[Rails] MySQL adapter returns integers as strings?

[Scott Barron]

On Wed, Nov 24, 2004 at 09:34:11PM +1100, Gavin Sinclair wrote:
> On Wednesday, November 24, 2004, 8:50:47 PM, David wrote:
> 
> >> The integer columns in my DB tables are returned as strings when
> >> ActiveRecord gets involved.  This seems annoying and unnecessary to
> >> me.  Surely the database adapter knows, or can know, what data types
> >> are used.  Is it ActiveRecord's policy to ignore this metadata?
> 
> > Active Record does type conversion on real columns where it will have
> > queried the database in advanced for the types (using SHOW FIELDS). It
> > doesn't convert values pulled when you grab the connection yourself nor
> > does it convert piggy-back columns, aggregates, or results from 
> > functions.
> 
> Hmmmm... I present the following IRB transcript:
> 
>   >> require 'user'
>   >> User.find(1)
>   => #<User:0x320f468 @attributes={"name"=>"Jim Jones", "username"=>"jim",
>      "id"=>"1", "password"=>"feral", "email"=>"jim at example.com"}>
> 
> The ID is a string.

This is how it's printed out in irb, but what does it say when you do:

=> #<User:0x1441a50 @attributes={"name"=>"Scott M", "level"=>"3",
    "username"=>"xxx", "id"=>"8", "department_id"=>"2",
    "address"=>"xxx at xxx"}>
irb(main):010:0> u.id.class
=> Fixnum

You'll see that irb prints the results with quotes, but it is really a
Fixnum.  Does that work for you?

-Scott