Question

How can I save (insert) only associated objects without saving (updating) the base object?

For example I just want to save the phone numbers, I don’t wan to resave/update the person object.

def create_numbers
  #params =>   person_id => 41, person => {:phone_number => '12343445, 1234566, 234886'}
  @person = params[:person_id]
  nums = params[:person][:phone_numbers].split(',')
  nums.each do |num|
    @person.phone_numbers.build(:number => num)
  end
  @person.save    #here I just want to save the numbers, I don't want to save the person.  It has read only attributes
end

Models:

Person < ...
  # id, name
  belongs_to :school, :class_name => :facility
  has_many :phone_numbers
end

PhoneNumber < ...
  # id, number
  belongs_to :person   
end

This is a bit of a dumb example, but it illustrates what I’m trying to accomplish

Answer 1

How about @person.phone_numbers.create(:number => num)

The downside is that you wont know whether it failed or not – you can handle that, but it depends on how exactly you want to handle it.