Rails not updating record and shows no errors even when I know there is at least one

Question

model

class Clip < ActiveRecord::Base
  validates_length_of :description, maximum: 160
end

controller

  def update
    @clip = @film.clips.find_by_permalink(params[:id])

    respond_to do |format|
      if @clip.update(clip_params)
        format.html { redirect_to saas_admin_studio_film_path(@studio, @film), notice: 'Clip was successfully updated.' }
        format.json { head :no_content }
      else
        format.html { render action: 'edit' }
        format.json { render json: @clip.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
      end
    end
  end

view

<%= render 'saas_admin/shared/errors', resource: resource %>

<%= resource %> generates #<Clip:0x0000010c6c64e0> so resource is loaded. However, <%= resource.errors.any? %> returns false. If I change in controller @clip.update(clip_params) to @clip.update!(clip_params) I get:

Validation failed: Description is too long (maximum is 160 characters)

So the validation works, it's just that it's not taken by .errors to display it.

_errors

<% if resource.errors.any? %>
    <ul>
    <% resource.errors.full_messages.each do |msg| %>
      <li><%= msg %></li>
    <% end %>
    </ul>
<% end %>

Any ideas why this is happening? Thank you.

Answer 1

I don't think resource is the same Clip object as @clip.

Where in the code are you assigning @clip to be resource? I can't see where you have defined resource at all.

If you change it to be <%= render 'saas_admin/shared/errors', resource: @clip %> does the problem resolve?

Answer 2

As you have seen, though it probably seems backwards, the main difference between update and update! is how failed saves are handled.

When updating an ActiveRecord class the ! version will raise an exception if the record is invalid.

More info at http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/Base.html