# db/schema.rb
create_table :store_listings, force: true do |t|
  t.string :my_string, default: "original default"
end

StoreListing.new.my_string # => "original default"

# app/models/store_listing.rb
class StoreListing < ActiveRecord::Base
  attribute :my_string, :string, default: "new default"
end

StoreListing.new.my_string # => "new default"

class Product < ActiveRecord::Base
  attribute :my_default_proc, :datetime, default: -> { Time.now }
end

Product.new.my_default_proc # => 2015-05-30 11:04:48 -0600
sleep 1
Product.new.my_default_proc # => 2015-05-30 11:04:49 -0600

一些简单的情况可以通过在数据库模式中定义默认值来处理，但这不能处理许多棘手的情况，包括其他模型的计算值和键。对于这些情况，我这样做:

after_initialize :defaults

def defaults
   unless persisted?
    self.extras||={}
    self.other_stuff||="This stuff"
    self.assoc = [OtherModel.find_by_name('special')]
  end
end

我决定使用after_initialize，但我不希望它应用于只发现那些新的或创建的对象。我认为几乎令人震惊的是，这个明显的用例没有提供一个after_new回调，但我已经通过确认对象是否已经被持久化来表明它不是新的。

看过Brad Murray的回答后，如果条件被移动到回调请求，这就更加清晰了:

after_initialize :defaults, unless: :persisted?
              # ":if => :new_record?" is equivalent in this context

def defaults
  self.extras||={}
  self.other_stuff||="This stuff"
  self.assoc = [OtherModel.find_by_name('special')]
end

每个可用的方法都有几个问题，但我认为定义一个after_initialize回调是正确的方法，原因如下:

default_scope will initialize values for new models, but then that will become the scope on which you find the model. If you just want to initialize some numbers to 0 then this is not what you want. Defining defaults in your migration also works part of the time... As has already been mentioned this will not work when you just call Model.new. Overriding initialize can work, but don't forget to call super! Using a plugin like phusion's is getting a bit ridiculous. This is ruby, do we really need a plugin just to initialize some default values? Overriding after_initialize is deprecated as of Rails 3. When I override after_initialize in rails 3.0.3 I get the following warning in the console:

弃用警告:Base#after_initialize已弃用，请使用Base。After_initialize:方法代替。(调用from /Users/me/myapp/app/models/my_model:15)

因此，我要说的是写一个after_initialize回调函数，它允许你在关联上设置默认属性，就像这样:

  class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
    has_one :address
    after_initialize :init

    def init
      self.number  ||= 0.0           #will set the default value only if it's nil
      self.address ||= build_address #let's you set a default association
    end
  end    

现在您只有一个地方可以寻找模型的初始化。我一直在用这个方法，直到有人提出更好的方法。

警告:

For boolean fields do: self.bool_field = true if self.bool_field.nil? See Paul Russell's comment on this answer for more details If you're only selecting a subset of columns for a model (ie; using select in a query like Person.select(:firstname, :lastname).all) you will get a MissingAttributeError if your init method accesses a column that hasn't been included in the select clause. You can guard against this case like so: self.number ||= 0.0 if self.has_attribute? :number and for a boolean column... self.bool_field = true if (self.has_attribute? :bool_value) && self.bool_field.nil? Also note that the syntax is different prior to Rails 3.2 (see Cliff Darling's comment below)

我强烈建议使用“default_value_for”gem: https://github.com/FooBarWidget/default_value_for

有一些棘手的场景需要重写initialize方法，这个gem就是这样做的。

例子:

你的db默认值是NULL，你的模型/ruby定义的默认值是“一些字符串”，但你实际上想要设置值为nil的原因:MyModel。新(my_attr: nil)

这里的大多数解决方案将无法将值设置为nil，而是将其设置为默认值。

好吧，所以你不用||=方法，而是切换到my_attr_changed?…

但是现在假设你的数据库默认值是"some string"，你的模型/ruby定义的默认值是"some other string"，但在某种情况下，你想将值设置为"some string"(数据库默认值):MyModel。新(my_attr:“some_string”)

这将导致my_attr_changed?为false是因为该值与db默认值匹配，而db默认值将触发ruby定义的默认代码，并将该值设置为“其他字符串”——同样，这不是您想要的。

由于这些原因，我不认为这可以通过一个after_initialize钩子正确地完成。

同样，我认为“default_value_for”gem采用了正确的方法:https://github.com/FooBarWidget/default_value_for

我已经用了一段时间了。

# post.rb
class Post < ApplicationRecord
  attribute :country, :string, default: 'ID'
end

class Item < ActiveRecord::Base
  def status
    self[:status] or ACTIVE
  end

  before_save{ self.status ||= ACTIVE }
end