Renaming the created_at, updated_at columns of ActiveRecord/Rails

Question

I want to rename the timestamp columns defined in timestamp.rb . Can the methods of timestamp.rb be overwritten? And what has to be done in the application that the module with the overwritten methods is used.

Answer 1

I think NPatel's method is a right approach, but it is doing too much if you only need to change #created_at on a single model. Since the Timestamp module is included in every AR object, you can just override it per model, not globally.

<= Rails 5.0

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  ...
  private
  def timestamp_attributes_for_create
    super << :registered_at
  end
end

Rails ~> 5.1

  private_class_method
  def self.timestamp_attributes_for_create
    # only strings allowed here, symbols won't work, see below commit for more details
    # https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/2b5dacb43dd92e98e1fd240a80c2a540ed380257 
    super << 'registered_at' 
  end
end