Table#[] returns nil when table does not exist

2 files changed, 9 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/lib/arel/table.rb b/lib/arel/table.rb
index 06bbe7b99e..c381613515 100644
--- a/lib/arel/table.rb
+++ b/lib/arel/table.rb
@@ -88,6 +88,8 @@ module Arel
     end
 
     def [] name
+      return nil unless @engine.connection.table_exists?(@name)
+
       name = name.to_sym
       columns.find { |column| column.name == name }
     end
diff --git a/spec/arel/table_spec.rb b/spec/arel/table_spec.rb
index 5b68040aac..9c84b170a2 100644
--- a/spec/arel/table_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/arel/table_spec.rb
@@ -147,6 +147,13 @@ module Arel
         end
       end
 
+      describe 'when table does not exist' do
+        it 'returns nil' do
+          table = Table.new(:foooo)
+          table[:id].should be_nil
+        end
+      end
+
       ### FIXME: this seems like a bad requirement.
       #describe 'when given an', Attribute do
       #  it "returns the attribute if the attribute is within the relation" do