storing as YAML in the database

rubyonrails-talk
1

i've got a project which i need to create some dynamic forms. each one will be different so it seems almost impossible to keep a 1 to 1 relationship between each form field and a corresponding column in the database.

i've heard that YAML is a lot faster than XML. would this be something i can use or is there something else that anyone would recommend for something like this?

2

Aye.

class MyThingy < AR::Base serialize :form_data end

The form_data field will now be automatically saved as YAML text on save/create, and pulled back out into valid Ruby objects.

For example:

MyThingy.create :form_data => {:one => 1, :two => 2}

becomes

one: 1 two: 2

Jason

3

oh man, that's perfect! i looked up serialize in the api and it says that it will deserialize it when it is loaded. does that mean that i'll also be able to do this?

my_thingy.form_data.one my_thingy.form_data.two

4

Josh wrote:

oh man, that's perfect! i looked up serialize in the api and it says that it will deserialize it when it is loaded. does that mean that i'll also be able to do this?

my_thingy.form_data.one my_thingy.form_data.two

No, it would be my_thingy.form_data[:one], but that's close enough.