Adding a column to an existing table in a Rails migration

Question

I have a Users model which needs an :email column (I forgot to add that column during the initial scaffold).

I opened the migration file and added

Answer 1

To add a column I just had to follow these steps :

1. rails generate migration add_fieldname_to_tablename fieldname:string

   Alternative

   rails generate migration addFieldnameToTablename

   Once the migration is generated, then edit the migration and define all the attributes you want that column added to have.

   Note: Table names in Rails are always plural (to match DB conventions). Example using one of the steps mentioned previously-

   rails generate migration addEmailToUsers

2. rake db:migrate

Or

1. You can change the schema in from db/schema.rb, Add the columns you want in the SQL query.

2. Run this command: rake db:schema:load

   Warning/Note

   Bear in mind that, running rake db:schema:load automatically wipes all data in your tables.