Rails migration for has_and_belongs_to_many join table

How do I do a script/generate migration to create a join table for a has_and_belongs_to_many relationship?

The application runs on Rails 2.3.2, but I also have Rails 3.0.3 installed.

Where:

class Teacher < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_and_belongs_to_many :students
end

and

class Student < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_and_belongs_to_many :teachers
end

---

for rails 4:

rails generate migration CreateJoinTableStudentTeacher student teacher

---

for rails 3:

rails generate migration students_teachers student_id:integer teacher_id:integer

---

for rails < 3

script/generate migration students_teachers student_id:integer teacher_id:integer

(note the table name lists both join tables in alphabetical order)

and then for rails 3 and below only, you need to edit your generated migration so an id field is not created:

create_table :students_teachers, :id => false do |t|

A has_and_belongs_to_many table must match this format. I'm assuming the two models to be joined by has_and_belongs_to_many are already in the DB : apples and oranges:

create_table :apples_oranges, :id => false do |t|
  t.references :apple, :null => false
  t.references :orange, :null => false
end

# Adding the index can massively speed up join tables. Don't use the
# unique if you allow duplicates.
add_index(:apples_oranges, [:apple_id, :orange_id], :unique => true)

If you use the :unique => true on the index, then you should (in rails3) pass :uniq => true to has_and_belongs_to_many.

More information: Rails Docs

UPDATED 2010-12-13 I've updated it to remove the id and timestamps... Basically ma11hew28 and nunopolonia are correct: There must not be an id and there must not be timestamps or rails won't allow has_and_belongs_to_many to work.

You should name the table the names of 2 models you want to connect by alphabetical order and put the two model id's in the table. Then connect each model to each other creating the associations in the model.

Here's an example:

# in migration
def self.up
  create_table 'categories_products', :id => false do |t|
    t.column :category_id, :integer
    t.column :product_id, :integer
  end
end

# models/product.rb
has_and_belongs_to_many :categories

# models/category.rb
has_and_belongs_to_many :products

But this is not very flexible and you should think about using has_many :through

The top answer shows a composite index that I don't believe will be used to lookup apples from oranges.

create_table :apples_oranges, :id => false do |t|
  t.references :apple, :null => false
  t.references :orange, :null => false
end

# Adding the index can massively speed up join tables.
# This enforces uniqueness and speeds up apple->oranges lookups.
add_index(:apples_oranges, [:apple_id, :orange_id], :unique => true)
# This speeds up orange->apple lookups
add_index(:apples_oranges, :orange_id)

I did find the answer this is based on by 'The Doctor What' useful and the discussion certainly so too.

In rails 4, you can simple use

create_join_table :table1s, :table2s

it is all.

Caution: you must offord table1, table2 with alphanumeric.

I like doing:

rails g migration CreateJoinedTable model1:references model2:references. That way I get a migration that looks like this:

class CreateJoinedTable < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def change
    create_table :joined_tables do |t|
      t.references :trip, index: true
      t.references :category, index: true
    end
    add_foreign_key :joined_tables, :trips
    add_foreign_key :joined_tables, :categories
  end
end

I like having index on these columns because I'll often be doing lookups using these columns.

This HABTM section of the Associations Rails Guide is great, but doesn't explain exactly how to create a join table.

However, the Migrations Rails Guide explains how to make a join table:

The migration method create_join_table creates an HABTM (has and belongs to many) join table. A typical use would be:

create_join_table :products, :categories

By default, the name of the join table comes from the union of the first two arguments provided to create_join_table, in alphabetical order.