rails datatables error sort descending - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'm new to Rails. Running Rails 4, and gem ajax-datatables-rails.
I have a few instances of datatables that are working without issue, but one table has an error when I try to sort any column descending. I can click on the header of any column and sort ascending. But if I click on that header again I get the following error:
DataTables warning: table id=DataTables_Table_0 - Ajax error. For more information about this error, please see http://datatables.net/tn/7
Log shows this after getting the error:
Completed 500 Internal Server Error in 14ms (ActiveRecord: 2.1ms)
NoMethodError (undefined method `name' for nil:NilClass):
app/datatables/animal_registration_datatable.rb:29:in `block in data'
app/datatables/animal_registration_datatable.rb:25:in `data'
app/controllers/animal_registrations_controller.rb:8:in `block (2 levels) in index'
app/controllers/animal_registrations_controller.rb:5:in `index'
animal_registration_datatable.rb
class AnimalRegistrationDatatable < AjaxDatatablesRails::Base
include AjaxDatatablesRails::Extensions::Kaminari
def sortable_columns
# Declare strings in this format: ModelName.column_name
if breeder?
#sortable_columns ||= %w(AnimalRegistration.created_at Animal.name Animal.tag_number AnimalRegistration.status)
else
#sortable_columns ||= %w(AnimalRegistration.created_at Animal.name Contact.last_name Contact.farm_name)
end
end
def searchable_columns
# Declare strings in this format: ModelName.column_name
if breeder?
#searchable_columns ||= %w(Animal.name Animal.tag_number AnimalRegistration.status)
else
#searchable_columns ||= %w(AnimalRegistration.farm_name Animal.name Contact.last_name Contact.first_name AnimalRegistration.created_at)
end
end
private
def data
records.map do |record|
if breeder?
{
'0' => record.created_at.strftime('%x - ''%l:%m %p'),
'1' => record.animal.name,
'2' => record.animal.tag_number,
'3' => record.status,
'DT_RowId' => record.id
}
else
{
'0' => record.created_at.strftime('%x - ''%l:%m %p'),
'1' => record.animal.try(:name),
'2' => record.breeder_contact_id ? record.breeder_contact.last_name + ', ' + record.breeder_contact.first_name : "",
'3' => record.breeder_contact_id ? record.breeder_contact.farm_name : "",
'4' => record.datatable_row_controls,
'DT_RowId' => record.id
}
end
end
end
def user
#user ||= options[:user] #if #user is null, set it to options[:user]
end
def breeder?
! user.organization
end
def status
#status ||= options[:status]
#status ||= "pending"
end
def get_raw_records
if breeder?
AnimalRegistration.where(user_id: user.id).includes(:animal).references(:animal).distinct
else
AnimalRegistration.where(organization_id: user.organization.id, status: status).includes(:animal, :breeder_contact).references(:animal, :breeder_contact).distinct
end
end
# ==== Insert 'presenter'-like methods below if necessary
end
Note that I am logged in as a breeder (if breeder? = true). Note also that when logged in as org (if breeder? = false), this error does not occur.
From animal_registrations_controller.rb:
def index
respond_to do |format|
format.html
format.json do
render json: AnimalRegistrationDatatable.new(view_context, user: current_user, status: params[:status])
end
end
end
animal_registrations.js.coffee:
$ ->
dt = $("table.animal-registrations.ajax-table")
if dt.hasClass("org-admin")
dtCols = [
{ data: '0' }
{ data: '1' }
{ data: '2' }
{ data: '3' }
{ data: '4', orderable: false }
]
else
dtCols = [
{ data: '0' }
{ data: '1' }
{ data: '2' }
{ data: '3' }
]
$("table.animal-registrations.ajax-table").DataTable(
processing: true
serverSide: true
ajax: $('table.animals').data('source')
pagingType: 'full'
pageLength: 20
lengthChange: false
language:
search: "<i class='fa fa-search'/>"
sFilterInput: "form-control input-lg"
# drawCallback: (settings) ->
# bindAnimalRowClickDatatable()
columns: dtCols
)
Note that if dt.hasClass("org-admin") is false.
Lots of moving parts here. What I can't figure out is why it would work when sorted ascending but not descending.
Thanks for any help.