instance method create_table

Creates a new table with the name table_name. table_name may either be a String or a Symbol.

There are two ways to work with create_table. You can use the block form or the regular form, like this:

Block form

# create_table() passes a TableDefinition object to the block.
# This form will not only create the table, but also columns for the
# table.

create_table(:suppliers) do |t|
  t.column :name, :string, limit: 60
  # Other fields here
end

Block form, with shorthand

# You can also use the column types as method calls, rather than calling the column method.
create_table(:suppliers) do |t|
  t.string :name, limit: 60
  # Other fields here
end

Regular form

# Creates a table called 'suppliers' with no columns.
create_table(:suppliers)
# Add a column to 'suppliers'.
add_column(:suppliers, :name, :string, {limit: 60})

The options hash can include the following keys:

:id

Whether to automatically add a primary key column. Defaults to true. Join tables for has_and_belongs_to_many should set it to false.

:primary_key

The name of the primary key, if one is to be added automatically. Defaults to id. If :id is false this option is ignored.

Note that Active Record models will automatically detect their primary key. This can be avoided by using self.primary_key= on the model to define the key explicitly.

:options

Any extra options you want appended to the table definition.

:temporary

Make a temporary table.

:force

Set to true to drop the table before creating it. Set to :cascade to drop dependent objects as well. Defaults to false.

:as

SQL to use to generate the table. When this option is used, the block is ignored, as are the :id and :primary_key options.

Add a backend specific option to the generated SQL (MySQL)

create_table(:suppliers, options: 'ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8')

generates:

CREATE TABLE suppliers (
  id int(11) DEFAULT NULL auto_increment PRIMARY KEY
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8

Rename the primary key column

create_table(:objects, primary_key: 'guid') do |t|
  t.column :name, :string, limit: 80
end

generates:

CREATE TABLE objects (
  guid int(11) DEFAULT NULL auto_increment PRIMARY KEY,
  name varchar(80)
)

Do not add a primary key column

create_table(:categories_suppliers, id: false) do |t|
  t.column :category_id, :integer
  t.column :supplier_id, :integer
end

generates:

CREATE TABLE categories_suppliers (
  category_id int,
  supplier_id int
)

Create a temporary table based on a query

create_table(:long_query, temporary: true,
  as: "SELECT * FROM orders INNER JOIN line_items ON order_id=orders.id")

generates:

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE long_query AS
  SELECT * FROM orders INNER JOIN line_items ON order_id=orders.id

See also TableDefinition#column for details on how to create columns.