[Betternestedset-talk] Data migration problem

[Mark Noten]

Hi all,

I'm using better nested set (trunk revision 52) with Rails 1.2.2 and 
ruby 1.8.5 (2006-12-25 patchlevel 12) [x86_64-linux]. I'm having a 
problem with a data migration where the parent_id is always nil even 
when I set it for a child. I created a parent "ben_kunnen" and add a 
child "Noten Mark" to it with this migration:

class AddAgentsData < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def self.up
    down
    dela = Product.find_or_create_by_name('DELA')
    level_1 = dela.levels.detect{ |l| l.code == '1' }
    level_3 = dela.levels.detect{ |l| l.code == '3' }
    ben_kunnen = Agent.create(:last_name => "Kunnen", :first_name => 
"Ben", :identification => "BKU", :product_id => dela.id, :parent_id => 
nil, :level_id => level_3.id)
    Agent.create(:last_name => "Noten", :first_name => "Mark", 
:identification => "MNO", :product_id => dela.id, :parent_id => 
ben_kunnen.id, :level_id => level_1.id)
  end

  def self.down
    Agent.delete_all
  end
end

mysql> select * from agents;
+----+-----------+------------+----------------+------------+-----------+-----+-----+----------+
| id | last_name | first_name | identification | product_id | parent_id 
| lft | rgt | level_id |
+----+-----------+------------+----------------+------------+-----------+-----+-----+----------+
|  1 | Kunnen    | Ben        | BKU            |          1 |      NULL 
|   1 |   2 |        4 |
|  2 | Noten     | Mark       | MNO            |          1 |      NULL 
|   3 |   4 |        2 |
+----+-----------+------------+----------------+------------+-----------+-----+-----+----------+

The parent_id column for the child "Noten Mark" remais always NULL in 
the database.

The agent model is quite simple:

class Agent < ActiveRecord::Base
  acts_as_nested_set :scope => :product_id
  belongs_to :level
  has_many :proposals

  validates_presence_of :last_name, :first_name, :identification, 
:product_id, :level_id
  validates_length_of :last_name, :first_name, :maximum => 30
  validates_length_of :identification, :maximum => 10
  validates_uniqueness_of :identification, :scope => :product_id
# left out some methods that are not called in the migration
end

I tried the same statements in my Rails console and it gave me the same 
results:

$>script/console
Loading development environment.
 >> dela = Product.find_or_create_by_name('DELA')
=> #<Product:0x2aaaae15d1b8 
@attributes={"image_url"=>"/images/logo-dela.gif", "name"=>"DELA", 
"id"=>"1", "description"=>"DELA is de specialist in uitvaartverzekering 
en -verzorging met meer dan 70 jaar ervaring."}>
 >> level_1 = dela.levels.detect{ |l| l.code == '1' }
=> #<Level:0x2aaaae13fe88 @attributes={"name"=>"Verkoper", "code"=>"1", 
"product_id"=>"1", "id"=>"2", "description"=>nil, 
"commission_per_unit"=>"6.20"}>
 >> level_3 = dela.levels.detect{ |l| l.code == '3' }
=> #<Level:0x2aaaae13fde8 @attributes={"name"=>"Sectorchef", 
"code"=>"3", "product_id"=>"1", "id"=>"4", "description"=>nil, 
"commission_per_unit"=>"9.17"}>
 >> ben_kunnen = Agent.create(:last_name => "Kunnen", :first_name => 
"Ben", :identification => "BKU", :product_id => dela.id, :parent_id => 
nil, :level_id => level_3.id)
=> #<Agent:0x2aaaae0b0d00 @new_record=false, @attributes={"level_id"=>4, 
"identification"=>"BKU", "lft"=>1, "product_id"=>1, "id"=>3, 
"first_name"=>"Ben", "rgt"=>2, "parent_id"=>nil, "last_name"=>"Kunnen"}, 
@errors=#<ActiveRecord::Errors:0x2aaaae0adf88 @errors={}, 
@base=#<Agent:0x2aaaae0b0d00 ...>>, @new_record_before_save=true>
 >> ben_kunnen.id
=> 3
 >> Agent.create(:last_name => "Noten", :first_name => "Mark", 
:identification => "MNO", :product_id => dela.id, :parent_id => 
ben_kunnen.id, :level_id => level_1.id)
=> #<Agent:0x2aaaae088df0 @new_record=false, @attributes={"level_id"=>2, 
"identification"=>"MNO", "lft"=>3, "product_id"=>1, "id"=>4, 
"first_name"=>"Mark", "rgt"=>4, "parent_id"=>nil, "last_name"=>"Noten"}, 
@errors=#<ActiveRecord::Errors:0x2aaaae086078 @errors={}, 
@base=#<Agent:0x2aaaae088df0 ...>>, @new_record_before_save=true>
 >> ben_kunnen.id
=> 3

You can see that the parent_id column of the child "Mark Noten" is nil. 
The strange thing is that when I execute above the statement 
ben_kunnen.id then it gives me the right id! So why can't I use the 
statement ben_kunnen.id set it set the right value for the child "Mark 
Noten"?

Can anyone help me with this?

Kind regards,

Mark Noten
Software engineer
ITFC gcv
E-mail: mark.noten at itfc.be
GSM: +32 (484) 698 333