Trucker¶ ↑

Trucker is a gem that helps migrate legacy data into a Rails app.

Installation¶ ↑

1. Install the trucker gem

   sudo gem install trucker
   

2. Add trucker to your config.gem block in environment.rb

   config.gem "trucker"
   

3. Generate the basic trucker files

   script/generate truck
   
   This will do the following things:
   * Add legacy adapter to database.yml
   * Add legacy base class
   * Add legacy sub classes for all existing models
   * Add app/models/legacy to autoload_paths in Rails Initializer config block
   * Generate sample migration task (using pluralized model names)

4. Update the legacy database adapter in database.yml with your legacy database info

   legacy:
     adapter: mysql
     encoding: utf8
     database: app_legacy
     username: root
     password:
   
   (By convention, we recommend naming your legacy database APP_NAME_legacy.)

5. If the legacy database doesn’t already exist, add it.

   rake db:create:all

6. Import your legacy data into the legacy database

   mysql -u root app_legacy < old_database.sql

7. Update set_table_name in each of your legacy models as needed

   class LegacyPost < LegacyBase
     set_table_name "LEGACY_TABLE_NAME_GOES_HERE"
   end
   

8. Update legacy model field mappings as needed

   class LegacyPost < LegacyBase
     set_table_name "YOUR LEGACY TABLE NAME GOES HERE"
   
     def map
       {
         :headline => self.title.squish,
         :body => self.long_text.squish
       }
     end
   end
   
   New model attributes on the left side.
   Legacy model attributes on the right side.
   (aka :new_field => legacy_field)
   

9. Need to tweak some data? Just add some core ruby methods or add a helper method.

   class LegacyPost < LegacyBase
     set_table_name "YOUR LEGACY TABLE NAME GOES HERE"
   
     def map
       {
         :headline => self.title.squish.capitalize, # <= Added capitalize method
         :body => tweak_body(self.long_text.squish) # <= Added tweak_body method
       }
     end
   
     # Insert helper methods as needed
     def tweak_body(body)
       body = body.gsub(/<br \//,"\n") # <= Convert break tags into normal line breaks
       body = body.gsub(/teh/, "the")  # <= Fix common typos
     end
   end
   

10. Start migrating!

    rake db:migrate:posts

Migration command line options¶ ↑

Trucker supports a few command line options when migrating records:

rake db:migrate:posts limit=100 (migrates 100 records)
rake db:migrate:posts limit=100 offset=100 (migrates 100 records, but skip the first 100 records)

Custom migration labels¶ ↑

You can tweak the default migration output generated by Trucker by using the :label option.

rake db:migrate:posts
=> Migrating posts

rake db:migrate:posts, :label => "blog posts"
=> Migrating blog posts

Custom helpers¶ ↑

Trucker is intended for migrating data from fairly simple web apps that started life on PHP, Perl, etc. So, if you’re migrating data from an enterprise system, this may not be your best choice.

That said, if you need to pull off a complex migration for a model, you can use a custom helper method to override Trucker’s default migrate method in your rake task.

namespace :db do
  namespace :migrate do

    ...

    desc 'Migrate pain_in_the_ass model'
    task :pain_in_the_ass => :environment do
      Trucker.migrate :pain_in_the_ass, :helper => pain_in_the_ass_migration
    end 

  end
end

def pain_in_the_ass_migration
  # Custom code goes here
end

Then just copy the migrate method from lib/trucker.rb and tweak accordingly.

As an example, here’s a custom helper used to migrate join tables on a bunch of models.

namespace :db do
  namespace :migrate do

    desc 'Migrates join tables'
    task :joins => :environment do
      migrate :joins, :helper => :migrate_joins  
    end

  end
end

def migrate_joins
  puts "Migrating #{number_of_records || "all"} joins #{"after #{offset_for_records}" if offset_for_records}"

  ["chain", "firm", "function", "style", "website"].each do |model|

    # Start migration
    puts "Migrating theaters_#{model.pluralize}"

    # Delete existing joins
    ActiveRecord::Base.connection.execute("TRUNCATE table theaters_#{model.pluralize}")

    # Tweak model ids and foreign keys to match model syntax
    if model == 'website'
      model_id = "url_id"
      send_foreign_key = "url_id".to_sym
    else
      model_id = "#{model}_id"
      send_foreign_key = "#{model}_id".to_sym
    end

    # Create join object class
    join = Object.const_set("Theaters#{model.classify}", Class.new(ActiveRecord::Base))

    # Set model foreign key
    model_foreign_key = "#{model}_id".to_sym

    # Migrate join (unless duplicate)
    "LegacyTheater#{model.classify}".constantize.find(:all, with(:order => model_id)).each do |record|

      unless join.find(:first, :conditions => {:theater_id => record.theater_id, model_foreign_key => record.send(send_foreign_key)})
        attributes = {
          model_foreign_key => record.send(send_foreign_key),
          :theater_id => record.theater_id
        }

        # Check if theater chain is current
        attributes[:is_current] = {'Yes' => 1, 'No' => 0, '' => 0}[record.current] if model == 'chain'

        # Migrate join
        join.create(attributes)
      end
    end
  end
end

Sample application¶ ↑

Check out the Trucker sample app for a working example of Trucker-based legacy data migration.

Background¶ ↑

Trucker is based on a migration technique using legacy models first pioneered by Dave Thomas: pragdave.blogs.pragprog.com/pragdave/2006/01/sharing_externa.html

Note on patches/pull requests¶ ↑

• Fork the project.

• Make your feature addition or bug fix.

• Add tests for it. This is important so we don’t break a future version unintentionally.

• Commit your changes, but do not mess with the rakefile, version, or history. (if you want to have your own version, that is fine but bump version in a commit by itself so we can ignore when we pull)

• Send a pull request. Bonus points for topic branches.

Contributors¶ ↑

• Patrick Crowley

• Rob Kaufman

• Jordan Fowler

Copyright¶ ↑

Copyright © 2010 Patrick Crowley and Rob Kaufman. See LICENSE for details.