Retrieving data from nested form - ruby-on-rails

Question

I am trying to re-create a stack overflow like app. One user asks a question, and others can answer. I have a nested form indented on the question's page to get answers from other users.
I am having a difficult time to retrieve the data after the answer is posted, and I have set #answer incorrectly on the questions controller page in the update action, and I can't figure out how to properly retrieve this variable given that the params coming through the questions_controller does not have details of the answer set separately. How do I retrieve the params part related to #answer so that I can set the variable, or maybe I need to use different routes for that?
My form looks like this:
<%= form_for #question do |form| %>
<%=form.fields_for :answer do |answer_form| %>
<div class="form-group">
<%=answer_form.text_area :answer_attributes, placeholder: "Add your answer", rows:10, class:"form-control" %>
<%=answer_form.hidden_field :user_id, value: current_user.id, class:'d-none' %>
<%=answer_form.hidden_field :question_id, value: #question.id %>
</div>
<% end %>
<div>
<%=form.submit 'Post Your Answer', class: 'btn-primary' %>
</div>
<% end %>
My Question model looks like this:
class Question < ApplicationRecord
has_many :answers, dependent: :destroy
belongs_to :user
accepts_nested_attributes_for :answers
validates :headline, presence: true , length: { minimum: 20 }
validates :body, presence: true, length: { minimum: 50 }
validates_associated :answers
end
and the Answer model is:
class Answer < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :user
belongs_to :question
validates :body, presence: true, length: { minimum: 50 }
end
Questions controller:
class QuestionsController < ApplicationController
before_action :authenticate_user!, except: [:index, :show]
before_action :set_question, except: [:index, :new, :create]
def index
#questions = Question.all.order("id DESC")
end
def show
#question = Question.find(params[:id])
#user = User.find(#question.user_id)
#answers = #question.answers
#answer = Answer.new
end
def new
#question = Question.new
#question.answers.new
end
def create
#question = current_user.questions.new(question_params)
if #question.save
flash[:notice] = "You have successfully posted your question"
redirect_to #question
else
#errors = #question.errors.full_messages
render action: :new
end
end
def edit
set_question
#question = Question.find(params[:id])
end
def update
#question = Question.find(params[:id])
#question.update(question_params)
#answer = #question.answers.new(question_params)
#question.answers.first.user_id = current_user.id
if #question.save
flash[:notice] = "You have sucessfully posted your answer"
redirect_to #question
else
redirect_to new_question_answer_path(#answer), flash: { danger: #question.errors.full_messages.join(",")}
end
end
private
def set_question
#question = Question.find(params[:id])
end
def question_params
params.require(:question).permit(:headline, :body, :user_id, :answer, answers_attributes:[:body, :user_id, :question_id])
end
end
Answers controller:
class AnswersController < ApplicationController
before_action :find_question
def index
#answers = #question.answers
#user = User.find(#question.user_id)
end
def show
#answer = Answer.find(params[:id])
#user = User.find(#question.user_id)
end
def new
#answer = Answer.new(:question_id => #question.id)
end
def create
#answer = Answer.new(answer_params)
if #answer.save
flash[:notice] = "You have sucessfully created the answer."
redirect_to(answers_path(#answer, :question_id => #question.id))
else
flash[:alert] = "Failed to save the answer."
#errors = #answer.errors.full_messages
render :new
end
end
def edit
#answer = Answer.find(params[:id])
end
def update
#answer = Answer.find(params[:id])
if #answer.update_attributes(answer_params)
flash[:notice] = "You have sucessfully updated the answer."
redirect_to(answer_path(#answer, :question_id => #question.id))
else
render :edit
end
end
def delete
#answer = Asnwer.find(params[:id])
end
def destroy
#answer = Answer.find(params[:id])
#answer.destroy
flash[:notice] = "Answer was destroyed"
redirect_to(answers_path)
end
private
def answer_params
params.require(:answer).permit(:body, :user_id, :question_id)
end
def find_question
#question = Question.find(params[:question_id])
end
end
My routes file looks like this:
Rails.application.routes.draw do
get 'questions/index'
root to: 'questions#index'
resources :questions do
resources :answers
end
devise_for :users
# For details on the DSL available within this file, see http://guides.rubyonrails.org/routing.html
end
UPDATE: here are the logs from the moment the server was started and the index page displayed to the moment where I go to the questions page and log the answer
rails server
=> Booting Puma
=> Rails 5.2.2 application starting in development
=> Run `rails server -h` for more startup options
Puma starting in single mode...
