Rails - Feb 2008 - Scaffolding Without Migration? - Porting CakePHP App To RoR

Good day all.

I''m posed with a roadblock on my way to learning and using Ruby on
Rails. From what I''ve been reading, this has started with version
2.0.  The scaffold generation no longer pulls schema from the
database.

I am brand new to RoR (Just got the Agile Web Dev book and just
installed yesterday).

I''ve been working with CakePHP in the past and have noticed that the
database conventions are quite similar. From what I''ve been reading,
these migrations serve a good purpose. However, for someone starting
out, it''s posing a huge problem. My plan for RoR was to learn while
doing, but I''m kind of stuck right now.

I notice that after running (something, I''m not really sure) it does
pull the schema from the database. Is there anyway to force it to use
this as the initial migration and build on top of that? Is there some
way to bypass this process (at least initially) so I can get stuff out
the door?

I already have a rather large database that I use for CakePHP, which
matches the RoR conventions rather closely (pluralization, foreign
keys, etc).

Is there some sort of scaffolding/migration import?

I would really prefer not having to do all of this manually. It sort
of defeats the purpose, especially for someone getting started.

Any ideas anyone?
ThanX in advance.
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Baz L wrote:
> Good day all.
> Any ideas anyone?
> ThanX in advance.
Please check out ''rake --tasks'',  one of the tasks is
''rake
db:schema:dump'' which will take your existing schema and write a file 
entitled ''db/schema.rb''.  You can then take this file and
easily change
it''s name to: ''db/migrate/001_initial.rb'' and you are
off to the races..

prior to doing this make sure your config/database.yaml file is pointing 
to the correct db..

ohh.. and please make a dump of your database or make sure you have a 
backup prior to doing ANYTHING!!!  :)

hth

ilan

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I just think that I''m confused as to the intended usage of
script/generate.

I''ve done a db:schema:dump and set it as the initial migration. But
when I
do a "script/generate user" from this step, what is supposed to
happen?

I would expect (based on all the old tutorials) that it would create the
MVCs based on the initial migration? But it doesn''t seem to do that. It
creates a user model migration that creates the table with a timestamp only.
Nne of the other fields are there.

Please help out this confused newbie.


ThanX in advance all.

On Sat, Feb 23, 2008 at 2:00 PM, Ilan Berci <
rails-mailing-list-ARtvInVfO7ksV2N9l4h3zg@public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
> Baz L wrote:
> > Good day all.
>
> > Any ideas anyone?
> > ThanX in advance.
>
> Please check out ''rake --tasks'',  one of the tasks is
''rake
> db:schema:dump'' which will take your existing schema and write a
file
> entitled ''db/schema.rb''.  You can then take this file and
easily change
> it''s name to: ''db/migrate/001_initial.rb'' and
you are off to the races..
>
> prior to doing this make sure your config/database.yaml file is pointing
> to the correct db..
>
> ohh.. and please make a dump of your database or make sure you have a
> backup prior to doing ANYTHING!!!  :)
>
> hth
>
> ilan
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
>
> >
>
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Baz wrote:
> I would expect (based on all the old tutorials) that it would create the
> MVCs based on the initial migration? But it doesn''t seem to do
that. It
> creates a user model migration that creates the table with a timestamp 
> only.
> Nne of the other fields are there.
If you already have a database then you don''t need a migration to
create
it.  If you want a new database based on the old one, then you can use 
the schema dump to create a single migration to create all the tables in 
the new database.  (Point your database.yml file at the old database, do 
the dump, point your database.yml file at the new database, then run the 
schema dump.)

