Question

This is the continuation of a previous problem that I was able to solve: Parameters not saving properly (Rails)

But now I’ve encountered a stranger issue. Although I can get the parameter to save, it is unresponsive when I attempt to refer to it.

The Model:

# == Schema Information
#
# Table name: messages
#
#  id             :integer          not null, primary key
#  content        :text
#  sender_id      :integer
#  recipient_list :text
#  created_at     :datetime         not null
#  updated_at     :datetime         not null
#

class Message < ActiveRecord::Base
  attr_accessible :content, :sender_id, :recipient_list
  attr_reader :recipient_list #necessary for jquery-token-fields
  serialize :recipient_list, Array

  validates :content, presence: true
  validates :sender_id, presence: true

  def recipient_list=(ids) #necessary for jquery-token-fields
    recipient_list = ids.split(",")
    super(recipient_list)
  end
end

Object:

#<Message id: 60, content: "foobar123", sender_id: 1, recipient_list: ["1", "2"], created_at: "2012-08-23 06:40:00", updated_at: "2012-08-23 06:40:00">]

View:

<%= Message.find_by_id(60).content %>
<%= Message.find_by_id(60).recipient_list %>

The result is that the call on content returns as expected: “foobar123” However, the call on recipient_list returns only nil. Despite there clearly being a value there. I suspect that the recipient_list=(ids) method may be overriding the usual function of what the @message.recipient_list would otherwise be doing. Am I at least in the right ballpark? What’s going on here?

Answer 1

You redefined default recipient_list method with your getter on this line:

attr_reader :recipient_list #necessary for jquery-token-fields

I think you have to remove it. Then everything should be fine.

I don’t know what does your comment mean, your model has getters and setters for all of the table columns.