Prefer using self over write attribute

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Metadata

ID: rails-best-practices/write-attribute

Language: Ruby

Severity: Notice

Category: Best Practices

Description

This rule promotes the use of self over the ActiveRecord method write_attribute. This rule is important because using self to assign attributes is more idiomatic in Ruby and leads to cleaner, more readable code.

The write_attribute method in Rails is not recommended for regular use. It bypasses the normal attribute assignment process, skipping validations and callbacks. This can result in unexpected behavior and difficult-to-debug errors.

To avoid violating this rule, simply use self[:attribute] = value instead of write_attribute(:attribute, value). For example, you can replace write_attribute(:price, 42) with self[:price] = 42.

Non-Compliant Code Examples

class Product < ApplicationRecord
  def price
    write_attribute(:price, 42)
  end
end

Compliant Code Examples

class Product < ApplicationRecord
  def price
    self(:price, 42)
  end
end