force_schema

class Car < ActiveRecord::Base
  set_primary_key :name
  force_schema do
    string   'name'       # Nissan Altima, will automatically be indexed because it's the primary key
    string   'make_name'  # Nissan
    string   'model_name' # Altime
    float    'fuel_efficiency_city'
    string   'fuel_efficiency_city_units'
    float    'fuel_efficiency_highway'
    string   'fuel_efficiency_highway_units'
    integer  'year'
    datetime 'released_at'
    date     'released_on'
    index    ['name', 'make_name']
  end
end

Warning: data loss

If you call Car.force_schema!, it may destroy data by adding, removing, or changing the type of columns. No attempt is made to preserve data.

What it synchronizes

adds missing columns
adds missing indexes
removes unrecognized columns
removes unrecognized indexes
changes the type of columns if it doesn’t match what you asked for
changes the columns indexed if they don’t match what you asked for
makes sure default value is synced up

Supported databases

MySQL is tested
SQLite is tested
Postgres is not supported

History

Extracted from github.com/seamusabshere/data_miner. In production use at carbon.brighterplanet.com and data.brighterplanet.com.