module ActiveRecord::Timestamp

Active Record Timestamp

Active Record automatically timestamps create and update operations if the table has fields named created_at/created_on or updated_at/updated_on.

Timestamping can be turned off by setting:

config.active_record.record_timestamps = false

Timestamps are in UTC by default but you can use the local timezone by setting:

config.active_record.default_timezone = :local

Time Zone aware attributes

By default, ActiveRecord::Base keeps all the datetime columns time zone aware by executing following code.

config.active_record.time_zone_aware_attributes = true

This feature can easily be turned off by assigning value false .

If your attributes are time zone aware and you desire to skip time zone conversion to the current Time.zone when reading certain attributes then you can do following:

class Topic < ActiveRecord::Base
  self.skip_time_zone_conversion_for_attributes = [:written_on]
end

Private Instance Methods

_create_record() click to toggle source
Calls superclass method
# File lib/active_record/timestamp.rb, line 45
def _create_record
  if self.record_timestamps
    current_time = current_time_from_proper_timezone

    all_timestamp_attributes.each do |column|
      column = column.to_s
      if has_attribute?(column) && !attribute_present?(column)
        write_attribute(column, current_time)
      end
    end
  end

  super
end
_update_record(*args) click to toggle source
Calls superclass method
# File lib/active_record/timestamp.rb, line 60
def _update_record(*args)
  if should_record_timestamps?
    current_time = current_time_from_proper_timezone

    timestamp_attributes_for_update_in_model.each do |column|
      column = column.to_s
      next if attribute_changed?(column)
      write_attribute(column, current_time)
    end
  end
  super
end
all_timestamp_attributes() click to toggle source
# File lib/active_record/timestamp.rb, line 97
def all_timestamp_attributes
  timestamp_attributes_for_create + timestamp_attributes_for_update
end
all_timestamp_attributes_in_model() click to toggle source
# File lib/active_record/timestamp.rb, line 85
def all_timestamp_attributes_in_model
  timestamp_attributes_for_create_in_model + timestamp_attributes_for_update_in_model
end
clear_timestamp_attributes() click to toggle source

Clear attributes and changed_attributes

# File lib/active_record/timestamp.rb, line 114
def clear_timestamp_attributes
  all_timestamp_attributes_in_model.each do |attribute_name|
    self[attribute_name] = nil
    clear_attribute_changes([attribute_name])
  end
end
current_time_from_proper_timezone() click to toggle source
# File lib/active_record/timestamp.rb, line 109
def current_time_from_proper_timezone
  self.class.default_timezone == :utc ? Time.now.utc : Time.now
end
max_updated_column_timestamp(timestamp_names = timestamp_attributes_for_update) click to toggle source
# File lib/active_record/timestamp.rb, line 101
def max_updated_column_timestamp(timestamp_names = timestamp_attributes_for_update)
  timestamp_names
    .map { |attr| self[attr] }
    .compact
    .map(&:to_time)
    .max
end
should_record_timestamps?() click to toggle source
# File lib/active_record/timestamp.rb, line 73
def should_record_timestamps?
  self.record_timestamps && (!partial_writes? || changed?)
end
timestamp_attributes_for_create() click to toggle source
# File lib/active_record/timestamp.rb, line 93
def timestamp_attributes_for_create
  [:created_at, :created_on]
end
timestamp_attributes_for_create_in_model() click to toggle source
# File lib/active_record/timestamp.rb, line 77
def timestamp_attributes_for_create_in_model
  timestamp_attributes_for_create.select { |c| self.class.column_names.include?(c.to_s) }
end
timestamp_attributes_for_update() click to toggle source
# File lib/active_record/timestamp.rb, line 89
def timestamp_attributes_for_update
  [:updated_at, :updated_on]
end
timestamp_attributes_for_update_in_model() click to toggle source
# File lib/active_record/timestamp.rb, line 81
def timestamp_attributes_for_update_in_model
  timestamp_attributes_for_update.select { |c| self.class.column_names.include?(c.to_s) }
end