Why Does Rails’ Acceptance Validation Always Pass for a Non-Database Attribute?

Below is an explanation and a correction to your code.

What’s Happening

1. Virtual Attribute Issue
   Since “account_authorization” is not a database column (i.e., it comes from a JSON payload), Rails has no built‐in accessor for it. This means that unless you explicitly declare it (using attr_accessor or a similar feature), Rails won’t “know” about it for validations.

2. Acceptance Validator Behavior
   The acceptance validator is often used with checkboxes. By default, it only adds an error if the attribute is present but does not match one of the acceptable values. If the value is nil (or blank) it will be ignored. For a true “must be provided” check, you need an additional presence validation.

How to Fix It

Add an accessor for the virtual attribute and ensure the value is present (if that is your intent).

Here is one way to update your model:

RUBYCopied
class BankAccount < ApplicationRecord
  # Add an accessor for the virtual attribute.
  attr_accessor :account_authorization

  belongs_to :donor

  before_validation -> { puts "#AccAuth: #{account_authorization}" }

  # Combine acceptance with a presence check if you really want it present.
  validates :account_authorization, presence: true,
            acceptance: { accept: [true, 'true', '1'] }
end

Explanation

• The attr_accessor :account_authorization line makes the virtual attribute available to the object. Without this, any assignment to account_authorization would be ignored.

• Adding presence: true ensures that a missing (nil or blank) value will cause the record to be invalid. The acceptance validator will then check that the provided value is one of the allowed ones (true, 'true', or '1').

Updating Your Test

Your original spec should now correctly fail when account_authorization is not provided:

RUBYCopied
let(:invalid_bank_account) do
  Fabricate.build(:bank_account, account_authorization: nil, donor: Fabricate(:donor))
end

it 'is not a valid record without a truthy account_authorization value' do
  puts "valid? #{invalid_bank_account.valid?}"
  expect(invalid_bank_account).not_to be_valid
end

This will output false for valid? when tested, and your expectation will pass.

By ensuring you explicitly add an accessor and a presence check, you validate the non-database attribute correctly.