class Post # XML accessors must always preceed mongo field tags include Mongoid::Document include Mongoid::Timestamps include ROXML xml_accessor :owner xml_accessor :snippet xml_accessor :source field :owner field :source field :snippet before_create :set_defaults protected def set_defaults user_email = User.first.email self.owner ||= user_email self.source ||= user_email self.snippet ||= user_email end end