attr_accessible

Specifies a white list of model attributes that can be set via mass-assignment.

Like attr_protected, a role for the attributes is optional, if no role is provided then :default is used. A role can be defined by using the :as option.

This is the opposite of the attr_protected macro: Mass-assignment will only set attributes in this list, to assign to the rest of attributes you can use direct writer methods. This is meant to protect sensitive attributes from being overwritten by malicious users tampering with URLs or forms. If you’d rather start from an all-open default and restrict attributes as needed, have a look at attr_protected.

class Customer
  include ActiveModel::MassAssignmentSecurity

  attr_accessor :name, :credit_rating

  attr_accessible :name
  attr_accessible :name, :credit_rating, :as => :admin

  def assign_attributes(values, options = {})
    sanitize_for_mass_assignment(values, options[:as]).each do |k, v|
      send("#{k}=", v)
    end
  end
end

When using the :default role :

customer = Customer.new
customer.assign_attributes({ "name" => "David", "credit_rating" => "Excellent", :last_login => 1.day.ago }, :as => :default)
customer.name          # => "David"
customer.credit_rating # => nil

customer.credit_rating = "Average"
customer.credit_rating # => "Average"

And using the :admin role :

customer = Customer.new
customer.assign_attributes({ "name" => "David", "credit_rating" => "Excellent", :last_login => 1.day.ago }, :as => :admin)
customer.name          # => "David"
customer.credit_rating # => "Excellent"

Note that using Hash#except or Hash#slice in place of attr_accessible to sanitize attributes won’t provide sufficient protection.