# Setting updated\_at in database **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [February 2, 2009, 11:19am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/setting-updated-at-in-database/159201 "2009-02-02T11:19:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gandhi-tush](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/5daacb/32.png) [@gandhi-tush](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gandhi-tush)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 11:19am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/setting-updated-at-in-database/159201/1 "2009-02-02T11:19:06Z")
Hi, I have an ‘updated\_at’ field in events table. Whenever I am creating an event it gets set to Time.now. But I don’t want to set current time in it. But I want to set another time. How should I do that? I tried like this:- event.updated\_at=“2008-02-02 03:35:11”. event.save Still it not working. Can anyone tell me how to do that? Thanks, Tushar ---
**Author:** ![gandhi-tush](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/5daacb/32.png) [@gandhi-tush](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gandhi-tush)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 11:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/setting-updated-at-in-database/159201/2 "2009-02-02T11:51:38Z")
You can’t without executing the sql directly, because updated at is automagic Sent from my iPhone On 02/02/2009, at 9:19 PM, Tushar G. \ **Author:** ![gandhi-tush](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/5daacb/32.png) [@gandhi-tush](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gandhi-tush)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 12:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/setting-updated-at-in-database/159201/3 "2009-02-02T12:15:46Z") you can try overriding the method that is setting the updated\_at attribute. take a look at this (which is the first hit google found for me on that subject): [http://neeraj.name/blog/articles/800-override-automatic-timestamp-in-activerecrod-rails](http://neeraj.name/blog/articles/800-override-automatic-timestamp-in-activerecrod-rails) ---
**Author:** ![gandhi-tush](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/5daacb/32.png) [@gandhi-tush](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gandhi-tush)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 12:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/setting-updated-at-in-database/159201/4 "2009-02-02T12:22:16Z")
On Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 12:19 PM, Tushar G. \< removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid\> wrote: > ## Still it not working. Can anyone tell me how to do that? Thanks, Tushar > > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). > > > Think about why you want to do this. The updated\_at column is an automatic column that is meant to provide the date and time the entry was last modified. If you need to set a different date/time, why not create a new field with a new name and then set it manually or you can auto set it in a before\_save method with your own business logic. – Andrew T. [http://ramblingsonrails.com](http://ramblingsonrails.com) [http://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewtimberlake](http://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewtimberlake) “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education” - Mark Twain ---
**Author:** ![gandhi-tush](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/5daacb/32.png) [@gandhi-tush](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gandhi-tush)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/setting-updated-at-in-database/159201/5 "2009-02-02T12:58:01Z")
MaD wrote: > you can try overriding the method that is setting the updated\_at > attribute. take a look at this (which is the first hit google found > for me on that subject): > [http://neeraj.name/blog/articles/800-override-automatic-timestamp-in-activerecrod-rails](http://neeraj.name/blog/articles/800-override-automatic-timestamp-in-activerecrod-rails) That seems to be not working for me. I have column name as “date\_modified” instead of “updated\_at”. I done everything that is given their.