Cannot access attributes from associated model rails - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have three models, ingredient, recipe_ingredient and recipy
class Ingredient < ApplicationRecord
has_many :recipe_ingredients
end
class RecipeIngredient < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :recipy, :dependent => :destroy
belongs_to :ingredient
end
class Recipy < ApplicationRecord
has_many :recipy_steps
has_many :recipe_ingredients, :dependent => :delete_all
end
I am trying to access the ing_name attribute in the ingredients table from recipies show page.
<% #recipe_ingredients.each do |ing| %>
<p> <%= ing.amount %> <%= ing.unit %>
<%= ing.ingredient.ing_name %>
</p>
def Show from the recipies controller:
def show
#recipe_ingredients = #recipy.recipe_ingredients
end
But I keep receiving the following error msg:
undefined method `ing_name' for nil:NilClass
My ingredient_params:
def ingredient_params
params.require(:ingredient).permit(:ing_name)
end
It does seem to work like this:
<%= Ingredient.where(id: ing.ingredient_id).pluck(:ing_name) %>
But this does not use the connection between the tables if I understand correctly? Any help? Thanks.

Answer 1

You have ingredient nil thats why you got the error.
Must be your controller has some before_action hook to load recipy
class RecipesController < ApplicationController
before_action :load_recipy, only: :show
def show
#recipe_ingredients = #recipy.recipe_ingredients
end
private
def load_recipy
#recipy = Recipy.find(params[:id])
end
end
You can try this to avoid this nil error(undefined method 'ing_name' for nil:NilClass)
<% #recipe_ingredients.each do |ing| %>
<p> <%= ing.amount %> <%= ing.unit %>
<%= ing.try(:ingredient).try(:ing_name) %>
</p>
From Rails 5 by default you got one required option to make ingredient always not nullable
like below
belongs_to :ingredient, required: true
It will also prevent this error of
class RecipeIngredient < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :recipy, :dependent => :destroy
belongs_to :ingredient, required: true
end

Answer 2

the problem is because inside your show method #recipy is nil,
here is usually code for show
controller
def show
#recipy = Recipy.find(params[:id]) # --> you missed this line
#recipe_ingredients = #recipy.recipe_ingredients # #recipy will be null without line above
end
view
<% #recipe_ingredients.each do |ing| %>
<p> <%= ing.amount %> <%= ing.unit %> <%= ing.ingredient.ing_name %> </p>
<% end %>
I would like also add some suggestion to your model relationship as follow since Ingredient and Recipy shows many to many relationship
class Ingredient < ApplicationRecord
# -> recipe_ingredients -> recipies
has_many :recipe_ingredients, :dependent => :destroy
has_many :recipies, through: :recipe_ingredients
end
class RecipeIngredient < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :recipy
belongs_to :ingredient
end
class Recipy < ApplicationRecord
has_many :recipy_steps
# -> recipe_ingredients -> ingredients
has_many :recipe_ingredients, :dependent => :destroy
has_many :ingredients, through: :recipe_ingredients
end