overriding attribute function rails mongoid

Question

I have a model like this.

class Money
  include Mongoid::Document

  #interval is how often the compensation is paid
  field :salary, :type => Integer # must be saved in cents
  field :commission, :type => Integer # must be saved in cents
  field :total, :type => Integer # must be saved in cents
end

total is sum of salary and commission. salary and commission both are saved in cents. But my problem is that when it is edited i need to show it in dollar figure.

For example, if salary in cent is 5000000 then when i press edit i need to see 50000 in the salary textbox.

Some other solutions are also welcomed

Answer 1

If you want to enforce this pattern at the model level then you could override the setters and getters:

class Money
  #...
  def salary
    self.salary / 100
  end
  def salary=(value)
    self.salary * 100
  end
end

In this case you'll have the editing/displaying for free, without writing any helpers.

Although, I think the proper way for doing it is at the view level through a helper definition. The model should not be concerned with this.

Answer 2

Look at ActionView::Helpers::NumberHelper . In your case you could write your own helper like this:

def money_to_textbox (money)
    money / 100
end

This helper method should be placed in app\\helpers and then in a view you can use like this:

<%= money_to_textbox @money %>