My tests indicate that, when running in development mode, Rails removes 'association' methods (e.g. a method created for has_many) after the processing of a request completes. I assume they are removed from the class object for the given instance object.
For example, my code is as follows:
class Picklist < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :list_items ... end
class ListItems < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :picklist ... end
I also have a singleton factory class called 'PicklistFactory' which allows me to:
picklist=PicklistFactory.create.get_picklist(<type of picklist
)
list_items=picklist.list_items
This returns me an object of class Picklist.
The idea is that the factory object is created once only and will return Picklist objects on-demand. The create method checks if an object exists and if so returns it, otherwise creates an object containing all available Picklist objects in the database.
I observe that the factory object and its referenced Picklist objects 'stay around' between HTTP requests but the association method list_items is not available for subsequent requests and throws an method_missing error.
I'd like to understand why the association method disappears and whether this would be the case in production (require-mode).
Any pointers/thoughts appreciated.