Can not seem to pull out the attributes of this object - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have a method where an object is called but I can not seem to pull out the attributes of this object and I do not understand why.
def set_cashier
test = User.first
result = test.login
Rails.logger.debug "User is: #{result}"
as I set a breakpoint on the second line in rubymine IDE (I can see the following)
def set_cashier
test = User.first test: #<User:0x00000004809ea0>
result = test.login result: nil test: #<User:0x00000004809ea0>
Rails.logger.debug "User is: #{result}"
I know I have attributes on this object like id and login. When I run the debugger in my IDE I can see #attributes = Hash(17 elements) and I can see them listed inside as 'id' = "433" and 'login' = "firstname.lastname" etc...in the rubymine debugger it looks sort of like this...
result = nil
test = {User}#<User:0x00000004809ea0>
#attributes = Hash(17 elements)
'id' = "433"
'login' = "firstname.lastname"
...
How do I return the value of 'login'?
test = User.first seems to give an object that I can see in the debugger Variables tab that I can open and see a value for "#attributes = Hash(17 elements)" and I can see those values inside there....and yet...
"result = test.login" gives a nil result which so confusing
I would think that "test = User.first.login" should work ...
def set_cashier
test = User.first.login
result = test
Rails.logger.debug "User.first is: #{result}"
but this gives the same error ...so confusing.
(the full error displayed in the browser looks like so...)
You have a nil object when you didn't expect it!
You might have expected an instance of Array.
The error occurred while evaluating nil.map
I've been at this for a few days now. If this question does not make sense please let me know.
Thank you for your time.
UPDATED:
Per request of a commenter I'm including the code for the User model
(By the way...I inherited this code...so nothing in this file was written by me)
Note:
Rails 3.1 (updated from a rails 2.x app)
ruby 1.9.3p551
user.rb
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
acts_as_userstamp
has_and_belongs_to_many "roles"
# Virtual attribute for the unencrypted password
attr_accessor :password
validates_presence_of :login, :email
validates_presence_of :password, :if => :password_required?
validates_presence_of :password_confirmation, :if => :password_required?
validates_length_of :password, :within => 4..40, :if => :password_required?, :allow_nil => true
validates_confirmation_of :password, :if => :password_required?
validates_length_of :login, :within => 3..40, :allow_nil => true
validates_length_of :email, :within => 3..100, :allow_nil => true
validates_uniqueness_of :login, :email, :case_sensitive => false
validates_uniqueness_of :cashier_code, :if => :cashier_code
validates_format_of :login, :with => /[^0-9]/, :message => "must contain a non-numeric character"
before_save :encrypt_password
before_save :add_cashier_code
before_save :disable_reason_cannot_login_on_reenable
def disable_reason_cannot_login_on_reenable
return unless self.can_login && self.can_login_changed?
self.reason_cannot_login = "" if self.reason_cannot_login && self.reason_cannot_login.length > 0
end
belongs_to :contact
has_one :skedjulnator_access
####################################################
# I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS IS HERE FOR, BUT IF YOU #
# FORGET ABOUT IT YOU WILL SPEND AN HOUR TRYING TO #
# FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU DID WRONG #
####################################################
# prevents a user from submitting a crafted form that bypasses activation
# anything else you want your user to change should be added here.
attr_accessible :login, :email, :password, :password_confirmation, :can_login, :shared
scope :can_login, {:conditions => ["can_login = 't'"]}
def self.hidden_columns
super + [:crypted_password, :salt]
end
def can_view_disciplinary_information?
!! (self.contact and self.contact.worker and self.contact.worker.worker_type_today and self.contact.worker.worker_type_today.name != 'inactive')
end
def update_skedjulnator_access_time
self.skedjulnator_access ||= SkedjulnatorAccess.new
self.skedjulnator_access.user_id_will_change!
self.skedjulnator_access.save!
end
def grantable_roles
self.roles.include?(Role.find_by_name('ADMIN')) ? Role.find(:all) : self.roles
end
def to_s
login
end
def self.reset_all_cashier_codes
self.find(:all).each{|x|
x.reset_cashier_code
x.save
}
end
def contact_display_name
self.contact ? self.contact.display_name : self.login
end
def add_cashier_code
reset_cashier_code if !self.shared and cashier_code.nil?
end
def reset_cashier_code
valid_codes = (1000..9999).to_a - User.find(:all).collect{|x| x.cashier_code}
my_code = valid_codes[rand(valid_codes.length)]
self.cashier_code = my_code
end
def merge_in(other)
for i in [:actions, :donations, :sales, :types, :users, :volunteer_tasks, :contacts, :gizmo_returns]
User.connection.execute("UPDATE #{i.to_s} SET created_by = #{self.id} WHERE created_by = #{other.id}")
User.connection.execute("UPDATE #{i.to_s} SET updated_by = #{self.id} WHERE updated_by = #{other.id}")
end
["donations", "sales", "volunteer_tasks", "disbursements", "recyclings", "contacts"].each{|x|
User.connection.execute("UPDATE #{x.to_s} SET cashier_created_by = #{self.id} WHERE cashier_created_by = #{other.id}")
User.connection.execute("UPDATE #{x.to_s} SET cashier_updated_by = #{self.id} WHERE cashier_updated_by = #{other.id}")
}
self.roles = (self.roles + other.roles).uniq
self.save!
