This is an OpenQuestion for me, but perhaps someone else knows…
Rails itself does not require a database. You are free to substitute anything else instead of ActiveRecord for your model class (ActiveRecord is heavily wed to SQL).
If by “without a database” you mean “without a database server (daemon)”, then take a look at SQLite. It doesn’t run as a separate server and provides SQL.
Potential Non-database models
- CSV
- LDAP (see ActiveLDAP)
- YAML files
- Madeleine
- plain text files
- Web Services based data sources (ebay APIs, etc)
- Hobix
- XML?
- Ruby/Odeum
Examples
Checkout Instiki 0.10.0 from SVN repository at dev.instiki.org and see how Madeleine is used instead of ActiveRecord. Particularly, have a look at lib/active_record_stub.rb.
Keeping Rails from establishing a DB connection
Rails 1.0
In config/environment.rb, inside the Rails::Initializer block, add this line:
config.frameworks -= [ :active_record ]
To keep Test::Unit from giving you fixture related errors update test/test_helper.rb like so:
class Test::Unit::TestCase
self.use_transactional_fixtures = false
self.use_instantiated_fixtures = false
def load_fixtures
end
end
Rails 0.12.1
Commented out the following line from config/environment.rb:
# ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection
Change the test tasks
Rails 1.0
Create a file in lib/tasks called testing.rake. Add the following lines to it:
def undefine(*names)
names.each do |name|
app = Rake.application
tasks = app.instance_variable_get('@tasks')
tasks.delete(name)
end
end
undefine "prepare_database"
desc "Dummy task because we no longer need to prepare the database while running tests"
task :prepare_database do
end
Rails 0.12.1
Remove the dependancies on :prepare_test_database from the test tasks in the Rakefile.
Use a non-database “virtual” table
Let’s say you have an existing model with lots of validations, but you suddenly decide that you want to delete the table and store the data as a field in an existing table. (For effeciency, expandability, etc.)
class BaseRecord
def save; end
def update_attribute; end
def new_record?; end
include ActiveRecord::Validations
def [](key)
instance_variable_get(key)
end
def BaseRecord.human_attribute_name(attribute_key_name)
attribute_key_name.to_s
end
def attributes=(attributes)
return if attributes.nil?
attributes.stringify_keys!
multi_parameter_attributes = []
# (if you need multi parameter attributes, write code here)
# remove_attributes_protected_from_mass_assignment(
attributes.each do |k, v|
# k.include?("(") ? multi_parameter_attributes << [ k, v ] : send(k + "=", v)
send(k + "=", v)
end
# assign_multiparameter_attributes(multi_parameter_attributes)
end
end
class MyThings < BaseRecord
attr_accessor :this_thing, :that_thing
#.. existing validations, etc.
end
Now you can do
x = \MyThings.new; x.attributes = params[:mythings]just like before. Lastly, save the data with
require ‘yaml’; somefield = \MyThings.to_yaml
Special thanks to John Long (i.e. blatently copied from here )
This is an OpenQuestion for me, but perhaps someone else knows…
Rails itself does not require a database. You are free to substitute anything else instead of ActiveRecord for your model class (ActiveRecord is heavily wed to SQL).
If by “without a database” you mean “without a database server (daemon)”, then take a look at SQLite. It doesn’t run as a separate server and provides SQL.
Potential Non-database models
- CSV
- LDAP (see ActiveLDAP)
- YAML files
- Madeleine
- plain text files
- Web Services based data sources (ebay APIs, etc)
- Hobix
- XML?
- Ruby/Odeum
Examples
Checkout Instiki 0.10.0 from SVN repository at dev.instiki.org and see how Madeleine is used instead of ActiveRecord. Particularly, have a look at lib/active_record_stub.rb.
Keeping Rails from establishing a DB connection
Rails 1.0
In config/environment.rb, inside the Rails::Initializer block, add this line:
config.frameworks -= [ :active_record ]
To keep Test::Unit from giving you fixture related errors update test/test_helper.rb like so:
class Test::Unit::TestCase
self.use_transactional_fixtures = false
self.use_instantiated_fixtures = false
def load_fixtures
end
end
Rails 0.12.1
Commented out the following line from config/environment.rb:
# ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection
Change the test tasks
Rails 1.0
Create a file in lib/tasks called testing.rake. Add the following lines to it:
def undefine(*names)
names.each do |name|
app = Rake.application
tasks = app.instance_variable_get('@tasks')
tasks.delete(name)
end
end
undefine "prepare_database"
desc "Dummy task because we no longer need to prepare the database while running tests"
task :prepare_database do
end
Rails 0.12.1
Remove the dependancies on :prepare_test_database from the test tasks in the Rakefile.
Use a non-database “virtual” table
Let’s say you have an existing model with lots of validations, but you suddenly decide that you want to delete the table and store the data as a field in an existing table. (For effeciency, expandability, etc.)
class BaseRecord
def save; end
def update_attribute; end
def new_record?; end
include ActiveRecord::Validations
def [](key)
instance_variable_get(key)
end
def BaseRecord.human_attribute_name(attribute_key_name)
attribute_key_name.to_s
end
def attributes=(attributes)
return if attributes.nil?
attributes.stringify_keys!
multi_parameter_attributes = []
# (if you need multi parameter attributes, write code here)
# remove_attributes_protected_from_mass_assignment(
attributes.each do |k, v|
# k.include?("(") ? multi_parameter_attributes << [ k, v ] : send(k + "=", v)
send(k + "=", v)
end
# assign_multiparameter_attributes(multi_parameter_attributes)
end
end
class MyThings < BaseRecord
attr_accessor :this_thing, :that_thing
#.. existing validations, etc.
end
Now you can do
x = \MyThings.new; x.attributes = params[:mythings]just like before. Lastly, save the data with
require ‘yaml’; somefield = \MyThings.to_yaml
Special thanks to John Long (i.e. blatently copied from here )