How can I permanently ignore a database column in my ActiveRecord::Base class?

Question

I have a legacy database which I\'m trying to model using Rails. One of the tables has a column named attributes, which is a name reserved by Rails I think.

Answer 1

Solved this using a combination of stuff from Robin's link and some other SO answers

class Album < ActiveRecord::Base
  set_table_name "album"

  class << self
    def instance_method_already_implemented?(method_name)
      return true if method_name =~ /^attributes/
      super
    end
  end

  belongs_to :artist
  has_many :tracks, :through => :album_tracks
end

Did the trick. I used a big sweeping change to return true without throwing an error for all methods starting with attributes, and I don't think its caused any problems elsewhere.