Using ApplicationMailer, Receiving undefined method error - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have this defined in my application_mailer.rb
def request_tutor(contact_name, contact_hp, contact_email, postal_code, contact_level, contact_subject, contact_lessons, contact_hours, contact_others)
#contact_name = contact_name
#contact_hp = contact_hp
#contact_email = contact_email
#contact_postal = postal_code
#contact_level = contact_level
#contact_subject = contact_subject
#contact_lesson = contact_lessons
#contact_hours = contact_hours
#contact_others = contact_others
mail(to:'example#example.com', subject: 'Tutor Request')
end
and in the respective controller where the view is supposed to be rendered
def request_tutor
contact_name = params[:request_tutor][:contact_name]
contact_email = params[:request_tutor][:contact_email]
contact_hp = params[:request_tutor][:contact_hp]
contact_postal = params[:request_tutor][:postal_code]
contact_level = params[:request_tutor][:contact_level]
contact_subject = params[:request_tutor][:contact_subject]
contact_lesson = params[:request_tutor][:contact_lessons]
contact_hours = params[:request_tutor][:contact_hours]
contact_others = params[:request_tutor][:contact_others]
ApplicationMailer.request_tutor(contact_name, contact_hp, contact_email, postal_code, contact_level, contact_subject, contact_lessons, contact_hours, contact_others).deliver
flash[:success] = "We have received your request and will be in touch with you shortly!"
redirect_to root_path
end
I have a similar method setup in action mailer too and in the respective controller i'm doing name = params[:checkout][:your_name] and it doesn't return the error undefined method '[]' for nil:NilClass. What am i missing?
Errors from development.log
Started GET "/" for 116.87.14.150 at 2016-10-10 23:02:37 +0000
Cannot render console from 116.87.14.150! Allowed networks: 127.0.0.1, ::1, 127.0.0.0/127.255.255.255
[1m[36mActiveRecord::SchemaMigration Load (0.5ms)[0m [1mSELECT "schema_migrations".* FROM "schema_migrations"[0m
Processing by WelcomeController#index as HTML
Rendered welcome/index.html.erb within layouts/application (390.7ms)
Rendered layouts/_nav.html.erb (5.9ms)
Rendered layouts/_messages.html.erb (0.6ms)
Rendered layouts/_footer.html.erb (0.8ms)
Completed 200 OK in 641ms (Views: 608.3ms | ActiveRecord: 0.0ms)
Started GET "/welcome/request" for 116.87.14.150 at 2016-10-10 23:02:43 +0000
Cannot render console from 116.87.14.150! Allowed networks: 127.0.0.1, ::1, 127.0.0.0/127.255.255.255
Processing by WelcomeController#request_tutor as HTML
Completed 500 Internal Server Error in 2ms (ActiveRecord: 0.0ms)
NoMethodError (undefined method `[]' for nil:NilClass):
app/controllers/welcome_controller.rb:16:in `request_tutor'
Rendered /usr/local/rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.0/gems/actionpack-4.2.5/lib/action_dispatch/middleware/templates/rescues/_source.erb (6.4ms)
Rendered /usr/local/rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.0/gems/actionpack-4.2.5/lib/action_dispatch/middleware/templates/rescues/_trace.html.erb (3.8ms)
Rendered /usr/local/rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.0/gems/actionpack-4.2.5/lib/action_dispatch/middleware/templates/rescues/_request_and_response.html.erb (1.5ms)
Rendered /usr/local/rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.0/gems/actionpack-4.2.5/lib/action_dispatch/middleware/templates/rescues/diagnostics.html.erb within rescues/layout (110.0ms)

Answer 1

ok, so you are using the same action to both set up the form, and also to create the email. This is where the problem comes in... because when you first click on the form - it will run the request_tutor action, but there is no params[:request_tutor] yet (because you haven't submitted the form yet)... so you need to check for that to exist before trying to create one.
eg this is possible:
def request_tutor
if params[:request_tutor].present?
contact_name = params[:request_tutor][:contact_name]
# ... lines skipped for brevity
# you still need the ones in your original action
ApplicationMailer.request_tutor(contact_name, contact_hp, contact_email, postal_code, contact_level, contact_subject, contact_lessons, contact_hours, contact_others).deliver
flash[:success] = "We have received your request and will be in touch with you shortly!"
redirect_to root_path
end
# If the code gets to here, there were no params, and the page
# will just render the template named the same as the action
end