* Version 3.12.0 (ruby 2.6.0-p0), codename: Llamas in Pajamas
* Min threads: 5, max threads: 5
* Environment: development
* Listening on tcp://0.0.0.0:3000
Use Ctrl-C to stop
Started GET "/questions/11/answers" for 127.0.0.1 at 2019-03-07 16:10:13 +0600
(1.4ms) SELECT "schema_migrations"."version" FROM "schema_migrations" ORDER BY "schema_migrations"."version" ASC
↳ /Users/irina/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.6.0/gems/activerecord-5.2.2/lib/active_record/log_subscriber.rb:98
Processing by AnswersController#index as HTML
Parameters: {"question_id"=>"11"}
Question Load (0.8ms) SELECT "questions".* FROM "questions" WHERE "questions"."id" = $1 LIMIT $2 [["id", 11], ["LIMIT", 1]]
↳ app/controllers/answers_controller.rb:65
User Load (2.2ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."id" = $1 LIMIT $2 [["id", 3], ["LIMIT", 1]]
↳ app/controllers/answers_controller.rb:6
Rendering answers/index.html.erb within layouts/application
Answer Load (0.9ms) SELECT "answers".* FROM "answers" WHERE "answers"."question_id" = $1 [["question_id", 11]]
↳ app/views/answers/index.html.erb:11
User Load (1.3ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."id" = $1 ORDER BY "users"."id" ASC LIMIT $2 [["id", 3], ["LIMIT", 1]]
↳ app/views/answers/_new.html.erb:7
Rendered answers/_new.html.erb (61.7ms)
Rendered answers/index.html.erb within layouts/application (92.7ms)
[Webpacker] Compiling…
Started GET "/questions/11/answers" for 127.0.0.1 at 2019-03-07 16:10:18 +0600
Processing by AnswersController#index as HTML
Parameters: {"question_id"=>"11"}
Question Load (1.4ms) SELECT "questions".* FROM "questions" WHERE "questions"."id" = $1 LIMIT $2 [["id", 11], ["LIMIT", 1]]
↳ app/controllers/answers_controller.rb:65
User Load (1.4ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."id" = $1 LIMIT $2 [["id", 3], ["LIMIT", 1]]
↳ app/controllers/answers_controller.rb:6
Rendering answers/index.html.erb within layouts/application
Answer Load (1.3ms) SELECT "answers".* FROM "answers" WHERE "answers"."question_id" = $1 [["question_id", 11]]
↳ app/views/answers/index.html.erb:11
User Load (1.3ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."id" = $1 ORDER BY "users"."id" ASC LIMIT $2 [["id", 3], ["LIMIT", 1]]
↳ app/views/answers/_new.html.erb:7
Rendered answers/_new.html.erb (9.3ms)
Rendered answers/index.html.erb within layouts/application (18.5ms)
Completed 200 OK in 133ms (Views: 108.3ms | ActiveRecord: 18.4ms)
[Webpacker] Compilation failed:
Hash: 53a953077891e4cef2e8
Version: webpack 3.12.0
Time: 2928ms
Asset Size Chunks Chunk Names
application-c57a289721a93641de38.js 3.1 kB 0 [emitted] application
application-c57a289721a93641de38.js.map 2.49 kB 0 [emitted] application
manifest.json 142 bytes [emitted]
[0] ./app/javascript/packs/application.js 346 bytes {0} [built] [failed] [1 error]
ERROR in ./app/javascript/packs/application.js
Module build failed: SyntaxError: Unexpected token (14:15)
12 | if(window.railsEnv && window.railsEnv === 'development'){
13 | try {
> 14 | render(<App />, reactElement)
| ^
15 | } catch (e) {
16 | render(<RedBox error={e} />, reactElement)
17 | }
Completed 200 OK in 11715ms (Views: 11626.9ms | ActiveRecord: 27.7ms)
Started PATCH "/questions/11" for 127.0.0.1 at 2019-03-07 16:10:41 +0600
Processing by QuestionsController#update as HTML
Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "authenticity_token"=>"q7HQt4uGPwBIIz0icswfJLWMRk6MiopIfWu9JBcjkuX1VpGBdwlwZu903NDuebSaX8Y90VHnvcEoaV8unV2zkw==", "question"=>{"answer"=>{"answer_attributes"=>"This is the test answer to see how the information goes through", "user_id"=>"3", "question_id"=>"11"}}, "commit"=>"Post Your Answer", "id"=>"11"}
