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POIn Rails, how should I implement a Status field for a Tasks app - integer or enum?
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  1. POIn Rails, how should I implement a Status field for a Tasks app - integer or enum?
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    copied!<p>For a Rails 3.0 Todo app, I have a Tasks model with a <strong>Status</strong> field. What's the best way to store the Status field data (field type) and still display a human-readable version in a view (HTML table)? Status can be: </p> <p>0 = Normal<br> 1 = Active<br> 2 = Completed</p> <p>Right now I have this: </p> <h2>Rails Schema Here:</h2> <blockquote> <p>create_table "tasks", :force => true do |t|<br> t.integer "status", :limit => 1, :default => 0, :null => false</p> </blockquote> <h2>Rails Model Here:</h2> <pre><code>class Task &lt; ActiveRecord::Base validates_inclusion_of :status, :in =&gt; 0..2, :message =&gt; "{{value}} must be 0, 1, or 2" </code></pre> <h2>Rails View Here:</h2> <pre><code>&lt;h1&gt;Listing tasks&lt;/h1&gt; &lt;table&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;th&gt;Status&lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;Name&lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;&lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;&lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;&lt;/th&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;% @tasks.each do |task| %&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;%= task.status %&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;%= task.name %&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;%= link_to 'Show', task %&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;%= link_to 'Edit', edit_task_path(task) %&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td&gt;&lt;%= link_to 'Delete', task, :confirm =&gt; 'Are you sure?', :method =&gt; :delete %&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;% end %&gt; &lt;/table&gt; </code></pre> <h2>Requirements</h2> <ol> <li><p>Store a Task's status in the db such that the values are easily localizable, i.e. I'm not sure I want to store "normal", "active", "completed" as a string field.</p></li> <li><p>Solution must work with Rails 3.0.</p></li> </ol> <h2>Questions:</h2> <ol> <li><p>Should I store the field as an integer (see above)? If so, how do I display the correct human readable status in an HTML table in my Rails view, e.g. show "Active" instead of "1" in the HTML table.</p></li> <li><p>Should I use an enum? If so, is this easy to localize later?</p></li> <li><p>Should I use straight strings, e.g. "Normal", "Active", "Completed"</p></li> <li><p>Can you provide a quick code sample of the view helper, controller or view code to make this work?</p></li> </ol>
 

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