Storing Array in Database

Rails
1

Hey all,

I’m storing an array of timestamps in a field in my database as an
array. When the items get saved, however, some minus signs are appended
to the text:

sample output:

  • 1151971200
  • 1152576000
  • 1153180800
  • 1153785600
  • 1154390400

Is this normal behavior? When I retrive the value out of the database
and .to_a, the three minus signs (—) are counted as the first member
of the array. This is not what I was wanting (obviously). How do you
compensate for that without needing to go there and actually stip it
out?

Thanks so much!
-LW

2

On Friday, June 23, 2006, at 5:33 PM, Luke W. wrote:

  • 1153180800
    -LW

–
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

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You want to use ‘serialize’ for this…

http://rails.outertrack.com/class/ActiveRecord%3A%3ABase
and look for
“Saving arrays, hashes, and other non-mappable objects in text columns”

a bit down the page

_Kevin

3

Luke W. wrote:

Hey all,

I’m storing an array of timestamps in a field in my database as an
array. When the items get saved, however, some minus signs are appended
to the text:

sample output:

  • 1151971200
  • 1152576000
  • 1153180800
  • 1153785600
  • 1154390400

Is this normal behavior? When I retrive the value out of the database
and .to_a, the three minus signs (—) are counted as the first member
of the array. This is not what I was wanting (obviously). How do you
compensate for that without needing to go there and actually stip it
out?

Thanks so much!
-LW

That’s YAML notation for an array. If you are using “serialize :foo”
they should automatically be converted back into an array for you.