Rails Paperclip: update vs. update_attributes

Question

I realized something quite strange when attempting to upload an image via the paperclip gem for my user model (under the avatar attribute). For some reason there User.update and @user.update_attributes behaves differently. Does anyone know why this is so?

#using @user.update_attributes(user_avatar_params)
def update_profile_pic
    @user = User.find(params[:id])
    @user.update_attributes(user_avatar_params)
    puts @user.avatar_file_name.nil? # prints false as expected
    respond_to do |format|
      format.html { redirect_to :back }
      format.js
    end
end

#using User.update(@user.id, user_avatar_params)
def update_profile_pic
    @user = User.find(params[:id])
    User.update(@user.id, user_avatar_params)
    puts @user.avatar_file_name.nil? # prints true although successfully saves
    respond_to do |format|
      format.html { redirect_to :back }
      format.js
    end
end

And here is my strong params in the user_controller.rb

def user_avatar_params
  params.require(:user).permit(:avatar)
end

Answer 1

For what it's worth, as of Rails 4.0.2, #update returns false if the update failed, not simply the object which the update failed for. Of further note, #update_attributes is simply an alias of #update now.