At this point, whichever situation applies, you have your database 
setup.  The script/generate script uses various generators to do things. 
Run it without arguments to see the usage.  This will list available 
generators.  Of note at this point are:

controller
- creates a controller and its functional test stub
migration
- creates a stub migration file
model
- creates a model and stubs for unit tests, fixtures and also a 
migration file
scaffold
- creates a model, its migration file, its controller, and initial 
versions of views for CRUD operations as well as the other support files 
mentioned above

Since you have the database, you don''t need migrations and
you''re
probably wanting to start with more than basic model or controller 
stubs, so use the scaffold generator for now.  The generators won''t 
extract information from the database.  In fact, they are primarily 
aimed at initial setup so the intended use is to give the generators the 
model structure and create the database from that.  For example:

script/generate scaffold Sample name:string description:string

This will create a migration to build a "samples" table with
"name" and
"description" columns, along with default timestamp columns (you can 
edit the migration to remove them if you don''t need them).  Also, it 
will create the model, a controller and the views for the controller 
which will refer to your columns.

In your case, you don''t *have* to specify the fields since you
won''t
need the migrations, so for each model you have, just run:

script/generate scaffold Sample
(where "Sample" is replaced with the model name)

You don''t want the migration generated so delete it (or it will cause 
problems later if you add migrations for new tables, etc).  Note, 
however, that by not specifying field names, the views will not 
reference them so you will have to edit all your views so that they show 
all the data you want them to.  You''d probably be doing that anyway as 
the default views are all pretty basic. (This is a major change in Rails 
2 as in previous versions, the views were created to use reflection and 
so newly scaffolded views didn''t refer to specific columns at all.)

You''ll now have a fully scaffolded application.  You then need to edit 
all your models to set up relationships, names of primary keys (where it 
isn''t "id"), etc.

Remember that scaffolding is just to provide a bit of structure to help 
you build the application, not to be the application.  Also look at the 
wiki for other generators you can use which may help.

This isn''t really more work than you would have to do when starting
from
scratch (as then, you still need to think up your models and fields and 
specify them in the generators and apply all the migrations).
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Mark Bush wrote:
> need the migrations, so for each model you have, just run:
> 
> script/generate scaffold Sample
> (where "Sample" is replaced with the model name)
Sorry, should have mentioned as it may not be obvious, but not all 
models will need scaffolding.  Only scaffold models where it makes sense 
for the application to have controllers.  For other models which are 
used and referenced without needing controllers, just generate the 
models (script/generate model xxx) but still delete the migrations 
created.

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I''m sorry to keep drawing a reference to CakePHP [The Other Framwork].
However, this is all I have as a reference. So I guess what I''m asking
is
whether there is a similar way to get this done:

In the other framework, I would :

   1. design a database and point to it.
   2. Use the generator to create my models then add my associations.
   3. Use the generator to generate scaffolds (not sure this is the right
   term) of the controllers and views.

These controllers and views would reflect the database structure. There
would be a lot of findAll''s, but the flow of the controller was already
done. This would be an excellent starting point for my application. It would
show the flow of information from Model to Controller to View. Also, it was
invaluable when starting the framework. The views were created using all the
form helper stuff for the different. But it really helped with learning the
framework - especially the associations.

So I guess my final question is: Does RoR provide something similar?

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Sorry, hit send by mistake:

With specific reference to the forms in the views, it would extremely
benifitial if it would just dump all the info from the table. That way, I
would see exactly what syntax needed to be used: when I would need
f.text_field or something else. How the form uses select drop downs (belongs
to relation) as oppsed to check boxes (boolean), multiple selects (has
many), etc.

I''m sort of a "learn by doing" guy, but it''s hard to
get started from a
clean canvas.

So, does RoR provide this sort of learning environment or is it a sit and
read the api and learn the code first?

