In Rails how do I update form fields in the model?

Question

Let's pretend I want to set all the fields I specify to be = "frog"

In the model I can set each one manually using:

self.field1 = 'frog'
self.desc_field = 'frog'
self.fieldx = 'frog'
etc....

But how can I this by putting the field names in an array?

When I try

fields_array=['field1','desc_field','fieldx']    
fields_array.each { |field|    
  self.field = 'frog'
}        

It does not work. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Try using the send method:

fields_array=['field1','desc_field','fieldx']    
fields_array.each { |field|    
  self.send("#{field}", 'frog')
}

Answer 2

John Topley's answer above is basically correct, however since you want to assign values you want to doing something like:

fields_array=['field1','desc_field','fieldx']    
fields_array.each { |field|    
  self.send("#{field}=", 'frog')
}

Note the added equal sign. With that you're doing self.field1='frog' rather than self.field1('frog').