Question

My User model has an attribute called “points” and when I try to update it in another model controller (decrementing points), the attribute will not save (even after adding it to attr_accessible).

The method in my Venture Controller code:

def upvote
@venture = Venture.find(params[:id])
if current_user.points < UPVOTE_AMOUNT
  flash[:error] = "Not enough points!"
else
  flash[:success] = "Vote submitted!"
  current_user.vote_for(@venture)
  decremented = current_user.points - UPVOTE_AMOUNT
  current_user.points = decremented
  current_user.save
  redirect_to :back
end

I have even tried using the update_attributes method, but to no avail.

I added a quick little test with flash to see if it was saving:

if current_user.save
    flash[:success] = "Yay"
else
    flash[:error] = "No"
end 

and the error was returned.

current_user comes from my Sessions helper:

def current_user
   @current_user ||= user_from_remember_token
end

Thanks ahead of time.

My User model:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessor :password, :points
attr_accessible :name, :email, :password, :password_confirmation, :points

STARTING_POINTS = 50

acts_as_voter
has_karma :ventures

has_many :ventures, :dependent => :destroy

email_regex = /\A[\w+\-.]+@[a-z\d\-.]+\.[a-z]+\z/i

validates :name, :presence => true,
                 :length   => { :maximum => 50 }
validates :email, :presence => true,
          :format => { :with => email_regex },
          :uniqueness => { :case_sensitive => false }
validates :password, :presence     => true,
                     :confirmation => true,
                     :length       => { :within => 6..40 }

before_save :encrypt_password
after_initialize :initialize_points

def has_password?(submitted_password)
  password_digest == encrypt(submitted_password)
end

def self.authenticate(email, submitted_password)
  user = find_by_email(email)
  return nil  if user.nil?
  return user if user.has_password?(submitted_password)
end

def self.authenticate_with_salt(id, cookie_salt)
  user = find_by_id(id)
  (user && user.salt == cookie_salt) ? user : nil
end

private

def initialize_points
  self.points = STARTING_POINTS
end  

def encrypt_password
  self.salt = make_salt if new_record?
  self.password_digest = encrypt(password)
end

def encrypt(string)
  secure_hash("#{salt}--#{string}")
end

def make_salt
  secure_hash("#{Time.now.utc}--#{password}")
end

def secure_hash(string)
  Digest::SHA2.hexdigest(string)
end
end

This is what I get after printing <%= debug current_user %>

--- !ruby/object:User 
attributes: 
id: 1
name: Test User
email: [e-mail]
created_at: 2011-08-27 21:03:01.391918
updated_at: 2011-08-27 21:03:01.418370
password_digest: 40d5ed415df384adaa5182a5fe59964625f9e65a688bb3cc9e30b4eef2a0614b
salt: ac7a332f5d63bc6ad0f61ceacb66bc154e1cad1164fcaed6189d8cea2b55ffe4
admin: t
points: 50
longitude_user: 
latitude_user: 
attributes_cache: {}

changed_attributes: {}

destroyed: false
errors: !omap []

marked_for_destruction: false
new_record: false
points: 50
previously_changed: {}

readonly: false

Answer 1

You are requiring the user’s password to be present any time the user is saved. When the upvote is submitting, the password is not present, therefor validation is not passing.