How to fix error in rails - ruby-on-rails

Question

This is the error I am encountering and I was wondering how I can fix it. I'm new to rails and I didn't think that .each was a method. If some one could please help me it would be very apreciated. thanks
undefined method `each' for nil:NilClass
this is the code that i am getting the error on.
<h1>Portfolio Items</h1>
<% #portfolio_items.each do |portfolio_item| %>
<p><%= portfolio_item.title %></p>
<p><%= portfolio_item.subtitle %></p>
<p><%= portfolio_item.body %></p>
<%= image_tag portfolio_item.thumb_image unless portfolio_item.thumb_image.nil? %>
<% end %>

Answer 1

Welcome to SO.
Either you have not set the var #portfolio_items or its mis-spelled.
If you have defined it then at least it should have had Array like data structure And prevented this error.
Some of the array like objects will be ActiveRecord::Associations::CollectionProxy
In ruby undefined #instance vars are set with nil and no error is raised.
If this does not help, please update your question with more details and I will update this answer.

Answer 2

If you do:
[nil].each{|e| p e}
=> nil
You can see there's an element inside the array, so you can use each, you can iterate and print its content, and you'll see there's a nil value inside.
If in the other hand you write:
nil.each{|e| p e}
You'll get the error:
undefined method `each' for nil:NilClass (NoMethodError)
That's to say there's no each method available between all the methods that can be applied to nil.
In your code, in the controller most probably, you're defining #portfolio_items, but for some reason, this isn't taking the value you want, it's getting a nil value, so when you try to iterate over it, you get that error.

Answer 3

You code is expecting #portfolio_items to be an array, but either #portfolio_items is not assigned a value or assigned a nil in the controller action.

Answer 4

your list is nil, you can do an if...else check to handle it on your view template
<h1>Portfolio Items</h1>
<% if #portfolio_items.count == 0 %>
<p>There are no items</p>
<% else %>
<% #portfolio_items.each do |portfolio_item| %>
<p><%= portfolio_item.title %></p>
<p><%= portfolio_item.subtitle %></p>
<p><%= portfolio_item.body %></p>
<%= image_tag portfolio_item.thumb_image unless portfolio_item.thumb_image.nil? %>
<% end %>
<% end %>

Answer 5

You can try use :
(#portfolio_items || []).each do |portfolio_item|

Answer 6

The instance variable #portfolio_items is nil and each loop over nil is throw error.
So follow below code:
<h1>Portfolio Items</h1>
<% if #portfolio_items.nil? %>
No Item to display.
<% else %>
<% #portfolio_items.each do |portfolio_item| %>
<p><%= portfolio_item.title %></p>
<p><%= portfolio_item.subtitle %></p>
<p><%= portfolio_item.body %></p>
<%= image_tag portfolio_item.thumb_image unless portfolio_item.thumb_image.nil? %>
<% end %>
<% end %>