save method not writing to the database - ruby-on-rails

Question

Here's my User model
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
# Include default devise modules. Others available are:
# :confirmable, :lockable, :timeoutable and :omniauthable
devise :database_authenticatable, :registerable,
:recoverable, :rememberable, :trackable, :validatable
has_many :personas
has_many :stories, through: :persona
validates_presence_of :name
attr_accessor :name, :default_persona_id
after_create :create_first_persona
private
def create_first_persona
#persona = Persona.new
#persona.user = self
#persona.name = self.name
if #persona.save
make_first_persona_default
end
end
def make_first_persona_default
#user = self
#user.default_persona_id = #user.personas.first.id
#user.save!(:validate => false)
end
end
What it does is create a Persona each time a User signs up and then sets that Persona's id as the User's default_persona_id.
Everything works except make_first_persona_default. When I check the user in rails console default_persona_id is nil.
I'm on Rails 4.
UPDATE
Edited make_first_persona_default to Taryn East's
def make_first_persona_default
unless self.update_attribute(:default_persona_id, self.personas.first.id)
raise "got an error trying to save persona: #{self.errors.inspect}"
end
end
default_persona_id is still nil
User Load (1.0ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" ORDER BY "users"."id" ASC LIMIT 1
=> #<User id: 13, email: "[FILTERED]", encrypted_password: "[FILTERED]", reset_password_token: nil, reset_password_sent_at: nil, remember_created_at: nil, sign_in_count: 1, current_sign_in_at: "2013-10-01 02:09:19", last_sign_in_at: "2013-10-01 02:09:19", current_sign_in_ip: "127.0.0.1", last_sign_in_ip: "127.0.0.1", created_at: "2013-10-01 02:09:19", updated_at: "2013-10-01 02:09:19", default_persona_id: nil>
Here's my schema for User.
create_table "users", force: true do |t|
t.string "email", default: "", null: false
t.string "encrypted_password", default: "", null: false
t.string "reset_password_token"
t.datetime "reset_password_sent_at"
t.datetime "remember_created_at"
t.integer "sign_in_count", default: 0, null: false
t.datetime "current_sign_in_at"
t.datetime "last_sign_in_at"
t.string "current_sign_in_ip"
t.string "last_sign_in_ip"
t.datetime "created_at"
t.datetime "updated_at"
t.integer "default_persona_id"
end
and the migration which I used to add the default_persona_id column.
class AddActivePersonaToUsers < ActiveRecord::Migration
def change
change_table :users do |t|
t.integer :default_persona_id
end
end
end

Answer 1

I wonder what this line is doing in your User model:
attr_accessor :name, :default_persona_id
Did you mean accessible? Creating accessor this way will override ActiveRecord accessor, so assigning default_persona_id will only set instance variable #default_persona_id and will have no effect on database.

Answer 2

In reality - there's no reason why we have to lose the context.
Also - rather than creating one and then adding myself as a related user - you can create the persona directly on the association, and it will automatically link itself.
I'd do it this way:
private
def create_first_persona
persona = self.personas.build(:name => self.name)
if persona.save!
self.update_attribute(:default_persona_id, persona.id)
end
end
If you wish to continue with the two methods manner, the build will help with that.
I suspect the problem in your original code is that you are not building on the association - and thus the
"personas" needs a reload before the user can find the new persona.
Also you don't need to fetch out the current user the way you do.. you already have self, so just use self. eg:
def make_first_persona_default
self.default_persona_id = self.personas.first.id
self.save!(:validate => false)
end
or even better, you're only setting one attribute... so use update attribute
def make_first_persona_default
self.update_attribute(:default_persona_id, self.personas.first.id)
end