I tried the composite_primary_keys (2.3.2) plugin, with the same overall result: I cannot insert a row (via Postgres) into a table without a PK. My model now has this line: set_primary_keys :doc_id, :user_id, :view_date, :view_time # legacy tbl, include all cols
My insert error is thus: Mcolumn "doc_id,user_id,view_date,view_time" does not exist P170 Fparse_expr.c L421 RtransformColumnRef: INSERT INTO "document_ref_access" ("doc_id", "user_id", "view_date", "view_time") VALUES (1, E'W:5:a_name', '2009-10-19', '2009-10-1 9 14:52:11.605227') RETURNING "doc_id,user_id,view_date,view_time") The RETURNING clause seems to be causing the problem. If I set the PK to, say, :doc_id (mind you this col is NOT a PK for this table) the insert works but the doc_id col is set to NULL. Any other suggestions? Thanks, Jeff On Oct 16, 12:32 pm, Marnen Laibow-Koser <rails-mailing-l...@andreas- s.net> wrote: > JeffV wrote: > > We have 30-40 tables in a legacy db with no PKs. These tables hold > > various logging events and may be searched by a given day, a given > > user id, a given event, etc., but not by a particular row id. So there > > are reasonable reasons to not have PKs on all tables. > > I think you're confusing the concept of a *surrogate* PK with a PK in > general. Sure, in the case of your logging tables, it's probably > reasonable not to have a separate Rails-style id field (surrogate PK). > But it is advisable -- I'd even say essential -- to find some existing > field or combination of fields that can be guaranteed unique for each > record, and to declare them as a (perhaps composite) PK. > > > Unfortunately, > > AR really like PKs... > > And so it should. If you don't want a surrogate PK, then declare some > other field the PK. The composite_primary_keys plugin may help here. I > maintain -- and I believe big-name DB gurus would say likewise -- that a > table without *some* sort of PK is virtually always a Bad Thing, with or > without Rails. . > > > If I set_primary_key nil I can't do a create (I get an interning empty > > string error). If I set the PK to an arbitrary integer column then > > that column is set to NULL (on an insert), despite its value being > > passed in the attributes hash... I don't yet have a solution. > > See what composite_primary_keys will do for you. > > > > > Jeff > > > On Sep 16, 6:48 pm, Marnen Laibow-Koser <rails-mailing-l...@andreas- > > Best, > -- > Marnen Laibow-Koserhttp://www.marnen.org > mar...@marnen.org > -- > Posted viahttp://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@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---