How to migrate from belongs_to, to embedded_in in Mongoid? - ruby-on-rails

Question

If one first build their models with a belong_to and has_many association and then realized they need to move to a embedded_in and embeds_many association, how would one do this without invalidating thousands of records? Need to migrate them somehow.

Answer 1

I am not so sure my solution is right or not. This is something you might try to accomplish it.
Suppose You have models - like this
#User Model
class User
include Mongoid::Document
has_many :books
end
#Book Model
class Book
include Mongoid::Document
field :title
belongs_to :user
end
At first step I will create another model that is similar to the Book model above but it's embedded instead of referenced.
#EmbedBook Model
class EmbedBook
include Mongoid::Document
field :title
embedded_in :user
end
#User Model (Update with EmbedBook Model)
class User
include Mongoid::Document
embeds_many :embed_books
has_many :books
end
Then create a Mongoid Migration with something like this for the above example
class ReferenceToEmbed < Mongoid::Migration
def up
User.all.each do |user|
user.books.each do |book|
embed_book = user.embed_books.new
embed_book.title = book.title
embed_book.save
book.destroy
end
end
end
def down
# I am not so sure How to reverse this migration so I am skipping it here
end
end
After running the migration. From here you can see that reference books are embedded, but the name for the embedded model is EmbedBook and model Book is still there
So the next step would be to make model book as embed instead.
class Book
include Mongoid::Document
embedded_in :user
field :title
end
class User
include Mongoid::Document
embeds_many :books
embeds_many :embed_books
end
So the next would be to migrate embedbook type to book type
class EmbedBookToBook < Mongoid::Migration
def up
User.all.each do |user|
user.embed_books.each do |embed_book|
book = user.books.new
book.title = embed_book.title
book.save
embed_book.destroy
end
end
def down
# I am skipping this portion. Since I am not so sure how to migrate back.
end
end
Now If you see Book is changed from referenced to embedded.
You can remove EmbedBook model to make the changing complete.
This is just the suggestion. Try this on your development before trying on production. Since, I think there might be something wrong in my suggestion.

Answer 2

10gen has a couple of articles on data modeling which could be useful:
Data Modeling Considerations for MongoDB Applications
Embedded One-to-Many Relationships
Referenced One-to-Many Relationships
MongoDB Data Modeling and Rails
Remember that there are two limitations in MongoDB when it comes to embedding:
the document size-limit is 16MB - this implies a max number of embedded documents, even if you just embed their object-id
if you ever want to search across all embedded documents from the top-level, then don't embed, but use referenced documents instead!

Answer 3

Try these steps:
In User model leave the has_many :books relation, and add the
embedded relation with a different name to not override the books
method.
class User
include Mongoid::Document
has_many :books
embeds_many :embedded_books, :class_name => "Book"
end
Now if you call the embedded_books method from a User instance
mongoid should return an empty array.
Without adding any embedded relation to Book model, write your own
migration script:
class Book
include Mongoid::Document
field :title, type: String
field :price, type: Integer
belongs_to :user
def self.migrate
attributes_to_migrate = ["title","price"] # Use strings not symbols,
# we keep only what we need.
# We skip :user_id field because
# is a field related to belongs_to association.
Book.all.each do |book|
attrs = book.attributes.slice(*attributes_to_migrate)
user = book.user // through belong_to association
user.embedded_book.create!(attrs)
end
end
end
Calling Book.migrate you should have all the Books copied inside each user who was
associated with belongs_to relation.
Now you can remove the has_many and belongs_to relations, and
finally switch to clean embedded solution.
class User
include Mongoid::Document
embeds_many :books
end
class Book
include Mongoid::Document
field :title, type: String
field :price, type: Integer
embedded_in :user
end
I have not tested this solution, but theoretically should work, let me know.

Answer 4

I have a much shorter concise answer:
Let's assume that you have the same models:
#User Model
class User
include Mongoid::Document
has_many :books
end
#Book Model
class Book
include Mongoid::Document
field :title
belongs_to :user
end
So change it to embeds:
#User Model
class User
include Mongoid::Document
embeds_many :books
end
#Book Model
class Book
include Mongoid::Document
field :title
embedded_in :user
end
And generate a mongoid migration like this:
class EmbedBooks < Mongoid::Migration
##attributes_to_migrate = [:title]
def self.up
Book.unscoped.where(:user_id.ne => nil).all.each do |book|
user = User.find book[:user_id]
if user
attrs = book.attributes.slice(*##attributes_to_migrate)
user.books.create! attrs
end
end
end
def self.down
User.unscoped.all.each do |user|
user.books.each do |book|
attrs = ##attributes_to_migrate.reduce({}) do |sym,attr|
sym[attr] = book[attr]
sym
end
attrs[:user] = user
Book.find_or_create_by(**attrs)
end
end
end
end
This works because when you query from class level, it is looking for the top level collection (which still exists even if you change your relations), and the book[:user_id] is a trick to access the document attribute instead of autogenerated methods which also exists as you have not done anything to delete them.
So there you have it, a simple migration from relational to embedded