Running and rolling back migrations in Ruby on Rails - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Running and Rolling Back Migrations in Rails

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple Rails app to manage a list of books. You need to create a database table for books and then learn how to run and rollback migrations to manage your database schema.

🎯 Goal: Create a migration to add a books table with title and author columns, run the migration to update the database, then rollback the migration to undo the changes.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a migration file named create_books with title and author columns as strings

Run the migration using the correct Rails command

Rollback the last migration using the correct Rails command

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Managing database schema changes safely is essential in real-world Rails applications to keep data consistent and allow easy updates.

💼 Career

Rails developers frequently create, run, and rollback migrations to evolve the database schema during development and deployment.

1

Create a migration file for books table

Generate a migration file named create_books that creates a books table with string columns title and author. Use the Rails generator command exactly as shown.

Ruby on Rails

# Run the Rails command to generate the migration file
# Your code here

Hint

Use rails generate migration followed by the migration name and columns with types.

2

Run the migration to update the database

Run the migration to apply the changes to the database using the Rails command rails db:migrate.

Ruby on Rails

# Run the Rails command to migrate the database
# Your code here

Hint

Use rails db:migrate to apply migrations.

3

Rollback the last migration

Rollback the last migration using the Rails command rails db:rollback to undo the changes made by the migration.

Ruby on Rails

# Run the Rails command to rollback the last migration
# Your code here

Hint

Use rails db:rollback to undo the last migration.

4

Verify migration rollback

Add a command to check the current status of migrations using rails db:migrate:status to verify that the migration was rolled back.

Ruby on Rails

# Run the Rails command to check migration status
# Your code here

Hint

Use rails db:migrate:status to see which migrations are applied.

Practice

1. What does running a migration in Rails do?

easy

A. Applies changes to the database schema step-by-step

B. Deletes the entire database

C. Creates a backup of the database

D. Restarts the Rails server

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand migration purpose

   Migrations are designed to change the database schema in a controlled way.

2. Step 2: Identify what running migration does

   Running a migration applies these schema changes step-by-step to the database.

3. Final Answer:

   Applies changes to the database schema step-by-step -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Running migration = apply schema changes [OK]

Hint: Running migration updates database schema stepwise [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Thinking it deletes the database
• Confusing migration with backup
• Assuming it restarts the server

2. Which command correctly rolls back the last migration in Rails?

easy

A. rails db:reset

B. rails db:rollback

C. rails db:migrate:down

D. rails db:rollback STEP=2

Solution

1. Step 1: Recall rollback command syntax

   The basic command to undo the last migration is rails db:rollback.

2. Step 2: Analyze other options

   rails db:migrate:down requires specifying a version, rails db:reset resets the whole database, and rails db:rollback STEP=2 rolls back two steps, not one.

3. Final Answer:

   rails db:rollback -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Rollback last migration = rails db:rollback [OK]

Hint: Rollback last migration uses rails db:rollback [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using db:reset which resets entire DB
• Using rollback with STEP=2 to undo one migration
• Confusing migrate:down without version

3. Given these commands run in order:
rails db:migrate
rails db:migrate
rails db:rollback STEP=2
What is the state of the database migrations?

medium

A. Only the first migration is applied

B. All migrations are applied

C. No migrations are applied

D. Only the last migration is applied

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the commands run

   Two migrations are applied by running rails db:migrate twice, then rollback with STEP=2 undoes both.

2. Step 2: Determine final migration state

   Rolling back two steps removes both migrations, so no migrations remain applied.

3. Final Answer:

   No migrations are applied -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Rollback STEP=2 undoes two migrations [OK]

Hint: Rollback STEP=2 undoes last two migrations [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming rollback STEP=2 only undoes one migration
• Thinking migrations remain applied after rollback
• Confusing migrate command effects

4. You run rails db:rollback STEP=3 but get an error saying there are not enough migrations to rollback. What is the likely cause?

medium

A. The STEP option is not supported

B. Rollback only works with STEP=1

C. You need to restart the Rails server first

D. There are fewer than 3 migrations applied

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand rollback STEP behavior

   Rollback with STEP=n tries to undo n migrations if they exist.

2. Step 2: Analyze error cause

   If fewer than 3 migrations are applied, rollback STEP=3 fails because it can't undo more than exist.

3. Final Answer:

   There are fewer than 3 migrations applied -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Rollback STEP=n needs at least n migrations applied [OK]

Hint: Rollback STEP=n requires n migrations applied [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Thinking STEP option is unsupported
• Believing server restart fixes rollback errors
• Assuming rollback only works with STEP=1

5. You have applied 5 migrations. You want to undo the last 3 migrations and then reapply them one by one to test changes. Which sequence of commands achieves this?

hard

A. rails db:rollback STEP=3, then rails db:migrate three times

B. rails db:rollback STEP=3, then rails db:migrate once

C. rails db:migrate:reset, then rails db:migrate

D. rails db:rollback, then rails db:migrate STEP=3

Solution

1. Step 1: Undo last 3 migrations

   Use rails db:rollback STEP=3 to undo the last three migrations at once.

2. Step 2: Reapply migrations one by one

   Run rails db:migrate three times to apply each migration individually.

3. Final Answer:

   rails db:rollback STEP=3, then rails db:migrate three times -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Rollback STEP=3 + migrate x3 reapplies migrations [OK]

Hint: Rollback STEP=3 then migrate repeatedly reapplies changes [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using migrate once after rollback STEP=3
• Resetting database instead of rolling back
• Trying migrate with STEP option (not valid)