# Seed data **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [March 26, 2010, 11:19am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/seed-data/185798 "2010-03-26T11:19:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tom-mac](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@tom-mac](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tom-mac)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 11:19am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/seed-data/185798/1 "2010-03-26T11:19:06Z")
Hi I am using seed\_fu to seed initial data to tables ([GitHub - mbleigh/seed-fu: Advanced seed data handling for Rails, combining the best practices of several methods together.](http://github.com/mbleigh/seed-fu)) . And in db/fixtures/state.rb I have values like (I am filling only two data for simplicity) State.seed\_many(:name, :abbr,:fips,:country\_id, [ { :name =\> “Alberta”, :abbr =\> ‘AB’,:fips =\> ‘01’, :country\_id =\> 2 }, { :name =\> “Alaska”, :abbr =\> ‘AK’,:fips =\> ‘02’, :country\_id =\> 1 } ]) It works and when I do select \* from states; I get result as ±----±-----±----------------------±-----±-----------+ | id | abbr | name | fips | country\_id | ±----±-----±----------------------±-----±-----------+ | 1 | AB | Alberta | 01 | 2 | | 2 | AK | Alaska | 02 | 1 | ``` But now I modified state.rb as ``` State.seed\_many(:name, :abbr,:fips,:country\_id, [ { :name =\> “Alberta”, :abbr =\> ‘AB’,:fips =\> ‘01’, :country\_id =\> 2 }, { :name =\> “Alaska”, :abbr =\> ‘AK’,:fips =\> ‘02’, :country\_id =\> 1 } ]) State.destroy\_all State.create(:id =\> 1,:name =\> “Alabama”, :abbr =\> ‘AL’,:fips =\> ‘01’, :country\_id =\> 1) And now when I do select \* from states; I get unexpected result as ±----±-----±----------------------±-----±-----------+ | id | abbr | name | fips | country\_id | ±----±-----±----------------------±-----±-----------+ | 5 | AL | Alabama | 01 | 1 | ``` What I expect was id=1 But I got id as 5 . Why this ? ``` Thanks in advance Tom ---
**Author:** ![tom-mac](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@tom-mac](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tom-mac)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 11:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/seed-data/185798/2 "2010-03-26T11:41:43Z")
On 26 March 2010 10:19, Tom M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > } > But now I modified state.rb as > > And now when I do select \* from states; I get unexpected result as > > ±----±-----±----------------------±-----±-----------+ > | id | abbr | name | fips | country\_id | > ±----±-----±----------------------±-----±-----------+ > | 5 | AL | Alabama | 01 | 1 | > > ``` > What I expect was id=1 But I got id as 5 . Why this ? > > ``` I _think_, though I may be corrected, that when you do create it allows the database to set the id. If you provide one yourself it is ignored. The database has allocated the next in sequence even though earlier ones have been removed. Colin ---
**Author:** ![tom-mac](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@tom-mac](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tom-mac)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/seed-data/185798/3 "2010-03-26T14:18:34Z")
hi, can u fill the database with the current\_user? i want / need to fill a few tables after the user got activated, but the tables i need to fill have to have the user\_id in it…is that possible? thx ---
**Author:** ![tom-mac](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@tom-mac](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tom-mac)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/seed-data/185798/4 "2010-03-26T14:22:39Z")
On 26 March 2010 13:16, tom [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > hi, can u fill the database with the current\_user? > > i want / need to fill a few tables after the user got activated, but the > tables i need to fill have to have the user\_id in it…is that possible? I don’t understand what you mean. Setting a field user\_id is not a problem, it is just the primary key id field that is a problem. Colin ---
**Author:** ![tom-mac](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@tom-mac](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tom-mac)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 6:42am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/seed-data/185798/5 "2010-03-29T06:42:14Z")
Hi So my question is how can I ensure that even after running rake db:seed (rake db:seed\_fu) a number of times my primary key ie, id here, does not get modified? Should I need to write an update\_id function again? Thanks Tom ---
**Author:** ![tom-mac](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@tom-mac](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tom-mac)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 8:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/seed-data/185798/6 "2010-03-29T08:00:31Z")
On Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 3:19 AM, Tom M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > } > But now I modified state.rb as Tom, you shouldn’t be setting the value of the :id field because the database will ignore your setting and assign the next unique identifier automatically. Could you explain what you’re trying to do in a step by step scenario? This may helper others on the mailing list to better assist you. -Conrad ---
**Author:** ![tom-mac](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@tom-mac](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tom-mac)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 10:04am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/seed-data/185798/7 "2010-03-29T10:04:02Z")
On 29 March 2010 05:42, Tom M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Hi > So my question is how can I ensure that even after running rake > db:seed (rake db:seed\_fu) a number of times my primary key ie, id here, > does not get modified? Should I need to write an update\_id function > again? If you really need the id to be pre-defined (though why you need to do this I do not know, it is generally a bad idea) then in your seed code you could check whether a record of that id already exists and if it does then update it rather than re-creating it. Colin ---
**Author:** ![tom-mac](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@tom-mac](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tom-mac)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 10:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/seed-data/185798/8 "2010-03-29T10:25:40Z")
Hi Thanks for your reply > Could you explain what you’re trying to do in a step by step scenario? > This > may helper others on the mailing list to better assist you. What I tried is as my first post. Now just as a test a I did like State.destroy\_all State.create(:id =\> 1,:name =\> “Alabama”, :abbr =\> ‘AL’,:fips =\> ‘01’, :country\_id =\> 1) But after this step whenever I do rake db:seed\_fu I dont get what I expected for the id fields. I expect id to be generated like 1,2,3… > If you really need the id to be pre-defined (though why you need to do > this I do not know, it is generally a bad idea) ``` Why I need the id to be predefined means suppose at a later stage ``` if already that id may e saved to a number of tables as foreign key. But suppose if execute rake db:seed\_fu then if the id changed to 5,6,7 instead of 1,2,3 the total solution may be a big fail So when I checked the way which I mentioned in my first post accidently I noticed this. Then post a message to a get a clarification since I dont know where the fault is ``` I think one more thing to ensure the ids are the values that I ``` expected is, after creation call a function like ``` @country.update_id_to(1) ..... ``` Thanks Tom