Difference from attr_accessor and attr_accessible

Question

attr_accessor :password, :password_confirmation and
attr_accessible :password, :password_confirmation 

Who can tell me whats the difference

Answer 1

attr_accessor is ruby method. It sets getter and setter. However, attr_accessible is a rails method that will allow to pass values in mass assignment.

For example-

attr_accessor :password, :password_confirmation
u = User.new({ :password => 'XXX', :password_confirmation => 'XXX' })
---
u.password => nil
u.password_confirmation => nil

But, you will be able to user getter and setter values in this case.

attr_accessor :password, :password_confirmation
u.password = 'XXX'
---
u.password => 'XXX'

On the other hand for attr_accessible -

attr_accessible :password, :password_confirmation
User.new({ :password => 'XXX', :password_confirmation => 'XXX' })
---
u.password => 'XXX'
u.password_confirmation => 'XXX'

Answer 2

attr-accessor creates the getter and setter methods for the specified attributes

method.attribute (getter)

method.attribute = (setter)

attr_accessible is from ActiveRecord::Base and "Specifies a white list of model attributes that can be set via mass-assignment."