pitfalls.md

layout	title	body_id	created_at
default	Common Pitfalls	docs	Sun Apr 01 21:13:13 -0700 2012

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Below is a list of common problems that someone new to DataMapper will encounter, along with work-arounds or solutions if possible.

Implicit String property length

When declaring a String property, DataMapper will add an implicit limit of 50 characters if no limit is explicitly declared.

For example, the following two models will have the same behaviour:

{% highlight ruby linenos %}

with an implicit length

class Post include DataMapper::Resource

property :title, String end

with an explicit length

class Post include DataMapper::Resource

property :title, String, :length => 50 end {% endhighlight %}

The reason for this default is that DataMapper needs to know the underlying column constraints in order to add validations from the property definitions. Databases will often choose their own arbitrary length constraints if one is not declared (often defaulting to 255 chars). We choose something a bit more restrictive as a default because we wanted to encourage peolpe to declare it explicitly in their model, rather than relying on DM or the DB choosing an arbitrary limit.