coders can be assigned to columns

activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/schema_definitions.rb

@@ -17,7 +17,9 @@ module Format
       end
 
       attr_reader :name, :default, :type, :limit, :null, :sql_type, :precision, :scale
-      attr_accessor :primary
+      attr_accessor :primary, :coder
+
+      alias :encoded? :coder
 
       # Instantiates a new column in the table.
       #
@@ -37,6 +39,7 @@ def initialize(name, default, sql_type = nil, null = true)
         @type      = simplified_type(sql_type)
         @default   = extract_default(default)
         @primary   = nil
+        @coder     = nil
       end
 
       # Returns +true+ if the column is either of type string or text.

activerecord/test/cases/column_definition_test.rb

@@ -10,6 +10,20 @@ def @adapter.native_database_types
         end
       end
 
+      def test_can_set_coder
+        column = Column.new("title", nil, "varchar(20)")
+        column.coder = YAML
+        assert_equal YAML, column.coder
+      end
+
+      def test_encoded?
+        column = Column.new("title", nil, "varchar(20)")
+        assert !column.encoded?
+
+        column.coder = YAML
+        assert column.encoded?
+      end
+
       # Avoid column definitions in create table statements like:
       # `title` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL
       def test_should_not_include_default_clause_when_default_is_null