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Ruby ActiveRecord Basics Query Interface Finding Control

David Gross
David Gross
19,443 Points
Posted by David Gross
David Gross
19,443 Points

Populating the database

I populated my database so I can have a better understanding of how to use queries to find large data. I did this using the gem (gem 'ffaker', '~> 1.24.0'). I put it in my lib/task file and have named it populating_accounts.rake. I am bit stuck on how to populate the account_entries, projects and employee_projects. If any one could add onto this it would be greatly appreciated.

Below is my code. to use it make sure you rake db:reset rake db:populate 

task :sample_data => :environment do
require 'faker'
end

namespace :db do 
  desc "Fill database with sample data"
  task populate: :environment do
   make_customers 
   make_employees 
  end 
end 

def make_customers
   Account.create!(name: "Done Bingerston",
                email: "Bingerston@example.com",
                type: "Customer",
                about: "I enjoy fishing and scub diving"
                )
   800.times do |n|
    name =  Faker::Name.name 
    email =  Faker::Internet.email 
    city = Faker::AddressUS.city_suffix 
    zipcode  = Faker::AddressUS.zip_code
    state = Faker::AddressUS.state
    about =  Faker::Company.bs
    type = 'Customer'
    employees = (rand * 90).to_i
    Account.create!(name: name, 
                 about: about,
                 city: city,
                 state: state,
                 employees: employees,
                 zipcode: zipcode,
                 email: email,
                 type: type) 
   end 
end 

def make_employees
   Account.create!(name: "Danny stanzia",
                email: "stanza@example.com",
                type: "Employee"
                )
   45.times do |n|
    name =  Faker::Name.name 
    email =  Faker::Internet.email 
    city = Faker::AddressUS.city_suffix 
    state = Faker::AddressUS.state
    zipcode  = Faker::AddressUS.zip_code
    type = 'Employee'
    Account.create!(name: name, 
                 email: email,
                 type: type, 
                 state: state,
                 city: city,
                 zipcode: zipcode)
   end 
 end

2 Answers

Neil Northrop
Neil Northrop
5,095 Points
Neil Northrop
Neil Northrop
5,095 Points

Hey David,

I was checking out your setup and did it a little different to make it work on my machine.

First, I added faker to my Gemfile and ran ruby bundle install.

Second, I used the seed.rb file in your db folder of your application. In the file, I extracted only this part of the code you were using and changed a couple things. Every time it loops, I'll create a new Account, fill it with the faker info, and save it to the database. The second thing I changed was the fact that Rails didn't let me save the 'Customer' data to a type field that you had, so I changed it to role. And the third thing I changed was AddressUS to just Address.

800.times do |n|
    a = Account.new
    a.name =  Faker::Name.name 
    a.email =  Faker::Internet.email 
    a.city = Faker::Address.city_suffix 
    a.zipcode  = Faker::Address.zip_code
    a.state = Faker::Address.state
    a.about =  Faker::Company.bs
    a.role = 'Customer'
    a.employees = (rand * 90).to_i

    a.save
end

After that, I went to the console and just ran: ruby rake db:seed

That populated the db and I was able to look through all that fake data.

Let me know if that helps you at all. I know you were trying to make a new rake task but maybe just using the rake task supplied with Rails would be easier for you.

David Gross
David Gross
19,443 Points
David Gross
David Gross
19,443 Points

Thanks for your feed back Niel. After I finished the course I realized they put how to use sample data in AR extensions. I am still struggling on how to figure out how to populate the account_entries data. I know I can do this with Random number method to use for ID but then I will get errors on my <%= entry.account.name %>

Jim Withington
Jim Withington
12,025 Points

Thanks for mentioning that this is covered later on! Gonna go check it out now, before I move along. :grinning: