# Noob - added a column via migration but get error on insert **URL:** \ **Category:** rubyonrails-talk\ **Created:** [December 19, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/noob-added-a-column-via-migration-but-get-error-on-insert/37548 "2008-12-19T20:30:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![11175](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/8edcca/32.png) [@11175](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/11175)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/noob-added-a-column-via-migration-but-get-error-on-insert/37548/1 "2008-12-19T20:30:28Z")
Hello! I'm very new to ruby and ruby on rails. I'm following a tutorial found here: www.javapassion.com/handsonlabs/rails\_activerecord/ I'm running NetBeans as an IDE, with jruby, rails and MySQL. Here is the basic rundown of what I have done 1) Created db via Rake 2) Created table with 3 columns via Migration (user name:string hobby:string age:integer) 3) Inserted 3 user records via Rails Console 4) Added additional column via Migration (AddEmailField email:string) (Inside the migration rb -\> "add\_column :users, :email, :string" 5) This is where things go poorly, I try to add a new user with the email but get an error. Here is what I enter via Rails Console user = User.new(:name =\> "TommyJones", :hobby =\> "tennis", :age =\> 138, :email =\> "emaila@asdfgmail.com") And I get the following error: ---
**Author:** ![hassan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/user_avatar/discuss.rubyonrails.org/hassan/32/714_2.png) [@hassan](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/hassan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/noob-added-a-column-via-migration-but-get-error-on-insert/37548/2 "2008-12-19T20:38:42Z")
> 1) Created db via Rake 2) Created table with 3 columns via Migration (user name:string hobby:string age:integer) 3) Inserted 3 user records via Rails Console 4) Added additional column via Migration (AddEmailField email:string) (Inside the migration rb -\> "add\_column :users, :email, :string" There should be a step 4a) here -- rake db:migrate Did you do that? If so, can you confirm that the table was altered? > 5) This is where things go poorly, I try to add a new user with the email but get an error. Here is what I enter via Rails Console user = User.new(:name =\> "TommyJones", :hobby =\> "tennis", :age =\> 138, :email =\> "emaila@asdfgmail.com") And did you restart the console after running the migration? ---
**Author:** ![11175](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/8edcca/32.png) [@11175](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/11175)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/noob-added-a-column-via-migration-but-get-error-on-insert/37548/3 "2008-12-19T20:44:16Z")
Hassan Schroeder wrote: ---
**Author:** ![hassan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/user_avatar/discuss.rubyonrails.org/hassan/32/714_2.png) [@hassan](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/hassan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 8:47pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/noob-added-a-column-via-migration-but-get-error-on-insert/37548/4 "2008-12-19T20:47:26Z")
I believe so -- but it should be easy enough to find out, eh? 🙂 Let me know if that doesn't fix the problem. ---
**Author:** ![11175](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/8edcca/32.png) [@11175](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/11175)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/noob-added-a-column-via-migration-but-get-error-on-insert/37548/5 "2008-12-19T20:51:52Z")
Hassan Schroeder wrote: > I believe so -- but it should be easy enough to find out, eh? 🙂 > > Let me know if that doesn't fix the problem. Thanks! That did the trick. So anytime I make a DB modification and am working via the console I need to restart it so it will become aware of the changes. Very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Marnen\_Laibow-Koser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@Marnen\_Laibow-Koser](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/Marnen_Laibow-Koser)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 5:29am UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/noob-added-a-column-via-migration-but-get-error-on-insert/37548/6 "2008-12-20T05:29:12Z")
I believe you can also type app.reload! in the console. Also, as you go forward with Rails, you might want to consider giving jEdit a try as an IDE. It's powerful, but much easier to work with for Rails than are "heavier" programs like NetBeans or Eclipse. See [Rails IDE: jEdit wins? - Marnen Laibow-Koser's Journal — LiveJournal](http://marnen.livejournal.com/23723.html) for more info on configuring jEdit. Best, ---
**Author:** ![Marnen\_Laibow-Koser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@Marnen\_Laibow-Koser](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/Marnen_Laibow-Koser)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 4:39am UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/noob-added-a-column-via-migration-but-get-error-on-insert/37548/7 "2008-12-22T04:39:20Z")
I goofed. Just type reload! (without the app. part). Sorry about that. Best,