Append an attribute to a model for temporary use on Rails 3

Question

I have a user model => @user

I want to add new attribute current_time to @user for temporary use.

Don't want to do migration to add a column (just for temporary use):

@user.current_time = Time.now

Is there any way to achieve this?

NoMethodError (undefined method `current_time=' for #<User:0x007fd6991e1050>):
  app/controllers/carts_controller.rb:47:in `block in search_user'
  app/controllers/carts_controller.rb:45:in `search_user'

score 5 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 23 '13 at 09:41

5

attr_accessor will set up a reader and writer for the instance variable:

class Foo
  attr_accessor :current_time
end

foo = Foo.new
foo.current_time = Time.now   # Writes value
foo.current_time              # Reads value

You might also be interested in attr_reader and attr_writer.

edited Oct 23 '13 at 09:41

phoet

18,688
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answered Oct 23 '13 at 09:33

kristinalim

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score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:31

0

Try to define few methods in User.model:

def current_time= (time)
  @current_time = time
end

def current_time
  @current_time
end

UPD according to precisely right comment from kristinalim

Note, that attr_accessible, being part of framework, was deprecated in Rails 4. Now strong params are used instead. At the same time getter/setter attr_accessor is part of core Ruby and works as usual.

The difference between attr_accessible and attr_accessor is in very well explained in this post

edited May 23 '17 at 12:31

Community

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answered Oct 23 '13 at 09:33

Leger

1,184
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Do you mean that `attr_accessible` is deprecated? AFAIK, `attr_accessor` is part of Ruby core and is still alive. – kristinalim Oct 25 '13 at 09:35

Append an attribute to a model for temporary use on Rails 3

2 Answers2