I''ve been working my way through the depot application tutorial in the Agile Rails book, and I''m at the "Check Out!" chapter. In the migration file for the line items, there are SQL commands to create foreign keys. Up until this point I have been using SQLite3, which as far as I''m aware doesn''t support these functions. However, after briefly scanning through the rest of the chapter, it seemed to me that these links between database tables are handled in the model files, with has_many and belongs_to, so I ploughed on regardless. Having got to the end of the chapter with everything working as described in the book, I am wondering if there really is any need to set up foreign keys in the database. Is it just "good practice" when designing database schemas? And does the Ruby code handle this functionality satisfactorily without foreign keys? Please excuse me for my ignorance regarding databases - I''m not a web developer by trade, I''m a Structural Engineer - but I''d like to gain a greater understanding of the core principals concerning Rails. -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
Your associations, validations, and callbacks emulate foreign keys so
there''s no reason to define them in terms of data constraints.
class Foo < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :bar
validates_presence_of :foo_id
validates_associated :foo
end
class Bar < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :foos, :dependent => :destroy
end
You can add indexes via a migration.
However, one thing that foreign keys give you is an index on that column.
So if you don''t declare them as foreign keys (which I don''t)
then you should
declare an index on those columns to help with lookups.
On 3/15/07, Andrew Turner
<rails-mailing-list-ARtvInVfO7ksV2N9l4h3zg@public.gmane.org>
wrote:>
>
> I''ve been working my way through the depot application tutorial in
the
> Agile Rails book, and I''m at the "Check Out!" chapter.
In the migration
> file for the line items, there are SQL commands to create foreign keys.
> Up until this point I have been using SQLite3, which as far as I''m
aware
> doesn''t support these functions. However, after briefly scanning
through
> the rest of the chapter, it seemed to me that these links between
> database tables are handled in the model files, with has_many and
> belongs_to, so I ploughed on regardless.
>
> Having got to the end of the chapter with everything working as
> described in the book, I am wondering if there really is any need to set
> up foreign keys in the database. Is it just "good practice" when
> designing database schemas? And does the Ruby code handle this
> functionality satisfactorily without foreign keys?
>
> Please excuse me for my ignorance regarding databases - I''m not a
web
> developer by trade, I''m a Structural Engineer - but I''d
like to gain a
> greater understanding of the core principals concerning Rails.
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
>
> >
>
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Brian Hogan wrote:> Your associations, validations, and callbacks emulate foreign keys so > there''s no reason to define them in terms of data constraints.[snip]> However, one thing that foreign keys give you is an index on that > column. > So if you don''t declare them as foreign keys (which I don''t) then you > should > declare an index on those columns to help with lookups.Thank you for the explanation. Is there a situation where creating foreign keys, as opposed to indices, would be required? Say, if you wanted the database to be used by other (non-Rails) applications or administration tools? -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
Of course. But you get into that sticky situation of moving business logic into your database. This is one reason SOA is becoming so popular... make application A use application B to control the database rather than going to it directly. You''ll touch off a holy war here if you''re not careful :) The main point is that Rails does not need nor require them, and you may get unexpected results if, for example, your database has constraints of the foreign key that restricts its input but you have not handled that in the models, or perhaps you cascade-delete records on your database and you don''t deal with that in your apps. In short, it''s all up to you. There are ways to handle all of those concerns; if you need to use FKs, by all means do so. On 3/15/07, Andrew Turner <rails-mailing-list-ARtvInVfO7ksV2N9l4h3zg@public.gmane.org> wrote:> > > Brian Hogan wrote: > > Your associations, validations, and callbacks emulate foreign keys so > > there''s no reason to define them in terms of data constraints. > > [snip] > > > However, one thing that foreign keys give you is an index on that > > column. > > So if you don''t declare them as foreign keys (which I don''t) then you > > should > > declare an index on those columns to help with lookups. > > Thank you for the explanation. > > Is there a situation where creating foreign keys, as opposed to indices, > would be required? Say, if you wanted the database to be used by other > (non-Rails) applications or administration tools? > > -- > Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/. > > > >--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
Brian Hogan wrote:> In short, it''s all up to you. There are ways to handle all of those > concerns; if you need to use FKs, by all means do so.I''m happy to steer clear of them, seeing as I don''t really know anything about them ;) I was just curious as to whether a Rails app would benefit from them or not. Thanks again for your explanation. -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---