With the exception of certain Oracle DB's, am I wrong to assume that I can connect to other types of DBs simply by changing the adapter parameter in /config/database.yaml? (that seems too simple). If so, what databses (i.e. the exact strings I would put in for the adapter parameter) can I connect to?
Lastly, can someone show me an example of connecting to various Oracle databases? Thank you.
I've done some Rails work with Oracle, but it was long enough ago that I've forgotten the specific changes required - you should be able to search this mailing list to find details. I know things have become simpler since I was working with Oracle early last year, but it was fairly straightforward even then. There were problems with sequence numbers and a few other bits and pieces, but they were straightened out a long time ago within Rails and you shouldn't have to worry about them now.
In general, to work with a different database, the only file you'll need to change is database.yaml. Now, if you're already some way down the track developing on MySQL and you decide to switch to Oracle, there will be migration required, but if it's a new project, just change that one file and you're done.
With SQLite, which I've been using lately, you need to specify a "dbfile" parameter instead of a "database" parameter - it's not just a straight matter of changing the existing parameter fields in the file. However, all the config is within that one file.
Regards
Dave M.