How to store enum as string to database in rails

Question

How do I create a migration in ruby where the default is a string rather than an Integer, I want to store enum into the database, but I do not want to store it as Integer, becau

Answer 1

I normally do the following:

# in the migration in db/migrate/…
def self.up
  add_column :works, :status, :string, null: false, default: 'offering'
end

# in app/models/work.rb
class Work < ApplicationRecord
  ALL_STATES = %w[canceled offering running payment rating done].freeze

  enum status: ALL_STATES.zip(ALL_STATES).to_h
end

By using a hash as argument for enum (see docs) this stores strings in the database. At the same time this allows you to use all the cool Rails helper methods:

w = Work.new
#=>  #
w.rating?
#=> false
w.offering?
#=> true
w.status
#=> "offering"
w[:status]
#=> "offering"
w.done!
# INSERT transaction...
w.status
#=> "done"
w[:status]
#=> "done"