Rails ActiveRecord::MultiparameterAssignmentErrors

Question

I have the following code in my model:

attr_accessor :expiry_date
validates_presence_of :expiry_date, :on        => :create, :message => "can't be blank"

and the following in my view:

<%= date_select :account, :expiry_date, :discard_day => true, :start_year => Time.now.year, :end_year => Time.now.year + 15, :order => [:month, :year]  %>

However, when I submit my form I get:

ActiveRecord::MultiparameterAssignmentErrors in SignupController#create

/Users/x/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.6-p383/gems/activerecord-2.3.5/lib/active_record/base.rb:3073:in `execute_callstack_for_multiparameter_attributes'
/Users/x/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.6-p383/gems/activerecord-2.3.5/lib/active_record/base.rb:3028:in `assign_multiparameter_attributes'
/Users/x/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.6-p383/gems/activerecord-2.3.5/lib/active_record/base.rb:2750:in `attributes='
/Users/x/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.6-p383/gems/activerecord-2.3.5/lib/active_record/base.rb:2438:in `initialize'

Any ideas as to what the problem might be? I've looked at #93277 with no joy, so am kinda stuck.

Adding day to the select does NOT resolve the issue.

Ultimately what I am trying to acheive is a property of the model that is not saved to the database, but is validated. This already appears to work for some other simple string fields in the same model, just not the :expiry_date

Any ideas?

Answer 1

If you use attr_accessor it means you're not storing that field in the DB.

The issue remains in the fact that you cannot use a non-persistent model attribute (ie: not actually stored into the DB via the model) with helpers.

That's why Rails 3 has got ActiveModel: to use any object, include some ActiveModel behavior (via module inclusion), and use it with ActionPack's helpers (if I understood it all well :)).

Try replacing attr_accessor by attr_accessible or even drop that line if you want to protect that field from mass-assignment.

I hope it helps.