Convert from latin1 to utf8 Charater Set

update_encoding.rb

class UpdateEncoding < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def self.up
    database_name = ActiveRecord::Base.connection.instance_variable_get("@config")[:database]
    execute 'ALTER DATABASE ' + database_name + ' DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;'
    execute 'ALTER TABLE categories CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;'
    execute 'ALTER TABLE categories_posts CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;'
    execute 'ALTER TABLE comments CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;'
    execute 'ALTER TABLE posts CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;'
    execute 'ALTER TABLE uploads CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;'
    execute 'ALTER TABLE last_tweet_ids CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;'
    execute 'ALTER TABLE schema_migrations CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;'
    execute 'ALTER TABLE users CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;'
  end
  def self.down
    execute 'ALTER DATABASE ' + database_name + ' DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE ISO-8859-1;'
    execute 'ALTER TABLE categories CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE ISO-8859-1;'
    execute 'ALTER TABLE categories_posts CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE ISO-8859-1;'
    execute 'ALTER TABLE comments CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE ISO-8859-1;'
    execute 'ALTER TABLE posts CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE ISO-8859-1;'
    execute 'ALTER TABLE uploads CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE ISO-8859-1;'
    execute 'ALTER TABLE last_tweet_ids CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE ISO-8859-1;'
    execute 'ALTER TABLE schema_migrations CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE ISO-8859-1;'
    execute 'ALTER TABLE users CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE ISO-8859-1;'
  end
end