active-record episodes

See how to create a multistep (wizard) form from scratch in this episode.

Learn some advanced techniques regarding named scopes and get an introduction to Arel in this episode.

Learn how to refactor a set of conditional Active Record queries using a Dynamic Delegator.

Rails 3 offers several new additions to validations. Here learn how to make a custom error_messages partial, reflect on validations, and clean up complex validations in a model.

Rails 3 introduces a new query interface for performing finds in Active Record. See how it works along with the changes in named scopes.

Handling multiple models in a single form is much easier with the accepts_nested_attributes_for method. See how to use this method to handle nested model fields.

If you want to create a model without a database backend, you simply need to define a couple methods in the model like I show in this episode.

Learn how to set up a one-to-many or many-to-many association which is entirely embedded into a single column through a string or bitmask.

The :include and :joins options for the find method can be a little confusing because they are so similar. In this episode I show specifically when to use which option.

Rails 2.3.4 includes a conventional way to add seed data to your application - no more including it in the migration files.