User Load (0.8ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."id" = $1 ORDER BY "users"."id" ASC LIMIT $2 [["id", 3], ["LIMIT", 1]]
↳ /Users/irina/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.6.0/gems/activerecord-5.2.2/lib/active_record/log_subscriber.rb:98
Question Load (0.5ms) SELECT "questions".* FROM "questions" WHERE "questions"."id" = $1 LIMIT $2 [["id", 11], ["LIMIT", 1]]
↳ app/controllers/questions_controller.rb:55
CACHE Question Load (0.0ms) SELECT "questions".* FROM "questions" WHERE "questions"."id" = $1 LIMIT $2 [["id", 11], ["LIMIT", 1]]
↳ app/controllers/questions_controller.rb:39
Unpermitted parameter: :answer
(0.5ms) BEGIN
↳ app/controllers/questions_controller.rb:40
User Load (0.7ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."id" = $1 LIMIT $2 [["id", 3], ["LIMIT", 1]]
↳ app/controllers/questions_controller.rb:40
Answer Load (0.5ms) SELECT "answers".* FROM "answers" WHERE "answers"."question_id" = $1 [["question_id", 11]]
↳ app/controllers/questions_controller.rb:40
(0.3ms) COMMIT
↳ app/controllers/questions_controller.rb:40
Unpermitted parameter: :answer
(0.3ms) BEGIN
↳ app/controllers/questions_controller.rb:44
CACHE User Load (0.0ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."id" = $1 LIMIT $2 [["id", 3], ["LIMIT", 1]]
↳ app/controllers/questions_controller.rb:44
(0.4ms) ROLLBACK
↳ app/controllers/questions_controller.rb:44
Completed 500 Internal Server Error in 97ms (ActiveRecord: 8.3ms)
ActionController::UrlGenerationError (No route matches {:action=>"new", :controller=>"answers", :question_id=>nil}, missing required keys: [:question_id]):
app/controllers/questions_controller.rb:48:in `update'
UPDATE NO 2. It looks like because of this falsely set #answer the #question does not get saved as intended and the second part of the conditional kicks redirecting to the new_question_answer_path. I tried to update it to edit_question_answer_path and it gives the same error that no route matches.
If I open the answer in Pry I get the following object:
[1] pry(#<QuestionsController>)> #answer
=> #<Answer:0x00007fc3ec823c98
id: nil,
body: nil,
question_id: 11,
user_id: 3,
selected: nil,
created_at: nil,
updated_at: nil>
UPDATE No 3
Looks like changing my routes.rb to
Rails.application.routes.draw do
resources :questions, :has_many => :answers
root to: 'questions#index'
resources :questions do
resources :answers
end
devise_for :users
end
and also changing the form for the answer to this
<h2> Your Answer </h2>
<%= form_for [#question, Answer.new] do |form| %>
<div class="form-group">
<%=form.text_area :body, placeholder: "Add your answer", rows:10, class:"form-control" %><br>
<%=form.hidden_field :user_id, value: current_user.id, class:'d-none' %>
<%=form.hidden_field :question_id, value: #question.id %>
</div>
<div>
<%=form.submit 'Post Your Answer', class: 'btn-primary' %>
</div>
<% end %>
did the trick and helped to fix the problem. I am not sure if this is a perfect fix though)

Answer 1

Looks like changing my routes.rb to
Rails.application.routes.draw do
resources :questions, :has_many => :answers
root to: 'questions#index'
resources :questions do
resources :answers
end
devise_for :users
end
and also changing the form for the answer to this
<%= form_for [#question, Answer.new] do |form| %>
<div class="form-group">
<%=form.text_area :body, placeholder: "Add your answer", rows:10,
class:"form-control" %><br>
<%=form.hidden_field :user_id, value: current_user.id, class:'d-none' %>
<%=form.hidden_field :question_id, value: #question.id %>
</div>
<div>
<%=form.submit 'Post Your Answer', class: 'btn-primary' %>
</div>
<% end %>
did the trick and helped to fix the problem. I am not sure if this is a perfect fix though)