Rails - Aug 2011 - Tip: Nested attributes need a reload before you can trust them

I hit on a solution (probably well known by others) that needs  
repeating so it can be found by Google next time 8-)

I am using Ryan Bates'' nested_form Gem, which works perfectly to  
create rich nested forms with extra JavaScript goodies like "Add  
another [nested object]". In my controller''s update method, I was
testing to see if the result of the update had left a Title with no  
"primary" Person, using this bit of logic:

if((@title.roles.length > 0) && !@title.roles.include?( @title.role
))
   @title.update_attributes(:role_id => @title.roles.first.id)
end

I put this block after the @title.update_attributes(params[:title])  
call, and spent most of the afternoon chasing my tail to figure out  
why it never was working. A puts @title.roles.inspect showed that the  
list of roles apparently hadn''t been changed by the call to  
update_attributes, even though the following page load (to the view  
method) showed the correct data had been persisted.

This morning, I added the line

@title.reload

before the block, and all started working perfectly. So word to the  
wise, reload before you start asking questions!

Walter

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