold game name:string … what I get in my file structure is “games” (plural), but the table in my existing database is “game” (singular). I then get SQL errors on like “Table db.games doesn’t exist.” ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 6:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/9 "2008-01-08T06:20:51Z")
The idea is that Rails doesn’t know which of your fields you want to include, or what kind they are. It’ll be easier for you to type them and design your own layout. ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 6:43am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/10 "2008-01-08T06:43:06Z")
Not too sure on that, I was sure that scaffolding named everything correctly. On Jan 8, 2008 3:51 PM, Mr Mapes [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > – > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). > > > – Ryan B. > **[frozenplague.net](http://www.frozenplague.net)** > > This domain may be for sale! Feel free to add me to MSN and/or GTalk as this email. ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/11 "2008-01-08T20:08:19Z")
On Jan 8, 8:38 am, “Brian H.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Finally, Rails is not about scaffolding. That was a marketing trick to get > people sucked in. Most people who do Rails professionally don’t use > scaffolding at all, as it often generates a bunch of code you don’t need, or > is not complex enough to handle the basic tasks. I do (or did) use scaffolding. It’s probably a unique situation: I work for a government agency that has a large number of legacy datatables which just need maintenance API’s stuck onto them to do CRUD on our intranet. Some of these monsters have a bajillion fields, and I can erase code a whole lot faster than I can type it. So, I used “scaffold Monster” all the time. I’m sure you’re right about most people who do Rails professionally, though. If I were making standalone websites, like most folks, scaffolding might be a distraction. I’d do paper prototypes first, then code as needed in that situation. I really miss the “old school” scaffolding – in fact, I may recreate it and call it something else like scaffold\_api or scaffold\_crud or something. Thanks for the scaffold\_form\_generator, by the way – it put back a lot of what I missed the most. Ron ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/12 "2008-01-08T20:34:49Z")
Ron: Well, in that case, check out my gem. [http://scaffoldform.rubyforge.org](http://scaffoldform.rubyforge.org) It uses the old-style model reflection to build just the form (new, edit, and \_form.html.erb) It doesn’t generate models or controllers… just the views for the form. I did this for exactly the reason you outlined… generating a form can be handy. I basically took the old code from Rails 1.2.3 and made it work with 2.0, with a few minor exceptions: anything with \_id is not generated as a field, created\_at and updated\_at fields are skipped, and anything that’s a boolean gets a checkbox instead of a dropdown. Maybe that will help. ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/13 "2008-01-08T20:36:01Z")
lol I missed the end of your reply 🙂 Looks like you already are using it. Do you have any suggestions for additions to it? ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 2:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/14 "2008-01-08T14:39:45Z")
On Jan 7, 2008 11:21 PM, Mr Mapes [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > – > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). > > You’re not following conventions, which is explained by your use of the > legacy schema. Rails assumes that table names are plural and model names > are > singular. What you actually need to do is run the scaffold as such: ruby script/generate scaffold game name:string Then open up app/models/game.rb Add the “set\_table\_name” method call to tell the model to use the singular table. class Game \< ActiveRecord::Base set\_table\_name “game” end If your primary key is not called “id” then you can specify that as well. Be warned though - Rails likes integers for its keys. class Game \< ActiveRecord::Base set\_table\_name “game” set\_primary\_key “game\_id” end Finally, Rails is not about scaffolding. That was a marketing trick to get people sucked in. Most people who do Rails professionally don’t use scaffolding at all, as it often generates a bunch of code you don’t need, or is not complex enough to handle the basic tasks. ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/15 "2012-12-06T19:09:47Z")
Mr Mapes wrote in post #613756: > Ryan B. wrote: > > > New way is to specify the fields. > > > > script/generate scaffold person first\_name:string last\_name:string > > I’m considering Ruby on Rails, but I already have a big database schema, > and I’d rather not re-type firstname:string lastname:string, for the > dozens of fields in my dozens of tables. Is there some way for Ruby to > build the scaffold based on what it finds in the existing database? > Wasn’t that the whole point in previous versions? This seems like a big > step backwards… Probably to late for Ryan B. problem, but there is a cool gem called schema\_to\_scaffold to generate a scaffold script. it outputs: rails g scaffold users fname:string lname:string bdate:date email:string encrypted\_password:string from your schema.rb our your renamed schema.rb. Check [here](https://rubygems.org/gems/schema_to_scaffold) ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/16 "2009-03-27T15:49:27Z")
