Question

I have this model called Request, which belongs_to a User.

class Request < ActiveRecord::Base    
  belongs_to :user, :conditions => "can_make_requests = t"
end

The User model has a boolean field in its schema named can_make_requests, but for some reason, when I try

aUser.requests.create

when aUser has can_make_requests as f, it still works (aUser.requests.first returns the newly made request). Does anyone know what the issue is?

Answer 1

You’re using the User#requests association, which has no clue about your conditions on Request#user.

aUser.requests.create builds and saves a Request object based on any conditions given on the requests association and adds it to the list of associated requests.

Sure, Request happens to have a user association, but that is never used in your examples.

And yes, it leads to weird behavior and inconsistencies:

>> user = User.create(:can_make_requests => false)
=> #<User id: 3, can_make_requests: false>
>> request = user.requests.create
=> #<Request id: 2, user_id: 3>
>> request.user
=> nil
>> user.requests
=> [#<Request id: 2, user_id: 3]

If you want to enforce it from the Request level using validations, you can do something like:

class Request < ActiveRecord::Base
  validates :user, :presence => true
  validate :user_can_make_requests

  def user_can_make_requests
    errors[:user] << 'cannot make requests' if user && !user.can_make_requests?
  end
end