I have the following model: class User < ActiveRecord::Base devise :registerable, :database_authenticatable, :recoverable, :confirmable, :rememberable, :trackable, :validatable attr_accessor_with_default :role, ''user'' attr_accessible :email, :password, :password_confirmation, :first_name, :last_name, :company_name, :phone, :role end Role is a column in my database (I''m beginning to wonder if my troubles start there.) Here''s a playback of an irb session on this model: >> u = User.new => #<User id: nil, email: "", encrypted_password: "", password_salt: "", confirmation_token: nil, confirmed_at: nil, confirmation_sent_at: nil, reset_password_token: nil, remember_token: nil, remember_created_at: nil, sign_in_count: 0, current_sign_in_at: nil, last_sign_in_at: nil, current_sign_in_ip: nil, last_sign_in_ip: nil, created_at: nil, updated_at: nil, first_name: nil, last_name: nil, company_name: nil, phone: nil, role: nil> >> u.email = ''foo-+RB1Aph5k6s@public.gmane.org'' => "foo-+RB1Aph5k6s@public.gmane.org" >> u.password = u.password_confirmation = ''abc123'' => "abc123" >> u.role => "user" So far, so good, I''m getting a default value here. Next, we assign a different value. >> u.role = ''admin'' => "admin" >> u.save! => true Okay, looks good. Try an immediate check to see what the value is: >> u.role => "admin" Now let''s find it again from scratch, to reload what the database believes is true: >> u = User.find_by_email(''foo-+RB1Aph5k6s@public.gmane.org'') => #<User id: 6, email: "foo-+RB1Aph5k6s@public.gmane.org", encrypted_password: "1971f891cd2e83ef0d2fe9ba31b548cb2740573d", password_salt: "ENAl9O1NDurotmGjeBJT", confirmation_token: "SEHEmHUYtmaeaeHPLq4y", confirmed_at: nil, confirmation_sent_at: "2010-09-18 14:05:26", reset_password_token: nil, remember_token: nil, remember_created_at: nil, sign_in_count: 0, current_sign_in_at: nil, last_sign_in_at: nil, current_sign_in_ip: nil, last_sign_in_ip: nil, created_at: "2010-09-18 14:05:26", updated_at: "2010-09-18 14:05:26", first_name: nil, last_name: nil, company_name: nil, phone: nil, role: nil> And we are at this point, where I ask WTF?? >> u.role => "user" Do I have a fundamental misunderstanding of this feature? Should I be setting my default in the database instead, since it''s a column? What do you use an attr_accessor for, let alone one with a handy default value? Thanks in advance, Walter -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFF+G/Ez6ZCGd0@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk+unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFF+G/Ez6ZCGd0@public.gmane.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en.