end
# Authenticates a user by their login name and unencrypted password. Returns the user or nil.
def self.authenticate(login, password)
if login.to_i.to_s == login
u = find_by_contact_id(login.to_i)
else
u = find_by_login(login) # need to get the salt
end
return u if u && u.can_login && u.authenticated?(password)
return nil
end
# Encrypts some data with the salt.
def self.encrypt(password, salt)
Digest::SHA1.hexdigest("--#{salt}--#{password}--")
end
# Encrypts the password with the user salt
def encrypt(password)
self.class.encrypt(password, salt)
end
def authenticated?(password)
crypted_password == encrypt(password)
end
def remember_token?
remember_token_expires_at && Time.now.utc < remember_token_expires_at
end
# These create and unset the fields required for remembering users between browser closes
def remember_me
remember_me_for 2.weeks
end
def remember_me_for(time)
remember_me_until time.from_now.utc
end
def remember_me_until(time)
self.remember_token_expires_at = time
self.remember_token = encrypt("#{email}--#{remember_token_expires_at}")
save(false)
end
def forget_me
self.remember_token_expires_at = nil
self.remember_token = nil
save(false)
end
# start auth junk
def User.current_user
Thread.current['user'] || User.fake_new
end
attr_accessor :fake_logged_in
def User.fake_new
u = User.new
u.fake_logged_in = true
u
end
def logged_in
! fake_logged_in
end
def to_privileges
return "logged_in" if self.logged_in
end
def privileges
#privileges ||= _privileges
end
def _privileges
olda = []
return olda if !self.can_login
a = [self, self.contact, self.contact ? self.contact.worker : nil, self.roles].flatten.select{|x| !x.nil?}.map{|x| x.to_privileges}.flatten.select{|x| !x.nil?}.map{|x| Privilege.by_name(x)}
while olda != a
a = a.select{|x| !x.restrict} if self.shared
olda = a.dup
a << olda.map{|x| x.children}.flatten
a = a.flatten.sort_by(&:name).uniq
a = a.select{|x| !x.restrict} if self.shared
end
a = a.map{|x| x.name}
a
end
def has_privileges(*privs)
positive_privs = []
negative_privs = []
privs.flatten!
for i in privs
if i.match(/^!/)
negative_privs << i.sub(/^!/, "")
else
positive_privs << i
end
end
if positive_privs.length > 0
positive_privs << "role_admin"
end
if negative_privs.length > 0
negative_privs << "role_admin"
end
my_privs = self.privileges
#puts "NEG: #{negative_privs.inspect}, POS: #{positive_privs.inspect}, MY: #{my_privs.inspect}"
return (negative_privs & my_privs).length == 0 && ((positive_privs & my_privs).length > 0 || positive_privs.length == 0)
end
# end auth junk
protected
# before filter
def encrypt_password
return if password.blank?
self.salt = Digest::SHA1.hexdigest("--#{Time.now.to_s}--#{login}--") if new_record?
self.crypted_password = encrypt(password)
end
def password_required?
crypted_password.blank? || !password.blank?
end
end
Eliminating the IDE as source of problem:
So I ran Rails console and got the following error...
irb(main):001:0> User.first
User Load (0.5ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" LIMIT 1
(0.1ms) SHOW search_path
User Indexes (1.1ms) SELECT distinct i.relname, d.indisunique, d.indkey, t.oid
FROM pg_class t
INNER JOIN pg_index d ON t.oid = d.indrelid
INNER JOIN pg_class i ON d.indexrelid = i.oid
WHERE i.relkind = 'i'
AND d.indisprimary = 'f'
AND t.relname = 'users'
AND i.relnamespace IN (SELECT oid FROM pg_namespace WHERE nspname IN ('"$user"','public') )
ORDER BY i.relname
User Indexes (0.4ms) SELECT c2.relname, i.indisunique, pg_catalog.pg_get_indexdef(i.indexrelid, 0, true)
FROM pg_catalog.pg_class c, pg_catalog.pg_class c2, pg_catalog.pg_index i
WHERE c.relname = 'users'
AND c.oid = i.indrelid AND i.indexrelid = c2.oid
AND i.indisprimary = 'f'
AND i.indexprs IS NOT NULL
ORDER BY 1
(Object doesn't support #inspect)
=>
irb(main):002:0>
...very confusing