What's the difference between the build and create methods in FactoryGirl?

Question

The Factory Girl introduction delineates the difference between FactoryGirl.build() and FactoryGirl.create():

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Answer 1

FactoryGirl.create() will create new object and associations (if the factory has any) for it. They will all be persisted in a database. Also, it will trigger both model and database validations. Callbacks after(:build) and after(:create) will be called after the factory is saved. Also before(:create) will be called before the factory is saved.

FactoryGirl.build() won't save an object, but will still make requests to a database if the factory has associations. It will trigger validations only for associated objects. Callback after(:build) will be called after the factory is built.

Note that in most cases when testing models are best to use build_stubbed for better performance. Read more about it here.