method

add_foreign_key

v6.0.0 - Show latest stable - 1 note - Class: ActiveRecord::ConnectionAdapters::SchemaStatements

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What's this?

add_foreign_key(from_table, to_table, options = {}) public

Adds a new foreign key. from_table is the table with the key column, to_table contains the referenced primary key.

The foreign key will be named after the following pattern: fk_rails_<identifier>. identifier is a 10 character long string which is deterministically generated from the from_table and column. A custom name can be specified with the :name option.

Creating a simple foreign key

add_foreign_key :articles, :authors

generates:

ALTER TABLE "articles" ADD CONSTRAINT fk_rails_e74ce85cbc FOREIGN KEY ("author_id") REFERENCES "authors" ("id")

Creating a foreign key on a specific column

add_foreign_key :articles, :users, column: :author_id, primary_key: "lng_id"

generates:

ALTER TABLE "articles" ADD CONSTRAINT fk_rails_58ca3d3a82 FOREIGN KEY ("author_id") REFERENCES "users" ("lng_id")

Creating a cascading foreign key

add_foreign_key :articles, :authors, on_delete: :cascade

generates:

ALTER TABLE "articles" ADD CONSTRAINT fk_rails_e74ce85cbc FOREIGN KEY ("author_id") REFERENCES "authors" ("id") ON DELETE CASCADE

The options hash can include the following keys:

:column: The foreign key column name on from_table. Defaults to to_table.singularize + "_id"
:primary_key: The primary key column name on to_table. Defaults to id.
:name: The constraint name. Defaults to fk_rails_<identifier>.
:on_delete: Action that happens ON DELETE. Valid values are :nullify, :cascade and :restrict
:on_update: Action that happens ON UPDATE. Valid values are :nullify, :cascade and :restrict
:validate: (PostgreSQL only) Specify whether or not the constraint should be validated. Defaults to true.

Show source

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/schema_statements.rb, line 991
      def add_foreign_key(from_table, to_table, options = {})
        return unless supports_foreign_keys?

        options = foreign_key_options(from_table, to_table, options)
        at = create_alter_table from_table
        at.add_foreign_key to_table, options

        execute schema_creation.accept(at)
      end

March 17, 2016 - (>= v4.2.1)

0 thanks

Default values

By default :on_update and :on_delete have :restrict value.

add_foreign_key

Related methods

Creating a simple foreign key

Creating a foreign key on a specific column

Creating a cascading foreign key

Default values