ruby on rails - Active Record Association CollectionProxy not working: why does @owner.@target.count yield a result of 1 when @owner.@target returns an empty array? -

i have models in rails app:

sales_opportunity has_many swots.

i'm setting them using factorygirl , running test show when delete sales_opportunity cause associated swots deleted. reason when debugging byebug i'm getting strange results - sales_opportunity , swot records being correctly created, when run sales_opportunity.swots returns [ ] whereas sales_opportunity.swots.count returns 1. what's more odd exact same code works fine anther object association (timeline_events swots yet work same code).

can tell me doing wrong please?

sales_opportunity.rb:

class salesopportunity < activerecord::base  default_scope { order('close_date asc') }  belongs_to :user  belongs_to :company  has_many :key_contacts  has_many :timeline_events, dependent: :destroy  has_many :swots, dependent: :destroy end 

swot.rb:

class swot < activerecord::base  belongs_to :sales_opportunity  validates :swot_details, presence: true  validates :sales_opportunity_id, presence: true  enum swot_type: [:strength, :weakness, :opportunity, :threat]  enum swot_importance: { minimal: 1, marginal: 2, noteworthy: 3, significant: 4, critical: 5 }  validates :swot_importance, presence: true end 

swot factorygirl spec:

factorygirl.define factory :swot     swot_importance             "minimal"     swot_details                "some boring details"     swot_type                   "threat"      trait :attached         association             :sales_opportunity, :with_user_id     end  end end 

sales_opportunity factorygirl spec:

factorygirl.define sequence(:opportunity_name) { |n| "sales oppotunity - #{n}" }  factory :sales_opportunity     user     opportunity_name {generate(:opportunity_name)}     close_date                  "2014/12/12"     sale_value                  10000     company_id                  7      trait :with_user_id         user_id                     6     end end end 

failing rspec tests:

describe "when swot's parent sales opportunity destroyed"     let(:swot) { factorygirl.create(:swot, :attached) }     let(:sales_opportunity) { swot.sales_opportunity }  "should destroy associated swots"     dswots = sales_opportunity.swots.to_a     byebug     sales_opportunity.destroy     expect(dswots).not_to be_empty     dswots.each |dswot|     expect(swot.where(id: dswot.id)).to be_empty   end end   end 

output console (byebug) when logging swot:

#<swot id: 13, swot_type: 3, swot_importance: 1, sales_opportunity_id: 564, swot_details: "some boring details", created_at: "2015-07-27 10:57:23", updated_at: "2015-07-27 10:57:23"> 

output console when logging sales_opportunity:

#<salesopportunity id: 564, close_date: "2014-12-12 00:00:00", user_id: 6, created_at: "2015-07-27 10:57:23", updated_at: "2015-07-27 10:57:23", pipeline_status: 0, opportunity_name: "sales oppotunity - 4", company_id: 7, sale_value: #<bigdecimal:7fe9ffd25078,'0.1e5',9(27)>, swot_score: 0> 

output sales_opportunity.swots.count:

(byebug) sales_opportunity.swots.count  1 

output sales_opportunity.swots:

(byebug) sales_opportunity.swots #<activerecord::associations::collectionproxy []> 

i think i've included known info. rspec tests, factorygirl factories , setup between sales_opportunities , swots/timeline_events same - yet rspec tests pass timeline_events , collection_proxy works (so far can tell, code identical):

timeline_event factory:

factorygirl.define factory :timeline_event     activity                    "some activity"     due_date                    "2014/11/11"      trait :attached         association             :sales_opportunity, :with_user_id     end end end 

working rspec tests:

describe "when sales opportunity destroyed timeline event"     let(:timeline_event) { factorygirl.create(:timeline_event, :attached) }     let(:sales_opportunity) { timeline_event.sales_opportunity }  "should destroy associated timeline events"     timeline_events = sales_opportunity.timeline_events.to_a     sales_opportunity.destroy     expect(timeline_events).not_to be_empty     timeline_events.each |event|     expect(timelineevent.where(id: event.id)).to be_empty   end end end 

timeline_event.rb:

class timelineevent < activerecord::base  belongs_to :sales_opportunity  validates :activity, presence: true   validates :due_date, presence: true  validates :sales_opportunity_id, presence: true end 

when running byebug in same place here array including timeline_event.

can me understand what's going wrong in code?

thanks.

i solved issue - seems sales_opportunity needs reloaded active record associations persisted. this answer key solution.

here's working code:

    describe "when swot's parent sales opportunity destroyed"      let!(:swot) { factorygirl.create(:swot, sales_opportunity: sales_opportunity) }  "should destroy associated swots"     sales_opportunity.reload     expect { sales_opportunity.destroy }.to change(sales_opportunity.swots, :count).by(-1)  end end 

using elements of max's answer above helped me improve , feel of code.