Active Record Attribute Methods Before Type Cast

ActiveRecord::AttributeMethods::BeforeTypeCast provides a way to read the value of the attributes before typecasting and deserialization.

class Task < ActiveRecord::Base
end

task = Task.new(id: '1', completed_on: '2012-10-21')
task.id           # => 1
task.completed_on # => Sun, 21 Oct 2012

task.attributes_before_type_cast
# => {"id"=>"1", "completed_on"=>"2012-10-21", ... }
task.read_attribute_before_type_cast('id')           # => "1"
task.read_attribute_before_type_cast('completed_on') # => "2012-10-21"

In addition to read_attribute_before_type_cast and attributes_before_type_cast, it declares a method for all attributes with the *_before_type_cast suffix.

task.id_before_type_cast           # => "1"
task.completed_on_before_type_cast # => "2012-10-21"

Instance Public methods

attributes_before_type_cast()

Returns a hash of attributes before typecasting and deserialization.

class Task < ActiveRecord::Base
end

task = Task.new(title: nil, is_done: true, completed_on: '2012-10-21')
task.attributes
# => {"id"=>nil, "title"=>nil, "is_done"=>true, "completed_on"=>Sun, 21 Oct 2012, "created_at"=>nil, "updated_at"=>nil}
task.attributes_before_type_cast
# => {"id"=>nil, "title"=>nil, "is_done"=>true, "completed_on"=>"2012-10-21", "created_at"=>nil, "updated_at"=>nil}

📝 Source code

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/attribute_methods/before_type_cast.rb, line 82
      def attributes_before_type_cast
        @attributes.values_before_type_cast
      end

🔎 See on GitHub

attributes_for_database()

Returns a hash of attributes for assignment to the database.

📝 Source code

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/attribute_methods/before_type_cast.rb, line 87
      def attributes_for_database
        @attributes.values_for_database
      end

🔎 See on GitHub

read_attribute_before_type_cast(attr_name)

Returns the value of the attribute identified by attr_name before typecasting and deserialization.

class Task < ActiveRecord::Base
end

task = Task.new(id: '1', completed_on: '2012-10-21')
task.read_attribute('id')                            # => 1
task.read_attribute_before_type_cast('id')           # => '1'
task.read_attribute('completed_on')                  # => Sun, 21 Oct 2012
task.read_attribute_before_type_cast('completed_on') # => "2012-10-21"
task.read_attribute_before_type_cast(:completed_on)  # => "2012-10-21"

📝 Source code

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/attribute_methods/before_type_cast.rb, line 48
      def read_attribute_before_type_cast(attr_name)
        name = attr_name.to_s
        name = self.class.attribute_aliases[name] || name

        attribute_before_type_cast(name)
      end

🔎 See on GitHub

read_attribute_for_database(attr_name)

Returns the value of the attribute identified by attr_name after serialization.

class Book < ActiveRecord::Base
  enum :status, { draft: 1, published: 2 }
end

book = Book.new(status: "published")
book.read_attribute(:status)              # => "published"
book.read_attribute_for_database(:status) # => 2

📝 Source code

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/attribute_methods/before_type_cast.rb, line 65
      def read_attribute_for_database(attr_name)
        name = attr_name.to_s
        name = self.class.attribute_aliases[name] || name

        attribute_for_database(name)
      end

🔎 See on GitHub