How to re-name a ActiveRecord Model which can automatically change the table name in DB?

Question

I have a Active Record model "car", I would like to change the name of this model to "train" without changing functionalities inside, that's only change the name. Also, the table name should be changed to "trains".

Is there any rails command can do that at onece? Or I have to manually change the name in side the class or migration? If I have to change manually, it's gonna be complicated, because I have to also change other models which have associations to my "car" model.

Any good suggestions?

Answer 1

I figured out the following way:

1, generate migration file:

rails generate migration rename_cars_to_trains

2. edit the created migration file to:

   class RenameCarsToTrains < ActiveRecord::Migration
     def self.up
       rename_table :cars, :trains
     end
   
     def self.down
       rename_table :trains, :cars
     end
   end
   

3. rake db:migrate

After these steps, the table name changed from cars to trains, then, I have to manually change the controller and views names and the associations...

If you have any more efficient way, let me know...

Answer 2

I would recommend the following:

1. Change manually the Active Record model class into Train

2. Make migration to change the database table name from cars to trains

3. Make good search to change references from Car to Train.

If you have constantly the need to change database table names, you might want to reconsider naming the tables more abstact way. Like in this case you could have table called vehicles and have the "type" field specifying the type (for instance: car or train).