ruby on rails - exists? returns true in the console, but not in my controller -

i'm trying have create action finds lesson date , school_id. if no lesson exists parameters, create new lesson. reason i'm not using find_by_or_create, or similar method, because want add goals of lesson if exists, nor overwrite it.

here's controller, believe that's that's relevant:

the exists? call never returning true, though when run rails console , type console same parameters, returns true. same find_by

def create   find_or_create_lesson   if @lesson.save     flash[:success] = "response logged"     redirect_to @lesson   else     @user = current_user     @school_options = school.all.map { |s| [s.name, s.id] }     render 'new'   end end  private    # strong params   def lesson_params     params.require(:lesson).permit(:school_id, :date,                                    goals_attributes: [:id,   :user_id,                                                       :text, :lesson_id])   end    # finds lesson same date , school, or creates lesson   def find_or_create_lesson     search_params =  { date:      lesson_params[:date],                        school_id: lesson_params[:school_id] }     if lesson.exists?(search_params)       @lesson = lesson.find_by(search_params)       @lesson.goals << goal.new(goals)       @lesson.assign_attributes(search_params)     else       @lesson = lesson.new(lesson_params)     end   end 

what's going on?

rails has several finder methods find_or_initialize_by , find_or_create_by make simpler work cases dealing record may or may not persisted.

@lesson = lesson.find_or_initialize_by(   date: lesson_params[:date],   school: lesson_params[:school_id] ) 

edited.

to integrate in app do:

def create   @lesson = lesson.find_or_initialize_by(     date: lesson_params[:date],     school: lesson_params[:school_id]   )   @lesson.assign_attributes(lesson_params)    if @lesson.save     flash[:success] = "response logged"     redirect_to @lesson   else     @user = current_user     @school_options = school.all.map { |s| [s.name, s.id] } # can refactored out     render 'new'   end end  private    # strong params   def lesson_params     # want assign goals_attributes     params.require(:lesson).permit(goals_attributes: [:id,   :user_id,                                                       :text, :lesson_id])   end 

on side note:

rails has collection_select helper method create select tag options collection, there no need manually create array of options school.all.map { |s| [s.name, s.id] }.

<%= f.collection_select(:school_id, school.all, :id, :name) %> 

added.

if want ensure 2 lessons cannot created on same date school should add uniqueness constraint.

create db index migration database enforces rule. (to avoid race conditions)

# db/migrations/add_index_to... class addindexschooldateindextolessons   def change     add_index :lessons, [:date, :school_id], unique: true   end  end  

add model validation give user feedback.

class lesson < activerecord::base   # ...   validates : date, uniqueness: { scope: :school_id } end