Mr Mapes wrote: > Ryan B. wrote: > > > New way is to specify the fields. > > > > script/generate scaffold person first\_name:string last\_name:string > > I’m considering Ruby on Rails, but I already have a big database schema, > and I’d rather not re-type firstname:string lastname:string, for the > dozens of fields in my dozens of tables. Is there some way for Ruby to > build the scaffold based on what it finds in the existing database? > Wasn’t that the whole point in previous versions? This seems like a big > step backwards… I’m a little late to the party here. Try this from script/console > > TableClass.columns.each { |c| puts c.inspect }; nil You’ll see a list of all the columns in the table, along with the data types and names and so forth. It should be a pleasurable afternoon to write a script that consumes this and generates a “script/generate scaffold” command. ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/17 "2014-08-29T19:41:22Z")
Just another quick solution. You can generate the Ruby scaffolding commands using SQL out of the database. Just access sys.columns or whatever your particular database provides (INFORMATION\_SCHEMA or something). For each column, generate that line that Ruby wants for a column / table entry. Then you can select as you want for the Ruby app deleting unwanted column / table lines. ``` Does anyone have a definitive Ruby generation command for Nifty ``` using Ruby 4, for an existing database? I could generate the entire thing via SQL, which I would be happy to provide. ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/18 "2014-08-29T19:40:51Z")
Sebastian wrote in post #599469: > Hi, > > first of all I will apologize in advance for my presumably noobish > question, but I’m only starting to learn Rails and am a little > confused with all the changes in 2.0.1. There are as good as no > tutorials out yet and the 2 or 3 screencasts I’ve seen deal with the > creation of both the app and the database. > > Now my problem is that I already have a database with a fair amount of > records in it (contacts with columns id:integer, first\_name:string, > last\_name:string). In order to get a simple CRUD interface (that’s all > I want for now), with the pre-2.0 version of Rails, I could simply > “generate scaffold contacts” and the framework would provide me with > all the necessary files to get started with (controller, model and > views). > > When I try the same command (“generate scaffold contacts”) in 2.0.1 it > will almost do the same thing, but somehow it misses all the fields > from the database. The list-view solely contains a long listing of > “Show Edit Destroy” lines (no first or last name listed here). When I > click on Edit, the form just provides me with an update button. So no > fields for first- and last name here either. > > Is it supposed to be this way now in 2.0.1? If so, what can I do to > bring back the old functionality? > > Regards, > > Sebastian ``` Just another quick solution. You can generate the Ruby ``` scaffolding commands using SQL out of the database. Just access sys.columns or whatever your particular database provides (INFORMATION\_SCHEMA or something). For each column, generate that line that Ruby wants for a column / table entry. Then you can select as you want for the Ruby app deleting unwanted column / table lines. ``` Does anyone have a definitive Ruby generation command for Nifty ``` using Ruby 4, for an existing database? I could generate the entire thing via SQL, which I would be happy to provide. ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 4:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/19 "2014-10-03T16:04:26Z")
Email Address:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid Hi, I’m developing a heavy project using Ruby on Rails, and I already have a big database schema in my sublime text,but my database has a dozen of fields of tables which are sometimes very tiresome when scaffolding such as £rails g scaffold profile firstname:string lastname:string, …Please show me any other alternative on how to handle such scenario… I ll be glad to know. Thanks… ---
**Author:** ![sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@sebastian](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sebastian)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612/20 "2014-10-03T17:13:30Z")
Email Address:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid\>\>\>Jason Fleetwood-Boldt @Jasonfb, i guess i did alot of research on ruby on rails as far scaffolding is concern, but you find when it comes on real world boilerplate applications…it’s kind of a nightmare when we try oldschool method ‘scalfolding’ because it may take you actually the whole day scaffolding even one table that contains over 100 colum fields…may be tell me some procedures on how to use activescaffold…!! [Next page](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffolding-for-pre-existing-database-table-in-2-0-1/122612.md?page=2)