Question 1

How do I refresh a materialized view with Scenic?

Accepted Answer

Use Scenic.database.refresh_materialized_view with options like concurrently and cascade. You can define a convenience method in your model, such as self.refresh, to schedule refreshes easily.

Question 2

Can Scenic work with MySQL or SQLite?

Accepted Answer

Scenic has first-party support only for PostgreSQL, but third-party adapters exist for MySQL, SQLite, and others. However, the maintainers do not vouch for their quality, so use them at your own risk.

Question 3

How to handle primary keys in view-backed models?

Accepted Answer

You must explicitly set self.primary_key in your model to a unique column from the view, since views don't have default primary keys. This prevents errors when using ActiveRecord's find, first, or last methods.

Question 4

Scenic vs writing raw SQL views in Rails migrations?

Accepted Answer

Scenic adds versioning, reversibility, and separate SQL file management, making view migrations more maintainable. Raw SQL offers more control but lacks these built-in features and can lead to duplicated code.

Question 5

What happens if I add a column to a table used in a view?

Accepted Answer

The view won't include the new column until you update the view definition. You need to run an update_view migration, even if just to rebake the view with the same SQL, to incorporate schema changes.

Question 6

How to test views created with Scenic?

Accepted Answer

Test SQL directly in the database console during development. For application tests, use view-backed models as you would with regular ActiveRecord models, ensuring they reflect the view's data accurately.

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