Question

I have a new rails app with a fresh database and I want to add some default entries, like admin with default password etc.

How should I proceed?

I know of two possibilities, that both have drawbacks:

• Use ruby code in migration: User.create!(:email => “[e-mail]”, :password => “abc”)
• Use SQL code in migration: INSERT INTO users (id, email, password) VALUES (1, ‘[e-mail]’, ‘abc’)

The first alternative can break if I alter my code in later versions. The second is somewhat DBMS dependent.

As I do not plan to change my database, I would go with SQL code, but are there better alternatives?

Answer 1

Personally I’d use seed data

http://railscasts.com/episodes/179-seed-data

One advantage of this is that rake db:setup calls rake db:seed after it has created the database. Which is perfect for new machines.