PG::InvalidTextRepresentation: ERROR: invalid input syntax for integer: “aaa”

Question

I have followed all suggestions from similar questions but none has solved my problem. I want to change the field gl_code from string to integer and have tried the following:

class ChangeCategoryGlCode < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def change
    # Category.all.each { |cat| cat.update(gl_code: cat.gl_code.to_i) }
    Category.where("gl_code IS NULL OR gl_code = ''").update_all({gl_code: '0'})
    # change_column :categories, :gl_code, :integer, using: 'gl_code::integer'
    change_column :categories, :gl_code, 'integer USING CAST(gl_code AS integer)'
  end
end

But nothing seems to work. I even ssh'd to the server and run the commands manually but whenever I try to deploy it fails at rake db:migrate with the error above.

Any suggestions/hints are welcome.

Previous questrions (1) , (2)

Edit: If that matters, I am using the Apartment gem, and have tried changing the gl_code for Category for each tenant.

Answer 1

Use PL/pgSQL to find the guilty row:

DO
$$DECLARE
   v_gl_code text;
   v_id bigint;
BEGIN
   FOR v_id, v_gl_code IN
      SELECT id, gl_code FROM category
   LOOP
      BEGIN
         PERFORM v_gl_code::integer;
      EXCEPTION
         WHEN OTHERS THEN
            RAISE NOTICE 'Bad value at id = %', v_id;
      END;
   END LOOP;
END;$$;