Using a boolean attribute with a conditional statement

Rails
1

I’m betting this is a schoolboy error:

I have a ‘protected_profile’ boolean attribute in my user model, and I
want to use it in a controller action, like so;

if @user.protected_profile = true
some.task
else
some_other.task
end

But even if the protected_profile boolean returns false in the browser
(<%= @user.protected_profile %>), the above action doesn’t seem to work.

I barely remember reading something about Ruby assigning true values in
most instances - is that what is causing my problems?

2

On 10 Mar 2008, at 20:18, Neil C. wrote:

end

But even if the protected_profile boolean returns false in the browser
(<%= @user.protected_profile %>), the above action doesn’t seem to
work.

I barely remember reading something about Ruby assigning true values
in
most instances - is that what is causing my problems?
No. Your problem is that = is the assignment operator, not the
comparison operator (that’s ==)
You probably just want:
if @user.protected_profile
some.task
else
some_other.task
end

Fred

3

Frederick C. wrote:

On 10 Mar 2008, at 20:18, Neil C. wrote:

end

But even if the protected_profile boolean returns false in the browser
(<%= @user.protected_profile %>), the above action doesn’t seem to
work.

I barely remember reading something about Ruby assigning true values
in
most instances - is that what is causing my problems?
No. Your problem is that = is the assignment operator, not the
comparison operator (that’s ==)
You probably just want:
if @user.protected_profile
some.task
else
some_other.task
end

Fred

Thanks Fred. I tried your suggestion, but it doesn’t work. A user with
protected_profile ‘false’ will still do some.task, rather than
some_other.task. The same goes when using the comparison operator,
@user.protected_profile == true.

4

On 10 Mar 2008, at 21:18, Neil C. wrote:

end

Fred

Thanks Fred. I tried your suggestion, but it doesn’t work. A user with
protected_profile ‘false’ will still do some.task, rather than
some_other.task. The same goes when using the comparison operator,
@user.protected_profile == true.

Are you setting protecting profile to the string ‘false’? The two are
completely different (and you may not expect it, but the string
‘false’ is in fact true.

Fred

5

Thanks guys. The following seems to do the trick;

if @user.protected_profile? == true
6

Neil C. wrote:

Thanks Fred. I tried your suggestion, but it doesn’t work. A user with
protected_profile ‘false’ will still do some.task, rather than
some_other.task. The same goes when using the comparison operator,
@user.protected_profile == true.

If this is an ActiveRecord model with a database type of boolean, you
shouldn’t assume anything about the actual value of the attribute.
Different database adapters will use different values. As Fred says,
because the value displays as ‘false’ doesn’t mean it is the “false”
boolean value.

The best way to test a boolean attribute is with a query predicate:

if @user.protected_profile?

This allows the adapter to translate the database value into a boolean
for you…