Skip validation for some members in associated models during create/update - validation

Question

I have the following 4 models
Hotel (name)
has_one :address
has_one :contact
has_one :bank_account
validates_presence_of :name
def build_dependencies
build_contact
build_address
build_bank_account
end
Address (phone, street_address, hotel_id)
belongs_to :hotel
validates_presence_of :phone, :street_address
Contact (name, email, hotel_id)
belongs_to :hotel
validates_presence_of :name, :email
BankAccount (name, number, hotel_id)
belongs_to :hotel
validates_presence_of :name, :number
In a form used to create a Hotel, I take input for both name and email for the Contact model but only phone for the Address model.
HotelController#new
#hotel = Hotel.new
#hotel.build_dependencies #this creates empty Contact and Address to generate the form fields
#render the form to create the hotel
HotelController#create
#receive form data
#hotel = Hotel.new
#hotel.build_dependencies
#hotel.save :validate => false
#hotel.attributes = params[:hotel]
#hotel.save :validate => false
This is the only way I was able to create a Hotel with contact information, phone from address and empty bank account. I had to call
#hotel.save :validate => false
the first time to save the Hotel instance with blank instances of BankAccount, Address, Contact. Then I had to update_attributes on contact and address and then
#hotel.save :validate => false
to ensure that the original form data got saved completely as expected.
This, beyond doubt, is a very bad piece of code. Can anyone tell me how to clean this up?

Answer 1

You can use a filter, namely the after_create to call the associated model to create associated records after saving of the #hotel variable.
I happen to be facing the same problem and here's my solution. Sorry this probably is not helpful after such a long while but it'll be good for future users.
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_one :bank_account
# Filter -- After Creation
after_create :create_default_bank_account
def create_default_bank_account
self.build_bank_account
self.bank_account.save(:validate=>false)
# :validate=>false must be called on the bank_account's save. I made the mistake of trying to save the user. =(
end
This way, you can take the empty row creation out of the create action, which IMHO, should belong to the Model. You can then use the edit action to let users "create" the bank account entry. Using this, you only need a standard create action (e.g. generated by rails g scaffold_controller).
Update: I re-read your question after answering and found myself to be more confused. I assume you want to render a form where the user is not expected to enter the bank account immediately but edit it later on another page.

Answer 2

Address
validates_presence_of :phone, :on => :create, :if => proc { |u| u.creating_hotel? }
validates_presence_of :street, :phone, :on => :update
Contact
validates_presence_of :name, :email :on => :update
def creating_hotel?
addressable_type == 'Hotel'
end
The user sees the :street, :name, :email fields only after the hotel is created and :phone during the creation.