Assigning default value while creating migration file

rails generate migration AddRetweetsCountToTweet retweets_count:integer 

Ok I use above line to create migration file that automatically generates code in the generated file to add a column to a model Tweet with datatype integer. Now I want to add default value to the added column while generating the migration file. Is that possible? I googled it but couldn't find. Guys need help.

Solution 1:

Default migration generator does not handle default values (column modifiers are supported but do not include default or null), but you could create your own generator.

You can also manually update the migration file prior to running rake db:migrate by adding the options to add_column:

add_column :tweet, :retweets_count, :integer, :null => false, :default => 0

... and read Rails API

Solution 2:

t.integer :retweets_count, :default => 0

... should work.

See the Rails guide on migrations

Solution 3:

Yes, I couldn't see how to use 'default' in the migration generator command either but was able to specify a default value for a new string column as follows by amending the generated migration file before applying "rake db:migrate":

class AddColumnToWidgets < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def change
    add_column :widgets, :colour, :string, default: 'red'
  end
end

This adds a new column called 'colour' to my 'Widget' model and sets the default 'colour' of new widgets to 'red'.