Question

I have a form with a field that does not live permanently on the model so I am using attr_accessor on the model to make it available for use, however it is always returning nil when I try to access it.

The form field:

<%= text_field_tag :discount_code, nil, maxlength: "12", class: "span2" %>

The controller:

def an_action
   @job = Job.find(session[:job_id])
   @job.some_method
end

The model:

class Job < ActiveRecord::Base
    attr_accessor :discount_code

    def some_method
        if !self.discount_code.blank?
        do some logic
    end
end

The above statement never executes as it is always evaluating to nil.

The value of the field is available in the controller as a param w/out issue:

discount_code: test50
action: process_payment
controller: jobs

Any pointers would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Actually, you could autoset the corresponding form value to the instance of the class. But you used a text_field_tag, which sets params[:discount_tag], when what you needed was a param[:job][:discount_tag]

For that, you could use:

<%= f.text_field :discount_code, maxlength: 12, class: "span2" %>

Which is indeed a lot more elegant.