[Rails] AR: How to store and restore in YML.

[Jake Janovetz]

Hello-

I have a database with entries that are segmented by customers.  I would 
like to be able to store / delete / restore a particular customer's 
information.  I will need to rebuild the rows on restore and also 
rebuild the associations for the different tables.

For example,
customer {
  id
  name
}
companies {
  id
  customer_id    (belongs_to)
  name
}
contacts {
  id
  company_id     (belongs_to)
  name
}


So, if I just write out YML for the rows in this database, I'd end up 
with something like:
Customer: id=34, name="Bob"
Company: id=134, customer_id=34, name="Intel"
Company: id=149, customer_id=34, name="Apple"
Contact: id=9383, company_id=134, name="Jerry"
Contact: id=8392, company_id=149, name="Robert"

The problem with this is that it is more difficult to regenerate those 
rows because the associations would need to be broken and rebuilt.

What I would like to do is use the names in the YML output so I can 
create records in a valid order, and do "finds" to find the right 
records for associations. (Uniqueness is enforced so a find will find a 
single record)

Customer: id=34, name="Bob"
Company: id=134, customer_id="Bob", name="Intel"
Company: id=149, customer_id="Bob", name="Apple"
Contact: id=9383, company_id="Intel", name="Jerry"
Contact: id=8392, company_id="Apple", name="Robert"

I am interested in hearing any rails/ruby tricks that would help me do 
this for a number of different tables in the database.

Any suggestions?

   Jake

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