Help w/ rake db:migrate error

rubyonrails-talk
#1

I made a few changes to my migration files, dropped all tables (rake
db:drop:all), and when I went to re-create everything (rake
db:migrate), I get this:

rake db:migrate --trace
(in /Users/Eric/Development/Work/Rails/pcod)
** Invoke db:migrate (first_time)
** Invoke environment (first_time)
** Execute environment
rake aborted!
undefined method `random' for Tidbit(Table doesn't exist):Class
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.2.2/lib/active_record/
base.rb:1833:in `method_missing_without_paginate'
/Users/Eric/Development/Work/Rails/pcod/vendor/plugins/will_paginate/
lib/will_paginate/finder.rb:167:in `method_missing'
/Users/Eric/Development/Work/Rails/pcod/app/controllers/application.rb:
6
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
dependencies.rb:382:in `load_without_new_constant_marking'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
dependencies.rb:382:in `load_file'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
dependencies.rb:521:in `new_constants_in'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
dependencies.rb:381:in `load_file'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
dependencies.rb:256:in `require_or_load'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
dependencies.rb:221:in `depend_on'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
dependencies.rb:133:in `require_dependency'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.2.2/lib/action_controller/
dispatcher.rb:18:in `define_dispatcher_callbacks'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
callbacks.rb:182:in `call'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
callbacks.rb:182:in `evaluate_method'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
callbacks.rb:166:in `call'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
callbacks.rb:90:in `run'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
callbacks.rb:90:in `each'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
callbacks.rb:90:in `send'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
callbacks.rb:90:in `run'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
callbacks.rb:277:in `run_callbacks'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rails-2.2.2/lib/initializer.rb:559:in
`send'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rails-2.2.2/lib/initializer.rb:559:in
`prepare_dispatcher'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rails-2.2.2/lib/initializer.rb:173:in
`process'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rails-2.2.2/lib/initializer.rb:112:in
`send'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rails-2.2.2/lib/initializer.rb:112:in
`run'
/Users/Eric/Development/Work/Rails/pcod/config/environment.rb:13
/Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in
`gem_original_require'
/Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in `require'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
dependencies.rb:153:in `require'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
dependencies.rb:521:in `new_constants_in'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.2.2/lib/active_support/
dependencies.rb:153:in `require'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rails-2.2.2/lib/tasks/misc.rake:3
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:617:in `call'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:617:in `execute'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:612:in `each'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:612:in `execute'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:578:in
`invoke_with_call_chain'
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/
1.8/monitor.rb:242:in `synchronize'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:571:in
`invoke_with_call_chain'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:588:in
`invoke_prerequisites'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:585:in `each'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:585:in
`invoke_prerequisites'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:577:in
`invoke_with_call_chain'
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/
1.8/monitor.rb:242:in `synchronize'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:571:in
`invoke_with_call_chain'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:564:in `invoke'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:2019:in
`invoke_task'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:1997:in `top_level'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:1997:in `each'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:1997:in `top_level'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:2036:in
`standard_exception_handling'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:1991:in `top_level'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:1970:in `run'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:2036:in
`standard_exception_handling'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/lib/rake.rb:1967:in `run'
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.3/bin/rake:31
/usr/bin/rake:19:in `load'
/usr/bin/rake:19

I took out the "random" function mentioned in the trace because it was
initially complaining about that method referencing a table that
doesn't exist. Well, of course it doesn't -- I just dropped the
tables. But the real question is, why is that method being called in
the first place? Any suggestions on how to resolve this?

#2

Also, I'm running SQLite3 locally and tried deleting the
development.sqlite3 database manually, as well as the generated
schema.rb file.

#3

Found my problem. I had the line $random_tidbit = Tidbit.random in my
application.rb. This was causing the problem. I need a way to define
random_tidbit available in my application.rhtml without having to
place instance variables for random_tidbit inside of each controller.
@random_tidbit in application.rb didn't work, so we temporarily went
with a global variable solution.

How should I do this instead?

#4

What's the goal? Using a global will mean that in production mode,
$random_tidbit
will only ever be set once. Even worse, if you're running a setup with
multiple instances
(pretty much any modern deployment), each one will get a *different*
value. Do you
want the value to be different for each request?

--Matt Jones