From PHP to Ruby on Rails

8

Models, DBs, and Active Record

The M in the MVC application design pattern stands for model, and in this context, we will be using Ruby’s model abstraction to connect to a database using another design pattern called Active Record. We must remember that while models are mostly used to connect to databases, they can also be used to connect to other data sources. We could have a model connect to a filesystem, a web service, and so on. The purpose behind a model is to organize our business rules, and that purpose may include connecting to various data sources.

In this chapter, we will first generate a model using some of our command-line generators in Rails. Then, we will use this model to connect to our database. Finally, we will look at Active ...