So, I've seen several references to Rails' preference for numeric IDs, and a couple places suggesting that not having them will cause problems. I have legacy (and frankly prefer) random alphanum strings. Ultimately isn't the primary key just seen as a string anyway? So far I don't see the big deal. "So far." So, other than the snickers of David, what problems am I going to run into by having random string keys?
Hi there. In my experience, you'll run into a couple of issues:
1) How do you guarantee the string is unique? I'm guessing that you
need to create a random string, validate that it is not already
existent in the database, then recreate it until you find a unique
key. This is slower than numeric auto incrementing keys
2) Storage of numeric keys is faster and smaller than alphanumerics
3) Rails is built around numeric primary keys. This might not matter
in your case since you are using a legacy database, but with a new
pure Rails db, its better to follow the conventions.
Chris, thanks for taking a stab, but I'm still looking for a more detailed cause->effect.
Hi there. In my experience, you'll run into a couple of issues:
1) How do you guarantee the string is unique? I'm guessing that you
need to create a random string, validate that it is not already
existent in the database, then recreate it until you find a unique
key. This is slower than numeric auto incrementing keys
2) Storage of numeric keys is faster and smaller than alphanumerics
I've worked with alphanum keys for many years across many apps, so I've been through all the above types of debates. These are reasons why some people prefer numerics, but they're not reasons why alphanumerics won't work in Rails.
3) Rails is built around numeric primary keys. This might not matter
in your case since you are using a legacy database, but with a new
pure Rails db, its better to follow the conventions.
Not trying to be a dweeb, but this is the type of statement I keep seeing. There's no technical facts in there which identifies the conditions under which a non-numeric key will cause Rails to cough up a lung.
Convention is one thing, but where will Rails actually break if it is not followed?
Chris, thanks for taking a stab, but I'm still looking for a more
detailed cause->effect.
Hi there. In my experience, you'll run into a couple of issues:
1) How do you guarantee the string is unique? I'm guessing that you
need to create a random string, validate that it is not already
existent in the database, then recreate it until you find a unique
key. This is slower than numeric auto incrementing keys
2) Storage of numeric keys is faster and smaller than alphanumerics
I've worked with alphanum keys for many years across many apps, so
I've been through all the above types of debates. These are reasons
why some people prefer numerics, but they're not reasons why
alphanumerics won't work in Rails.
3) Rails is built around numeric primary keys. This might not matter
in your case since you are using a legacy database, but with a new
pure Rails db, its better to follow the conventions.
Not trying to be a dweeb, but this is the type of statement I keep
seeing. There's no technical facts in there which identifies the
conditions under which a non-numeric key will cause Rails to cough up
a lung.
Convention is one thing, but where will Rails actually break if it is
not followed?
So, I've seen several references to Rails' preference for numeric
IDs, and a couple places suggesting that not having them will cause
problems. I have legacy (and frankly prefer) random alphanum strings.
Ultimately isn't the primary key just seen as a string anyway? So far
I don't see the big deal. "So far." So, other than the snickers of
David, what problems am I going to run into by having random string
keys?
-- gw (www.railsdev.ws)
Try in the console
Model.find("#{my_numeric_id}") # works
Model.find("#{my_numeric_id}ANY_STRING") # works, and returns the same instance as above
lesson: the finders (not sure about all), strip off non-numeric characters from the end of the ID field
which would be a really good reason why non-numeric PK's will bail.
Rails is built around numeric primary keys. This might not matter
in your case since you are using a legacy database, but with a new
pure Rails db, its better to follow the conventions.
Not trying to be a dweeb, but this is the type of statement I keep
seeing. There’s no technical facts in there which identifies the
conditions under which a non-numeric key will cause Rails to cough up
a lung.
Convention is one thing, but where will Rails actually break if it is
not followed?
I believe that’s just it - no effort has been spent testing Rails w/ non-integer primary keys since Rails doesn’t use them (opinionated software, and all that), so nobody will be able to give you a definitive answer as to where it will break. You want random alphanumerics? Go for it. It breaks and you get to keep both pieces =) (seriously, though, if it breaks, I’d submit patches – unless it’s a big departure, I’d expect them to get rolled in).