Generic created_at and updated_at for Table

[taylorwmitchell]

updated_at and created_at columns which track dates related to entities are sometimes needed. It would be nice to add these columns in a generic fashion, rather than adding a definition to every Table.

A suggestion is to add a property to the Table model that indicates if updated_at and created_at columns should be included automatically.

The updated_at column should automatically update when the row is changed. The implementation and behaviour will vary dependant on the database. In MySQL this is ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP.

The created_at column should be set when the row is inserted.

It may be worth discussing if this should also be part of the ORM.

[kilnerm]

@taylorwmitchell Thanks for opening this issue. I have already begun prototyping a solution that is similar to what you describe above. My initial work is being done against PostgreSQL and I have the code in place to handle table creation and invocation of a trigger function on row updates.

These columns will be needed for core ORM functionality which is why I had been working in this area prior to your raising of this issue.