How to initialize an ActiveRecord with values in Rails?

Question

In plain java I'd use:

public User(String name, String email) {   this.name = name;   this.email = f(email);   this.admin = false; } 

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However, I couldn't find a simple standard way to do in rails (3.2.3), with ActiveRecords.

1. override initialize

def initialize(attributes = {}, options = {})   @name  = attributes[:name]   @email = f(attributes[:email])   @admin = false end 

but it might be missed when creating a record from the DB

2. using the after_initialize callback

by overriding it:

def after_initialize(attributes = {}, options = {})   ... end 

or with the macro:

after_initialize : my_own_little_init def my_own_little_init(attributes = {}, options = {})   ... end 

but there may be some deprecation issues.

There are some other links in SO, but they may be out-of-date.

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So, what's the correct/standard method to use?

Answer 1

Your default values should be defined in your Schema when they will apply to ALL records. So

def change   creates_table :posts do |t|     t.boolean :published, default: false     t.string :title     t.text :content     t.references :author     t.timestamps   end end 

Here, every new Post will have false for published. If you want default values at the object level, it's best to use Factory style implementations:

User.build_admin(params)  def self.build_admin(params)   user = User.new(params)   user.admin = true   user end 

Answer 2

According to Rails Guides the best way to do this is with the after_initialize. Because with the initialize we have to declare the super, so it is best to use the callback.