Rails - Jan 2005 - AR bug(s)?

I have a controller that does something like:

Customer.update(id, @params["customer"])

and an AR object, Customer, with this code:

def before_validation
  address_postcode = address_postcode.to_s.upcase.gsub(/ /,
'''')
end

I was hoping that this would do a conversion on the postal code before
storing the record, but it doesn''t.

I teased this apart a little, with the following results ($logger set
to the standard logger):

def before_validation
  $logger.info("postcode before: #{address_postcode}") # =>
postcode
before: "v1m 3w3"
  address_postcode = address_postcode.to_s.upcase.gsub(/ /,
'''')
  # The output, below, is not what is expected...
  $logger.info("postcode after: #{address_postcode}") # => postcode
after: ""
end

If I change it to:

def before_validation
  $logger.info %(postcode before: "#{address_postcode}") # =>
postcode
before: "v1m 3w3"
  pc = address_postcode
  address_postcode = pc.to_s.upcase.gsub(/ /,"")
  # The output, below, is now correct.
  $logger.info %(postcode after: "#{address_postcode}") # =>
postcode
after: "V1M3W3"
end

So the above is problem #1 (i.e. for some reason, in this
before_validation method, I have to copy the column value before
modifying it, otherwise it ends up nil, I think).

The second problem, is that no matter what I set it to in the
before_validation method, the value still ends up, in the database, as
"v1m3w3" (i.e. the unmodified value). The log shows this, with the
modified value being logged from the before_validation method, and the
unmodified value being used in the subsequent SQL update statement.

I''m running with the latest versions of all the appropriate software
components.

Some help with this would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

P.S. I''m not sure this is really an appropriate use of the
before_validation hook--if that''s the case, is there another way to
accomplish this? (Other than putting the logic directly in the
controller, prior to calling update...).

Oops, minor syntax errors: the first debug version of the
before_validation code should have been:

def before_validation
  $logger.info %(postcode before: "#{address_postcode}") # =>
postcode
before: "v1m 3w3"
  address_postcode = address_postcode.to_s.upcase.gsub(/ /,
'''')
  # The empty output, below, is not what is expected...
  $logger.info %(postcode after: "#{address_postcode}") # =>
postcode after: ""
end

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 21:41:25 -0800, Bob Sidebotham
<bob.sidebotham-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> I have a controller that does something like:
> 
> Customer.update(id, @params["customer"])
> 
> and an AR object, Customer, with this code:
> 
> def before_validation
>   address_postcode = address_postcode.to_s.upcase.gsub(/ /,
'''')
> end
> 
> I was hoping that this would do a conversion on the postal code before
> storing the record, but it doesn''t.
> 
> I teased this apart a little, with the following results ($logger set
> to the standard logger):
> 
> def before_validation
>   $logger.info("postcode before: #{address_postcode}") # =>
postcode
> before: "v1m 3w3"
>   address_postcode = address_postcode.to_s.upcase.gsub(/ /,
'''')
>   # The output, below, is not what is expected...
>   $logger.info("postcode after: #{address_postcode}") # =>
postcode after: ""
> end
> 
> If I change it to:
> 
> def before_validation
>   $logger.info %(postcode before: "#{address_postcode}") # =>
postcode
> before: "v1m 3w3"
>   pc = address_postcode
>   address_postcode = pc.to_s.upcase.gsub(/ /,"")
>   # The output, below, is now correct.
>   $logger.info %(postcode after: "#{address_postcode}") # =>
postcode
> after: "V1M3W3"
> end
> 
> So the above is problem #1 (i.e. for some reason, in this
> before_validation method, I have to copy the column value before
> modifying it, otherwise it ends up nil, I think).
> 
> The second problem, is that no matter what I set it to in the
> before_validation method, the value still ends up, in the database, as
> "v1m3w3" (i.e. the unmodified value). The log shows this, with
the
> modified value being logged from the before_validation method, and the
> unmodified value being used in the subsequent SQL update statement.
> 
> I''m running with the latest versions of all the appropriate
software components.
> 
> Some help with this would be much appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> Bob
> 
> P.S. I''m not sure this is really an appropriate use of the
> before_validation hook--if that''s the case, is there another way
to
> accomplish this? (Other than putting the logic directly in the
> controller, prior to calling update...).
>

> def before_validation
>   address_postcode = address_postcode.to_s.upcase.gsub(/ /,
'''')
> end
This needs to be:

def before_validation
   self.address_postcode = address_postcode.to_s.upcase.gsub(/ /,
'''')
end

Otherwise, you''re just assigning a local variable named 
address_postcode in the before_validation scope.
--
David Heinemeier Hansson,
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