Undefined method `street' for #<Profile:0x00007fea78589ac0> - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have a User who has a Profile (2 models). Here is the relevant part of my schema:
create_table "profiles", force: :cascade do |t|
t.text "about"
t.datetime "created_at", null: false
t.datetime "updated_at", null: false
t.integer "user_id"
end
create_table "users", force: :cascade do |t|
t.string "email", default: "", null: false
t.string "encrypted_password", default: "", null: false
t.string "reset_password_token"
t.datetime "reset_password_sent_at"
t.datetime "remember_created_at"
t.datetime "created_at", null: false
t.datetime "updated_at", null: false
t.string "provider"
t.string "uid"
t.string "first_name"
t.string "last_name"
t.string "street"
t.integer "house_number"
t.string "city"
t.integer "zip_code"
t.string "image"
t.index ["email"], name: "index_users_on_email", unique: true
t.index ["reset_password_token"], name: "index_users_on_reset_password_token", unique: true
end
The reason I have a Profile as a separate model, as because I thought it was easier to assign roles later, for certain manipulations. So, now I am wondering, if it is possible to ask for
user.first_name , user.last_name, user.email and user.password
in the registration form and for
user.street, user.house_number, user.city and user.zip_code
in the Profile#new _form. Like this:
<%= form_for([#user, #profile], url: user_profiles_path, method: :post) do |form| %>
<div class="field">
<%= form.label :about %>
<%= form.text_area :about %>
</div>
<div class="field">
<%= form.file_field :avatar %>
<% form.label "Profile photo" %>
</div>
<div class="field">
<%= form.label :street %><br />
<%= form.text_field :street, class: 'form-control' %>
</div>
<div class="actions">
<%= form.submit %>
</div>
<% end %>
So here you can see, that avatar and about refer to a Profile, while street if from User table. But somehow this form, doesn't undertand this. I allow nested_attributes for :profile, but I guess, this doesn't matter for this form. I know, that maybe the easier way would be, to rearrange my table, so that all the adress attributes are stored in Profile. But as I am new to Rails and I really wish to learn more, I would love to know, if there is a way of saving to both #user and #profile in one form? Thank you!

Answer 1

You're touching on two somewhat different concepts here that most beginners get stumped on.
The first is nested resources. A nested resource has its path nested under another resource.
# config/routes.rb
resources :magazines do
resources :ads
end
So now instead of /ads we have /magazines/:magazine_id/ads. So the routes themselves describe the relation between the two resources in a RESTful way - awesome.
class AdsController < ApplicationController
before_action :set_magazine
# GET /magazines/:magazine_id/ads/new
def new
#ad = #magazine.ads.new
end
# POST /magazines/:magazine_id/ads/new
def create
#ad = #magazine.ads.new(ad_params)
if #ad.save
redirect_to #ad
else
render :new
end
end
def set_magazine
#magazine = Magazine.find(params[:magazine_id])
end
# ...
end
<%= form_for([#ad, #magazine]) do |f| >
# ...
<% end %>
This will let you create ads that belong to a magazine. It will not magically let you create a magazine at the same time as an add in the same form.
That's where nested attributes comes in. It creates a super-powered setter in the model which lets it accept attributes for an associated model and creates / updates the associated records in the same request as the parent.
This for example would let us create a user and a profile in the same form:
class User < ApplicationRecord
has_one :profile
accepts_nested_attributes_for :profile
end
class Profile < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :user
end
<%= form_for(#user) do |f|>
<div class="field">
<%= f.label :email %>
<%= f.email_field :street, class: 'form-control' %>
</div>
# ...
<%= f.fields_for(:profile) do |profile_fields| %>
<div class="field">
<%= profile_fields.label :about %>
<%= profile_fields.text_area :about %>
</div>
<% end %>
# ...
<% end %>
class UsersController < ApplicationRecord
POST /users
def create
#user = User.new(user_params)
if #user.save
redirect_to :user
else
render :new
end
end
# ...
private
def user_params
params.require(:user)
.permit(:email, ..., profile_attributes: [:about])
end
end
accepts_nested_attributes_for is one of the most misused, misunderstood and hardest concepts to grasp in rails though. If you're just starting out you should consider bypassing this and circling back around once you have a better understanding of rails.