Better way of handling complex form_for - ruby-on-rails

Question

(this is a re-post - I deleted the first post because I think I posted really poorly).
I'm new to programming, and I'm trying to handle an ROR form that sends data to 4 different models/tables, and at this point I'm banging my head into the wall. In sum, the use case is that a teacher inputs the following into a form: an error, a corresponding correction, an abstraction of the error, an abstraction of the correction, some tags that describe the abstraction, and an explanation.
When I press submit, I'm not getting any errors on the screen, but when I look at the server, the only thing that gets submitted successfully is the original error and correction - I get an unpermitted parameter: ec_abstractions for the rest (ec_abstractions is the first level of nesting). I'm starting to think that I'm just going about the entire question wrongly.
The form looks like this (maybe should be split into multiple forms on the same view page?)
<%= form_for #ec_explanation do |ec_explanation_form| %>
<% if #ec_explanation.errors.any? %>
<div id="error_explanation">
<h2><%= pluralize(#ec_explanation.errors.count, "error") %> prohibited this error-correction pair from being saved:</h2>
<ul>
<% #ec_explanation.errors.full_messages.each do |message| %>
<li><%= message %></li>
<% end %>
</ul>
</div>
<% end %>
<%#= Insert here: all (or a single) q_response(s) that have not yet been added %>
<div class="field">
<%= ec_explanation_form.label :early_explanation %>
<%= ec_explanation_form.text_area :early_explanation %>
</div>
<div class="field">
<%= ec_explanation_form.label :full_explanation %>
<%= ec_explanation_form.text_area :full_explanation %>
</div>
<!--(this is just a test field for the "number_field" data type - I'm not convinced that we should input the stage like this)-->
<div class="field">
<%#= ec_explanation_form.label :stage %>
<%#= ec_explanation_form.number_field :stage %>
</div>
<%= ec_explanation_form.fields_for :ec_abstractions do |ec_abstractions_form| %>
<% if #ec_abstraction.errors.any? %>
<div id="error_explanation">
<h2><%= pluralize(#ec_abstraction.errors.count, "error") %> prohibited this error-correction pair from being saved:</h2>
<ul>
<% #ec_abstraction.errors.full_messages.each do |message| %>
<li><%= message %></li>
<% end %>
</ul>
</div>
<% end %>
<div class="field">
<%= ec_abstractions_form.label :error_abstraction %>
<%= ec_abstractions_form.text_field :error_abstraction %>
</div>
<div class="field">
<%= ec_abstractions_form.label :correction_abstraction %>
<%= ec_abstractions_form.text_field :correction_abstraction %>
</div>
<%= ec_abstractions_form.fields_for :ec_pairs do |ec_pairs_form| %>
<div class="field">
<%= ec_pairs_form.label :error_phrase %>
<%= ec_pairs_form.text_field :error_phrase %>
</div>
<div class="field">
<%= ec_pairs_form.label :correction_phrase %>
<%= ec_pairs_form.text_field :correction_phrase %>
</div>
<% end %>
<%= ec_abstractions_form.fields_for :tags do |tags_form| %>
<div class="field">
<%= tags_form.label :tag, "Tag" %>
<%= tags_form.text_field :tag %>
</div>
<div class="field">
<%= tags_form.label :tag, "Tag" %>
<%= tags_form.text_field :tag %>
</div>
<div class="field">
<%= tags_form.label :tag, "Tag" %>
<%= tags_form.text_field :tag %>
</div>
<% end %>
<% end %>
(Include javascript (or bootstrap) that will generate extra tag fields onclick of a 'plus' button)
<div class="actions">
<%= ec_explanation_form.submit 'Submit Correction' %>
</div>
<% end %>
I have the following models:
class EcExplanation < ApplicationRecord
has_many :abstractions_explanations_joins
has_many :ec_abstractions, :through => :abstractions_explanations_joins
accepts_nested_attributes_for :abstractions_explanations_joins
end
class AbstractionsExplanationsJoin < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :ec_explanation
belongs_to :ec_abstraction
accepts_nested_attributes_for :ec_abstraction
end
class EcAbstraction < ApplicationRecord
has_many :ec_pairs
has_many :tags_ec_abstractions_joins
has_many :tags, :through => :tags_ec_abstractions_joins
has_many :abstractions_explanations_joins
has_many :ec_explanations, :through => :abstractions_explanations_joins
accepts_nested_attributes_for :tags_ec_abstractions_joins
accepts_nested_attributes_for :ec_pairs
end
class EcPair < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :response
belongs_to :ec_abstraction
end
class TagsEcAbstractionsJoin < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :ec_abstraction
belongs_to :tag
accepts_nested_attributes_for :tag, :reject_if => lambda { |a| a[:tag].blank? }
end
class Tag < ApplicationRecord
has_many :tags_ec_abstractions_joins
has_many :ec_abstractions, :through => :tags_ec_abstractions_joins
end
And the following controller code:
class CorrectionStoragesController < ApplicationController
def index
#ec_explanations = EcExplanation.all
end
def show
end
def new
#ec_explanation = EcExplanation.new
#ec_abstraction = #ec_explanation.ec_abstractions.build
#ec_pair = #ec_abstraction.ec_pairs.build
3.times do
#tag = #ec_abstraction.tags.build
end
end
def edit
end
def create
#ec_explanation = EcExplanation.create(ec_explanation_params)
respond_to do |format|
if #ec_explanation.save
format.html { redirect_to new_correction_storage_path, notice: 'Correction storage was successfully created.' }
format.json { render :show, status: :created, location: #ec_explanation }
else
format.html { render :new }
format.json { render json: #ec_explanation.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
def update
respond_to do |format|
if #ec_explanation.update(ec_explanation_params)
format.html { redirect_to new_correction_storage_path, notice: 'Correction was successfully updated.' }
format.json { render :show, status: :ok, location: new_correction_storage_path }
else
format.html { render :edit }
format.json { render json: #ec_explanation.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
def destroy
#ec_explanation.destroy
respond_to do |format|
format.html { redirect_to correction_storages_url, notice: 'Correction was successfully destroyed.' }
format.json { head :no_content }
end
end
private
# Never trust parameters from the scary internet, only allow the white list through.
def ec_explanation_params
params.require(:ec_explanation).permit(:early_explanation, :full_explanation, ec_abstractions_attributes: [:id, :error_abstraction, :correction_abstraction, ec_pairs_attributes: [:id, :error_phrase, :correction_phrase], tags_attributes: [:id, :tag]])
end
end
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Answer 1

You will want to compare the parameters in log/development.log against what is permitted by CorrectionStoragesController#ec_explanation_params.
The error
unpermitted parameter: ec_abstractions
means that Strong Parameters rejected the parameter ec_abstractions because that is not in your whitelist. To have the form submit a parameter called ec_abstractions_attributes you need to set up accepts_nested_attributes_for in your EcExplanation model.
When your form has nested attributes like:
<%= form_for #ec_explanation do |ec_explanation_form| %>
...
<%= ec_explanation_form.fields_for :ec_abstractions do |ec_abstractions_form| %>
...
Then you need:
class EcExplanation < ApplicationRecord
accepts_nested_attributes_for :ec_abstractions