On Sat, Feb 23, 2008 at 8:30 PM, Baz
<bazil749-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> wrote:
> I''m sorry to keep drawing a reference to CakePHP [The Other
Framwork].
> However, this is all I have as a reference. So I guess what I''m
asking is
> whether there is a similar way to get this done:
>
> In the other framework, I would :
>
>    1. design a database and point to it.
>    2. Use the generator to create my models then add my associations.
>    3. Use the generator to generate scaffolds (not sure this is the
>    right term) of the controllers and views.
>
> These controllers and views would reflect the database structure. There
> would be a lot of findAll''s, but the flow of the controller was
already
> done. This would be an excellent starting point for my application. It
would
> show the flow of information from Model to Controller to View. Also, it was
> invaluable when starting the framework. The views were created using all
the
> form helper stuff for the different. But it really helped with learning the
> framework - especially the associations.
>
> So I guess my final question is: Does RoR provide something similar?
>
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Baz wrote:
>    1. design a database and point to it.
>    2. Use the generator to create my models then add my associations.
>    3. Use the generator to generate scaffolds (not sure this is the 
> right
>    term) of the controllers and views.
The equivalent in Rails 2 is:

1. design your database (on paper)
2. use the generator to create migrations, models, controllers, views
3. apply the migrations to the database
4. add your associations to your models

So, if you need a model Sample with database table samples which has 
columns name & description, run:

script/generate scaffold Sample name:string description:string
rake db:migrate

Now you have:
db/migrate/001_create_samples.rb
which is your migration which you have applied to the database (the 
"rake" command will apply all outstanding migrations so you can
scaffold
all your models first, then run the migrations in one go).

You also have:
app/models/sample.rb
app/controllers/samples_controller.rb
app/views/samples/edit.html.erb
app/views/samples/index.html.erb
app/views/samples/new.html.erb
app/views/samples/show.html.erb

The controller has actions for listing, adding, editing, and creating 
Sample objects.  The views will display things for you.  If you didn''t 
specify any fields when you ran the scaffold, then the views will have 
no references to fields. The views are *very* basic.  You will want to 
edit them except in very simple (rare) cases.  Note also that the 
generated views will not handle any special fields.  If a field is a 
foreign key to another model, you will just get a text field to input 
the ID of the row for the other model.  You''ll have to handle
extracting
the data and creating, say, a select element yourself.

-- 
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Much appreciated Mark.

I guess the short answer is that, that''s not the way Rails 2.0 works.

I was wondering whether the step: script/generate scaffold Sample
name:string description:string
could (somehow) pull the fields from a DB schema/migration (imported from
the database), and the answer is no.

Thank you, much appreciated again.
--
Kevin Lloyd
3HN Designs
http://www.3HNDesigns.com/
(214) 473-4207

On Sun, Feb 24, 2008 at 3:51 AM, Mark Bush
<rails-mailing-list-ARtvInVfO7ksV2N9l4h3zg@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
>
> Baz wrote:
> >    1. design a database and point to it.
> >    2. Use the generator to create my models then add my associations.
> >    3. Use the generator to generate scaffolds (not sure this is the
> > right
> >    term) of the controllers and views.
>
> The equivalent in Rails 2 is:
>
> 1. design your database (on paper)
> 2. use the generator to create migrations, models, controllers, views
> 3. apply the migrations to the database
> 4. add your associations to your models
>
> So, if you need a model Sample with database table samples which has
> columns name & description, run:
>
> script/generate scaffold Sample name:string description:string
> rake db:migrate
>
> Now you have:
> db/migrate/001_create_samples.rb
> which is your migration which you have applied to the database (the
> "rake" command will apply all outstanding migrations so you can
scaffold
> all your models first, then run the migrations in one go).
>
> You also have:
> app/models/sample.rb
> app/controllers/samples_controller.rb
> app/views/samples/edit.html.erb
> app/views/samples/index.html.erb
> app/views/samples/new.html.erb
> app/views/samples/show.html.erb
>
> The controller has actions for listing, adding, editing, and creating
> Sample objects.  The views will display things for you.  If you
didn''t
> specify any fields when you ran the scaffold, then the views will have
> no references to fields. The views are *very* basic.  You will want to
> edit them except in very simple (rare) cases.  Note also that the
> generated views will not handle any special fields.  If a field is a
> foreign key to another model, you will just get a text field to input
> the ID of the row for the other model.  You''ll have to handle
extracting
> the data and creating, say, a select element yourself.
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
>
> >
>
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