default values not working same on creation and updation - Ruby on Rails

Question

I have model user.rb like below:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base

before_save :set_default

    def set_default
        self[:is_admin] || 0 
        self[:is_active] || 1   
    end 
end

Now when i create u new user , it inserts is_admin = null , is_active = null . While when i update user and send parameters is_admin= true , is_active = true or whatever values it updates it correctly . I did some R&D and found that i should do the following

def set_default
        self.is_admin || 0 
        self.is_active || 1   
end

Now the case becomes totally alternate . Means now values are inserting correctly on creation . but updation makes no difference . I also tried it with the following

def set_default
        self.is_admin ||= 0 
        self.is_active ||= 1   
end

But still no help . Kindly explain what's going on . Any help will be appreciated .

hey I've never seen that syntax before! self.is_admin] can you tell me what that square bracket does? and what should i google to get more info on that? — Harfangk
– Harfangk, Commented Feb 24, 2016 at 15:47
@Harfangk it's not syntactically valid Ruby actually. So... nothing :) — D-side
– D-side, Commented Feb 24, 2016 at 15:55

j-dexx · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-24 15:36:13Z

1

If you always want those fields to start with that default data, I would move your defaults to the schema.

def change
  create_table :users do |t|
    t.boolean :is_admin, default: false, null: false
    t.boolean :is_active, default: true, null: false
    ...
  end
end

This will set the defaults on your users table without needing the extra cost/complication of a callback. This will also nicely blow up if you try to set either of those to nil which would produce unexpected behaviors in your application.

Hope that helps.

edited Feb 24, 2016 at 15:36

j-dexx

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answered Feb 24, 2016 at 15:35

David Stump

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3 Comments

David Stump Over a year ago

Thanks for fixing the typo j-dexx :)

Mani Over a year ago

voted for the fix , but dear i think that's not the solution . I mean why that odd behaviour

David Stump Over a year ago

Can you clarify a little? If it sets it properly on creation, then updating it would disregard both of those statements because ||= would only ever set those values if they are nil. Not sure if thats what you are asking though.

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