Search code examples
elixirecto

Create table at runtime with Ecto

According to this issue – Dynamic Models in Phoenix Framework – it is possible to dynamically create a model in Elixir using Module.create.

Is it also possible to create a table in the database for this model during runtime, i.e. without using Ecto migration files?

Solution

  • PostgreSQL and MySQL adapters for Ecto 2.0+ have an ability to execute raw SQL:

    qry =
  """
  CREATE TABLE `users` (
    `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
    `name` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
    PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
  ) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;
  """

res = Ecto.Adapters.SQL.query!(Repo, qry, [])

    Ecto.Adapters.SQL.query/4.

    Another (might be preferred) way would be to just delegate this to underlying mysql shell executable:

    System.cmd("mysql", ["#{create_table_script}"])