Rails: How do I create a default value for attributes in Rails activerecord's model? [duplicate]

Answer 1

You can set a default option for the column in the migration

....
add_column :status, :string, :default => "P"
....

OR

You can use a callback, before_save

class Task < ActiveRecord::Base
  before_save :default_values
  def default_values
    self.status ||= 'P' # note self.status = 'P' if self.status.nil? might be safer (per @frontendbeauty)
  end
end

Answer 2

For column types Rails supports out of the box - like the string in this question - the best approach is to set the column default in the database itself as Daniel Kristensen indicates. Rails will introspect on the DB and initialize the object accordingly. Plus, that makes your DB safe from somebody adding a row outside of your Rails app and forgetting to initialize that column.

For column types Rails doesn't support out of the box - e.g. ENUM columns - Rails won't be able to introspect the column default. For these cases you do not want to use after_initialize (it is called every time an object is loaded from the DB as well as every time an object is created using .new), before_create (because it occurs after validation), or before_save (because it occurs upon update too, which is usually not what you want).

Rather, you want to set the attribute in a before_validation on: create, like so:

before_validation :set_status_because_rails_cannot, on: :create

def set_status_because_rails_cannot
  self.status ||= 'P'
end

Answer 3

When I need default values its usually for new records before the new action's view is rendered. The following method will set the default values for only new records so that they are available when rendering forms. before_save and before_create are too late and will not work if you want default values to show up in input fields.

after_initialize do
  if self.new_record?
    # values will be available for new record forms.
    self.status = 'P'
    self.featured = true
  end
end

Answer 4

You can do it without writing any code at all :) You just need to set the default value for the column in the database. You can do this in your migrations. For example:

create_table :projects do |t|
  t.string :status, :null => false, :default => 'P'
  ...
  t.timestamps
end

Hope that helps.

Answer 5

I would consider using the attr_defaults found here. Your wildest dreams will come true.

Answer 6

Just strengthening Jim's answer

Using presence one can do

class Task < ActiveRecord::Base
  before_save :default_values
  def default_values
    self.status = status.presence || 'P'
  end
end