With many Rails projects, there is occasionally a need to bypass the normal ActiveRecord API, and get closer to the low-level SQL API. Here are a few useful methods that bypass the confines of everyday ActiveRecord. #find_by_sql users = User.find_by_sql("SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = 1") This returns model instances for the given SQL string. #find_by_sql also accepts parametrized values, like this: users = User.find_by_sql(["SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?

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These tips may help those of you who are relatively new to Rails, or maybe even if you’re not. Common tips and tricks Look at the URL path (e.g. /users/100685/edit). Can the action and main view file be determined from CRUD/REST conventions? /:model/edit -> edit.html.slim /:model/1234 -> show.html.slim /:model/new -> new.html.slim /:model -> index.html.slim Look up the path in routes.rb, or even more useful, run rake routes Finding a controller and action responsible for a given page In development go to your server’s output, and clear the screen (Ctrl+L, for Linux, Cmd-K for OS X) Refresh the web page Back to the server’s output, scroll to the top of the output.

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