BULK INSERT

Quick Example

For -v 1.0.0

#Gemfile
gem "active_record_bulk_insert", :require => 'base'

For subsequent versions

#Gemfile
gem "active_record_bulk_insert"

users = [{:username => "foo", :firstname => "Foo", :lastname => "Bar", :age => 31},
         {:username => "j.doe", :firstname => "John", :lastname => "Doe", :age => 57}]
User.bulk_insert(users)
User.count # => 2

Insert ActiveRecord Objects

user1 = User.new({:username => "foo", :firstname => "Foo", :lastname => "Bar", :age => 31})
user2 = User.new({:username => "j.doe", :firstname => "John", :lastname => "Doe", :age => 57})
User.bulk_insert([user1, user2])
User.count # => 2

Evoke Active Record Validations (after_initialize and validation callbacks)

class User < ActiveRecord
  validates :username, :presence => true
end
users = [{:username => "foo", :firstname => "Foo", :lastname => "Bar", :age => 31},
         {:username => "j.doe", :firstname => "John", :lastname => "Doe", :age => 57},
         {:firstname => "John", :lastname => "Doe", :age => 57}]
User.bulk_insert(users, :validate => true)
# => [{:firstname => "John", :lastname => "Doe", :age => 57}]

The return value is a list of invalid records

Validate with a custom validator

users = [{:username => "foo", :firstname => "Foo", :lastname => "Bar", :age => 31},
         {:username => "j.doe", :firstname => "John", :lastname => "Doe", :age => 57},
         {:firstname => "John", :lastname => "Doe", :age => 57}]
User.bulk_insert(users, :validate_with => Proc.new { |user| !user[:username].blank? })
# => [{:firstname => "John", :lastname => "Doe", :age => 57}]

The return value is a list of invalid records

Provide your own primary keys

users = [{:id => 200, :username => "foo", :firstname => "Foo", :lastname => "Bar", :age => 31},
         :id => 201, {:username => "j.doe", :firstname => "John", :lastname => "Doe", :age => 57}]
User.bulk_insert(users, :use_provided_primary_key => true)

note this is only available from ActiveRecord 4.0 as id was protected from mass-assignment in ActiveRecord < 4.0 The return value is a list of invalid records

Disable default timestamps

From version 1.0.2 updated_at and created_at are provided by default

User.bulk_insert(users, :disable_timestamps => true)

Bulk insert in batches

users = 1000000.times.map do |i|
  {:username => "foo#{i}", :firstname => "Foo#{i}", :lastname => "Bar#{i}", :age => (30..70).to_a.sample}
end
User.bulk_insert_in_batches(users, :batch_size => 10000, :delay => 1)
User.count # => 1000000

Benchmark

DB: PostgreSQL 9.1.9
OS: Debian GNU/Linux 7 (wheezy)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4960HQ CPU @ 2.60GHz
Memory: 6GB
Number of Records: 10,000

                                user     system      total        real
Create with Active Record   1.970000   6.810000   8.780000 ( 14.822348)
AR with validations         0.280000   0.000000   0.280000 (  0.299018)
AR without validations      0.190000   0.000000   0.190000 (  0.207807)
Hash without validations    0.080000   0.000000   0.080000 (  0.108874)
Hash with validations       0.690000   0.000000   0.690000 (  0.669952)

License bulk_insert is released under MIT license.