How do you define database tables?

Hi,
I was asking before if people use the ActiveRecord create table method
to
ensure portable table definitions. Seems like no one does it that way. I
wonder why and also if people are so interested in database abstraction
then
how do they avoid writing raw SQL.
Thanks,
Peter

Peter M. wrote:

Hi,

I was asking before if people use the ActiveRecord create table
method
to ensure portable table definitions. Seems like no one does it that
way. I wonder why and also if people are so interested in database
abstraction then how do they avoid writing raw SQL.

We’re working on a project with about 40 tables (about 10 of them join
tables). We started in a spreadsheet, then moved to a sql file full of
creates and permission settings, and now modify and keep that file up to
date as we work.

Most things we do (CRUD) is abstracted, but some things have to be
semi-raw or raw.

The Rails book (agile dev with Rails) seems to assume you would start
with SQL definitions. It seems easier that way to get permissions,
defaults, etc. set up. I’m not sure if using AR would make things any
easier (for us anyway) and I don’t know if it we could have been able to
set permissions and other attributes as easily.

Phil

Peter M. wrote:

Hi,

I was asking before if people use the ActiveRecord create table method
to ensure portable table definitions. Seems like no one does it that
way. I wonder why and also if people are so interested in database
abstraction then how do they avoid writing raw SQL.

I can only answer for myself, but AR migrations are perfectly good
enough for me, as long as I don’t feel the need to pull in from ODBC or
write to SQLite. But those are just constraints of the environment I’m
in, and pretty variable at that.