Question

I am trying to create an empty model, populate it and then add it to the database.

I am looking through Google for the syntax for instantiating a simple model that I can set fields in, but there does not seem to be much documentation for that.

Is that just not the intended useage pattern? If it is, how can I just create the empty model?

Thanks!

Answer 1

An ActiveRecord model works based on what fields it’s related table has in your db. If you have no db yet you have no fields. The usage pattern goes like this:

$ rails g model client name:string
#stuff happens
$ rake db:migrate

You now have a model associated with a clients table that has a string attribute called name.

Now in your controller you can use this by

@client = Client.new
@client.name = "foo"
@client.save

Which will create the model object, set the name, and persist it to the db