Params disappearing when using Tempus dominus bootstrap4 - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'm trying to use the Tempus Dominus Datetime picker in my app. Everything seems to work fine, but when I try to convert the submitted string into a datetime object in my controller, I get a TypeError (no implicit conversion of nil into String). I've also tried to puts the parameters into the logs, but get a blank line. The odd thing is, during the submission of the form, the parameters do seem to be present.
Processing by EventsController#create as HTML
Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", >"authenticity_token"=>"yuP08tdkavDAzcbJImZXeL0EZ1dp6D13dnLyW/lU+frPVej0tiUmavI>0GKvs66z7+ca2GynI1WWs2d5aSJX5zA==", "event"=>{"title"=>"aaaaa", >"game"=>"bbbb", "start_time"=>"02/21/2020 1:26 PM", "end_time"=>"02/28/2020 >10:46 PM", "description"=>"sasasa"}, "button"=>""}
Here's all relevant code.
Controller:
class EventsController < ApplicationController
def new
#event = Event.new
end
def create
#user = current_user
if #user
#user.events.create(title: params[:title], game: params[:game],
start_time: time_parse(params[:start_time]),
end_time: time_parse(params[:start_time]),
description: params[:description])
end
end
private
def event_params
params.require(:event).permit(:title, :game, :start_time,:end_time, :description)
end
def time_parse(time)
DateTime.strptime(time, '%m/%d/%Y %M:%S %p')
end
end
View:
<div class="col-lg-6">
<%= form_for #event, url: events_path do |form| %>
<div class="form-row">
<div class="col-md-6 form-group">
<%= form.text_field :title, class: "form-control", placeholder: "Party Title" %>
</div>
<div class="col-md-6 form-group">
<%= form.text_field :game, class: "form-control", placeholder: "Game" %>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class='col-md-6'>
<div class='form-group'>
<%= form.label :start_time, 'Start Date and Time', class: 'control-label' %><br>
<div class="input-group date" id="datetimepicker1" data-target-input="nearest">
<%= form.text_field(:start_time,
value: form.object.start_time ? form.object.start_time.strftime('%B %d, %Y %I:%M %p') : nil,
class: "form-control datetimepicker-input", data: {target:"#datetimepicker1"}) %>
<div class="input-group-append" data-target="#datetimepicker1" data-toggle="datetimepicker">
<div class="input-group-text"><i class="fas fa-calendar-plus"></i></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class='col-md-6'>
<div class='form-group'>
<%= form.label :end_time, 'End Date and Time', class: 'control-label' %><br>
<div class="input-group date" id="datetimepicker2" data-target-input="nearest">
<%= form.text_field(:end_time,
value: form.object.end_time ? form.object.end_time.strftime('%B %d, %Y %I:%M %p') : nil,
class: "form-control datetimepicker-input", data: {target:"#datetimepicker2"}) %>
<div class="input-group-append" data-target="#datetimepicker2" data-toggle="datetimepicker">
<div class="input-group-text"><i class="fas fa-calendar-plus"></i></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-md-6 form-group">
</div>
<%= form.text_area :description, class: "form-control", size: "24x6", placeholder: "Describe your meetup"%>
</div>
<div class="text-center "><%= form.button "Sign up", class: "sub-but" %></div>
<% end %>
</div>
Javascript for view:
$('#datetimepicker1').datetimepicker({
format: 'MMMM D, YYYY h:mm A',
stepping: 15,
minDate: Date(),
maxDate: new Date(Date.now() + (365 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000)),
sideBySide: true,
icons: {
up: 'fas fa-arrow-up',
down: 'fas fa-arrow-down',
previous: 'fas fa-chevron-left',
next: 'fas fa-chevron-right',
close: 'fas fa-times'
},
buttons: {showClose: true }
});
$('#datetimepicker2').datetimepicker({
format: 'MMMM D, YYYY h:mm A',
stepping: 15,
useCurrent: false,
sideBySide: true,
icons: {
up: 'fas fa-arrow-up',
down: 'fas fa-arrow-down',
previous: 'fas fa-chevron-left',
next: 'fas fa-chevron-right',
close: 'fas fa-times'
},
buttons: {showClose: true }
});
$("#datetimepicker1").on("change.datetimepicker", function (e) {
$('#datetimepicker2').datetimepicker('minDate', e.date);
console.log(e.date);
});
$("#datetimepicker2").on("change.datetimepicker", function (e) {
$('#datetimepicker1').datetimepicker('maxDate', e.date);
});

Answer 1

I think you are not linking to the params correctly, also I noticed you have the :start_time going into both in your code above, I assume that is a typo so I changed it in my answer. If it isn't a typo then keep that as is.
...
start_time: time_parse(params[:event][:start_time]),
end_time: time_parse(params[:event][:end_time]),
...