Using array functions with a serialized array in ActiveRecord Ruby

Question

I've got a serialized array

class Enviroment < ActiveRecord::Base
serialize :roles, Array

...
t.column :roles, :string, :default=> Array.new

and I would like do things like

Enviroment.find(1).roles.push 'thing'

Laas · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-17 18:10:43Z

2

Providing such default value will save it's YAML representation as String into the Database and Rails unserializes that back into string. That's why it is not working.

Also, maybe you'd want to use text as the column type, so that your array won't be truncated when it gets longer. In recent Rails syntax, that would be:

t.text :roles

And when you want to store new role into database, you'd have to save the object afterwards (in contrast to has_many association which is automatically saved b/c it's key is in the other table):

e = Environment.find(1)
e.roles.push 'thing'
e.save

Or if it absolutely needs to be oneliner:

Environment.find(1).tap{|e| e.roles.push 'things'}.save

answered Apr 17, 2012 at 18:10

Laas

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2 Comments

gpupu Over a year ago

Thanks a lot!! not sure what's the meaning of text there, but it worked. I guess all the serialized objects should have ':text' type??

Laas Over a year ago

Yes. Though I doubt there are any actual restrictions. Only that based on the length of your serialized output, it could get truncated if it won't fit in string type (dependent on database probably).

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