Rails: Method to check the database appointment is not taken - not saving - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have a very beginners understanding of rails and ruby and I keep
getting stuck. If anyone could please point out my where I'm going wrong, that would be great! Or else, is there an easier way to validate the database before I allow an appointment? I don't want double bookings.
I am making an appointment booking app and I have a very basic design. I
have created an appointments scaffold with name:string phone:string
email:string numpeople:integer date:date timeslot:string.
In the view for creating a new appointment I have stated that appointment 1 is
9-11am, appointment 2 is 12-2pm, appointment 3 is 3-5pm and appointment
4 is 5 - 7pm. The user is asked to enter 1,2,3 or 4.
When the user clicks on "make appointment" I'm trying to interrupt the
appointments controller (create method) so that I can check if the date
&& timeslot are nil. if that is the case, the system should continue on
to create the appointment, if not then I want to redirect to somewhere
else. I have created a method called isValid? in the model (See below)
I think the method is correct as the system is getting as far as the
redirect. Tclass Appointment < ActiveRecord::Base
class Appointment < ActiveRecord::Base
def isValid?
taken = Appointment.where("date = ? && timeslot = ?", date, timeslot)
save unless taken
end
end
The problem is, it keeps redirecting to the page I told it to
go to if it's not saved(the homepage or root_path). (Also the
appointments are not saving).
appointments controller create method:
def create
valid = #appointment = Appointment.new(appointment_params).isValid?
respond_to do |format|
if valid
format.html { redirect_to new_appointment_path, notice: 'Appointment was
successfully created.' }
format.json { render :show, status: :created, location: #appointment }
else
format.html { redirect_to appointments_path, notice: 'That appointment
is not available, please choose again' } # this redirect works with no
notice
format.js { render json: #appointment.errors, status:
:unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
Full appointments controller class: (In case I've missed something)
class AppointmentsController < ApplicationController
before_action :set_appointment, only: [:show, :edit, :update, :destroy]
def index
#appointments = Appointment.all
end
def show
end
def new
#appointment = Appointment.new
end
def edit
end
def create
valid = #appointment = Appointment.new(appointment_params).isValid?
respond_to do |format|
if valid
format.html { redirect_to new_appointment_path, notice: 'Appointment was
successfully created.' }
format.json { render :show, status: :created, location: #appointment }
else
format.html { redirect_to appointments_path, notice: 'That appointment
is not available, please choose again' } # this redirect works with no
notice
format.js { render json: #appointment.errors, status:
:unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
def update
respond_to do |format|
if #appointment.update(appointment_params)
format.html { redirect_to #appointment, notice: 'Appointment was
successfully updated.' }
format.json { render :show, status: :ok, location: #appointment }
else
format.html { render :edit }
format.json { render json: #appointment.errors, status:
:unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
def destroy
#appointment.destroy
respond_to do |format|
format.html { redirect_to appointments_url, notice: 'Appointment was
successfully destroyed.' }
format.json { head :no_content }
end
end
private
# Use callbacks to share common setup or constraints between actions.
def set_appointment
#appointment = Appointment.find(params[:id])
end
# Never trust parameters from the scary internet, only allow the white list
through.
def appointment_params
params.require(:appointment).permit(:name, :phone, :email, :numpeople,
:date, :timeslot)
end
end

Answer 1

I think your method should be something like:
class Appointment < ActiveRecord::Base
def isValid?
taken = Appointment.where("date = ? && timeslot = ?", date, timeslot)
save unless taken.present?
end
end
Let me know if that works.