Legacy table with column named "class" in Rails - ruby-on-rails

Question

I've got a legacy table that my rails application shares with another application. It has a column called "class". The first time I reference any attribute in that model, I get an error. Subsequent references to attributes work. Is there a good workaround for this, or should I just go modify the other application that uses this table (ugh)?
>> Member::Ssg.find(:first)
=> #<Member::Ssg ssg_key: #<BigDecimal:10b169688,'0.253E3',4(8)>, org_id: 2, academic_year: 2006, class: true, next_due_date: "2011-06-01", submitted_date: "2006-02-13", notes: nil, owner_id: "1">
>> Member::Ssg.find(:first).notes
NoMethodError: undefined method `generated_methods' for true:TrueClass
from /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.8/lib/active_record/attribute_methods.rb:247:in `method_missing'
from (irb):2
>> Member::Ssg.find(:first).notes
=> nil
SOLUTION:
I went with a combination of the Bellmyer solution and adding the code below to my model
class << self
def instance_method_already_implemented?(method_name)
return true if method_name == 'class'
super
end
end

Answer 1

NOTE: Please see the updated solution at the end of this answer. Leaving the original outdated solution for historic reasons.
This has come up often enough (legacy column names interfering with ruby/rails) that I might just make a plugin out of this. Here's how you can fix it right away, though. Create this file in your app:
# lib/bellmyer/create_alias.rb
module Bellmyer
module CreateAlias
def self.included(base)
base.extend CreateAliasMethods
end
module CreateAliasMethods
def create_alias old_name, new_name
define_method new_name.to_s do
self.read_attribute old_name.to_s
end
define_method new_name.to_s + "=" do |value|
self.write_attribute old_name.to_s, value
end
end
end
end
end
And now, in your model:
class Member < ActiveRecord::Base
include Bellmyer::CreateAlias
create_alias 'class', 'class_name'
end
The first parameter to create_alias is the old method name, and the second parameter is the new name you want to call it, that won't interfere with rails. It basically uses the read_attribute and write_attribute methods to interact with the column instead of the ruby methods that get defined by ActiveRecord. Just be sure to use the new name for the field everywhere, like so:
member.class_name = 'helper'
This works with ruby 1.8, but I haven't tested with ruby 1.9 yet. I hope this helps!
UPDATE: I've found a better solution that works in Rails 3, the safe_attributes gem. I've written a blog post explaining how to use it, with example code snippets, and a full sample app you can download from github and play around with. Here's the link:
Legacy Database Column Names in Rails 3

Answer 2

The following works in Rails 6.0.2.2
class ReasonCode < ApplicationRecord
class << self
def instance_method_already_implemented?(method_name)
return true if method_name == 'class'
super
end
end
def as_json(options={})
add_class = attributes.keys.include?('class')
if add_class
if options[:only]
add_class = Array(options[:only]).map(&:to_s).include?('class')
elsif Array(options[:except])
add_class = Array(options[:except]).map(&:to_s).exclude?('class')
end
end
options[:except] = Array(options[:except])
options[:except].push('class')
json = super(options)
json['class'] = attributes['class'] if add_class
json
end
end
Adapted from this answer https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/activerecord-column-with-reserved-name-class/125705/2. The as_json method was added because rendering the record as json gave a SystemStackError (stack level too deep). I followed the serialization code in the Rails repo to only render the class attribute if specified in the as_json options.