i'm oddly proud of this?

gistfile1.txt

  desc "seperate medium and surface product properties"
  task :seperate_medium_and_surface_properties => :environment do
    # create a new surface property
    Property.create(name: "Surface", presentation: "Surface")
    # assign property ids to an actionable variables to work with later
    # don't assume that medium id is what it is in the database, so don't hardcode it
    medium_property_id = Property.find_by_name("Medium").id
    surface_property_id = Property.find_by_name("Surface").id
    # create an array of all "Medium" ProductProperties
    actionable_properties = ProductProperty.all.select { |pp| pp.property_id == medium_property_id }

    # here comes the tricky part
    actionable_properties.each do |prop|
      product_id = prop.product_id
      # search for " on " with spaces to make it easier, returns an array ["Oil", " on ", "Canvas"] for example
      value_array = prop.value.rpartition(" on ")
      if value_array[1] = " on " # then it is a correctly worded and has a surface. should be split into two properties
        # current medium property will remain the medium property associated with the current product
        prop.update_attribute(:value, value_array[0])
        # create a new ProductProperty for surface associated to correct product
        ProductProperty.create(product_id: product_id, property_id: surface_property_id, value: value_array[2])
      else # assume that artist only created a medium. raise a dataerror for human to check
        prod.data_errors.new(message: "ProductProperty for Medium needs a review")
      end
    end
  end