Decimal column in postgres. Is there a way to store values without trailing zeros

Question

I have a rails model using postgres, with a height_value column, which is set as a decimal.

I want to store values without the trailing zeros, but I am thinking this is not possible with a decimal column type?

If it's not possible to store them this way, what is the best approach to trim off the trailing zeros in my model to make them always display properly. Should I change the column, is there a precision that would do what I want?

so if height_value:

28.5 => 28.5

28.0 => 28

19.75 => 19.75

19.00 => 19

Schema

create_table "buildings", force: true do |t|
    t.decimal  "height_value"
end

The numeric type (which I think Rails calls decimal) should behave exactly how you want if it is defined in the database as simple numeric, with no precision or scale set. You may have a challenge getting Rails to it, though. — Craig Ringer
– Craig Ringer, Commented Dec 31, 2013 at 20:24

junil · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-31 17:20:27Z

3

define a read method in your model like this.The value returned will be a string

def height_value
 "%g" % read_attribute(:height_value)
end

if you want the method to return a number then

def height_value
 val = read_attribute(:height_value)
 if val == val.to_i
   val.to_i
 else
   val
 end
end

The value stored will be decimal but the value returned from database will satisfy the requirements

edited Dec 31, 2013 at 17:20

answered Dec 31, 2013 at 17:15

junil

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2 Comments

Joel Grannas Over a year ago

thanks. i was close. i had the method with "%g" % height_value, but no read_attribute()

Joel Grannas Over a year ago

the original answer was causing an issue when i go to create a new record, "can't convert nil into Float"

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