Array Attribute for Ruby Model

Question

Is it possible to create an attribute for a class that is an array? I tried reading this but I didn't get much out of it. I want to do something like this:

class CreateArches < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def change
    create_table :arches do |t|
      t.string :name
      t.array :thearray
      t.timestamps
    end
  end
end

such that when I call .thearray on an instance of Arch I get an array that I can add new elements to.

ruby-1.9.2-p290 :006 > arc = Arch.new
ruby-1.9.2-p290 :007 > arc.thearray
 => [] 

Answer 1

Create a model with a text field

> rails g model Arches thearray:text
  invoke  active_record
  create    db/migrate/20111111174052_create_arches.rb
  create    app/models/arches.rb
  invoke    test_unit
  create      test/unit/arches_test.rb
  create      test/fixtures/arches.yml
> rake db:migrate
==  CreateArches: migrating ===================================================
-- create_table(:arches)
   -> 0.0012s
==  CreateArches: migrated (0.0013s) ==========================================

edit your model to make the field serialized to an array

class Arches < ActiveRecord::Base
  serialize :thearray,Array
end

test it out

ruby-1.8.7-p299 :001 > a = Arches.new
 => #<Arches id: nil, thearray: [], created_at: nil, updated_at: nil> 
ruby-1.8.7-p299 :002 > a.thearray
 => [] 
ruby-1.8.7-p299 :003 > a.thearray << "test"
 => ["test"]