Ruby attr_accessor setter does not get called during update_attributes on child object

Question

I'm trying to add functionality to a project done in ruby, I'm unfamiliar with Ruby, but have managed to create a project review page that allows updates on the project task codes for a given monthly review.

My issue is that the client (my brother) has asked me to allow him to edit the scheduled hours for the next few months on "this" month's project review.

I've been able to show those values that don't belong to the child on the page, and I can get the usual child elements to update, but I cannot get the update to happen on the value I'm borrowing from the future month(s).

To get the page to show and not fail on update, I've added that attr_accessor (otherwise I had failures on update because the value didn't exist in the model.

an excerpt from my code is shown below. There are no errors, but there are also no updates to the variable reflected in the attr_accessor, I have tried testing with changes to the usual elements in the child object, those will get updated, but still no call to the attr_accessor "setter".

suggestions?

Thanks much, Camille..

class Projectreview < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :reviewcostelements

  accepts_nested_attributes_for :reviewcostelements

end

class ProjectreviewsController < ApplicationController
  def update
    @projectreview = Projectreview.find(params[:id])


    respond_to do |format|
      if @projectreview.update_attributes(params[:projectreview])
        format.html { redirect_to(@projectreview) }
      end
    end
  end


end

class Reviewcostelement < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :projectreview


   attr_accessor :monthahead_hours1
   def monthahead_hours1(newvalue) #this is the setter
    #why do I never see this log message ??
    logger.info('SETTER 1')
    set_monthahead_hours(1, newvalue)
   end

   def monthahead_hours1  #this is the getter
      get_monthahead_hours(1)
   end

   def update_attributes(attributes)
    #never gets called!!!
     logger.info('update_attributes values rce')
     super(attributes)
   end

  def get_monthahead_hours(p_monthsahead)
    #this works and returns the next month's scheduled_hours_this_month value
    rce = Reviewcostelement.first(:joins => :projectreview,
                                       :conditions => ["projectreviews.project_id = ?
                                        and reviewcostelements.projecttaskcode_id =?
                                        and projectreviews.month_start_at = ?", projectreview.project_id , 
                    projecttaskcode_id , 
                    projectreview.month_start_at.months_since(p_monthsahead)])
    if rce
       return  rce.scheduled_hours_this_month
    else
        return 0
    end
  end

  def set_monthahead_hours(p_monthsahead, newvalue)
    #this never seems to get called
    logger.info("set the month ahead hours")

    rce = Reviewcostelement.first(:joins => :projectreview,
                                       :conditions => ["projectreviews.project_id = ?
                                        and reviewcostelements.projecttaskcode_id =?
                                        and projectreviews.month_start_at = ?", 
                    projectreview.project_id , 
                    projecttaskcode_id , 
                    projectreview.month_start_at.months_since(p_monthsahead)])
    if rce
      rce.scheduled_hours_this_month   = newvalue
      rce.save
    end
  end
end

Answer 1

The setter of the accessor looks like this:

def monthahead_hours1=(newvalue)
  ...
end

Note the equals (=) symbol.