update_attributes() does not works properly

Question

@related=Book.find_all_by_related(@book.related)
if @related.count>1
  @related.each do |b|
    b.update_attributes(params[:book])
  end
end

I'm using rails 2.3.5. for above code, first iteration works fine and show true. but for next iteration, b.update_attributes() shows false . All parameters are reaching in the iterations. Method update_attributes() have any conditions?

Answer 1

If your model specified attr_accessible attributes, only those attributes will be updated.

Use attr_accessible to prevent mass assignment (by users) of attributes that should not be editable by a user. Mass assignment is used in create and update methods of your standard controller.

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  attr_accessible :login, :password
end

So, doing the following will merrily return true, but will not update the status attribute.

@user.update_attributes(:status => 'active')

If you want to update the status attribute, you should assign it separately.

@user.status = 'active'
save