ActiveRecord is a powerful ORM system that is built into the Ruby on Rails framework. It provides a high-level interface between your Rails application code and your database, making it easy to interact with your database using object-oriented code. However, ActiveRecord isn't the only ORM system available for Rails developers. In this article, we'll explore some of the alternatives to ActiveRecord that you might consider for your Rails projects.
Sequel
Sequel is a lightweight ORM system that provides a flexible and powerful interface for interacting with databases. Like ActiveRecord, Sequel uses a Ruby-based syntax that makes it easy to work with databases using object-oriented code. However, Sequel provides a more flexible and powerful API than ActiveRecord, with support for advanced features such as subqueries, common table expressions, and more.
DataMapper
DataMapper is another ORM system that provides a high-level interface for interacting with databases using object-oriented code. DataMapper is designed to be flexible and modular, with a plugin-based architecture that allows you to add or remove features as needed. DataMapper also provides support for advanced features such as composite primary keys, multiple database backends, and more.
ROM
ROM is a data persistence and mapping toolkit for Ruby that provides a more lightweight and modular approach to data access than traditional ORM systems like ActiveRecord. ROM is designed to be composable and flexible, with a plugin-based architecture that allows you to add or remove features as needed. ROM provides support for features such as transactions, schema migrations, and more.
Hanami::Model
Hanami::Model is an ORM system that is part of the Hanami web framework. Like ActiveRecord, Hanami::Model provides a high-level interface for interacting with databases using object-oriented code. However, Hanami::Model is designed to be more lightweight and modular than ActiveRecord, with a plugin-based architecture that allows you to add or remove features as needed. Hanami::Model also provides support for advanced features such as composite primary keys, database views, and more.