Fetching Data From Mulitple Databases

Hello,

I have read several articles on methods to fetch data from several databases using Rails. The general consensus seems to be that working with one database is better when possible, but when it's not possible, you ought to establish your database connection in the model rather than the controller for a variety of reasons. However, just about all the examples I've found still establish the database connection in the controller. Can someone provide me some assistance in establishing a database connection in a model?

More specifically, my problem is that I am trying to store user info in one database and the products they own in another. I don't get to choose the database design, I just get to work with what I've been given. The products database is the default database. When user information is requested, I need to connect to the users database and fetch it from there. Presently, it is done through a SOAP API to a third database which is really slow and problematic (the SOAP calls AND the database, that is - probably the initial developer's fault).

Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!

Hi Matt, just define your connection in database.yml like the rest of your connections, but instead of "production", "test", etc name is something else like "usersdb". Then in your users model, use:

establish_connection :usersdb

Matt White wrote: