Rails ActiveRecord serialize method doesn't work in test environment

Question

I've got a problem with deserialization of ActiveRecord serialize method in my tests.
It just gives me pure String instead of my data Array.

Example:

User > ActiveRecord::Base
   serialize :roles, Array
end

Console:

u = User.new
u.roles = ["admin", "support"]
u.save
# => true

User.first.roles
# => ["admin", "support"]

In test environment:

User.first.roles
# => "--- \n- admin\n- support\n"

it is a String. It seems that YAML serialize is not working there but I have no idea what to do to get it working.

I was already trying to figure it out with this, this, this and this, but with no luck.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Martin

What version of rails are you using? Your ruby version? – Thomas Andrews Mar 09 '11 at 20:27 — Thomas Andrews, Mar 09 '11 at 20:27

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 10 '11 at 15:09

2

After all to bypass this I needed to call the data in database directly without involvement of "serialize" AR method.

YAML::load(User.first.roles_before_type_cast)

And now test environment also directly parses the data and give me correct roles Array.

answered Mar 10 '11 at 15:09

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 09 '11 at 20:10

0

I dont know if it solves your problem, but you can always get back the array from the string using

YAML::load("--- \n- admin\n- support\n")
# => ["admin", "support"]

So, in your test environment, you should do

YAML::load(User.first.roles)

answered Mar 09 '11 at 20:10

rubyprince

It won't work because AR serialize method automatically uses the YAML parsing when trying to get data by: User.first.roles – Martin Seroczyński Mar 10 '11 at 14:57
Exactly, in test environment it returns just string but I cannot make the double YAML::load on object which works in development and production. It is dirty trick to make the YAML parsing by hand in second method in my object. – Martin Seroczyński Mar 10 '11 at 15:05

2 Answers2