Showing username with association with Rails - ruby-on-rails

Question

I've been researching but cannot seem to find the answer. All I am looking to do is setup an association for users and articles (the most basic setup =P). Anyway, I setup the has_many and belongs_to in the models, added the user_id to the article model. Within my create action, I added a variable to save the current_user and then I am able to have that appear within the show page. Problem is I cannot have the username appear within the index page (in my situation, it is called community). Here are the various codes:
Article.rb (Model):
class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :user
...
User.rb (Model):
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :articles
...
articles_controller:
def create
#article = Article.create(article_params)
#article.user = current_user
if #article.save
flash.notice = "Article #{#article.title} has created!"
redirect_to community_path
else
flash.notice = "Try Again!"
end
end
Show View:
....
<p><%= #article.user.first_name %> <%= #article.user.last_name %></p>
....
Community(Index) View:
<div class="center_com_col col">
<div class="main_community">
<% #articles.each do |x| %>
<ul>
<li>
<h2><%= link_to article_path(x) do %><%= x.title %><% end %><br>
<p>
<%= Code to go here for user =><br>
Written on: <%= x.created_at.strftime("%B %d, %Y") %>
</p>
</h2>
</li>
<li>
<p><%= truncate simple_format(x.body), length: 250, escape: false %> (<%= link_to "read more", article_path(x) %>)</p>
</li>
</ul>
<% end %>
</div>
Everything seems to work well but I am clueless when it comes to that community (index) page since I am iterating through the articles.
Thank you very much for any help you may have!
EDIT: Here are my show and community controllers:
def community
#articles = Article.all.order("created_at DESC").limit(5)
#users = User.all.order("created_at DESC")
render :layout => 'community_layout'
end
def show
#article = Article.friendly.find(params[:id])
#users = User.all.order("created_at DESC")
render :layout => 'community_layout'
end
Joe

Answer 1

I agree with BroiSatse.
Following some best practices would prevent these errors:
Don't use x as the variable name unless referring to x position!
Always do if #articles.any? before you begin an each if there are no
articles that will cause an error like Nil class Nil!
Before you use art.user have an if art.user exists.
Here Should be the code:
<ul> <!--The UL should not be part of your each loop. -->
<% if #articles.any? %>
<% #articles.each do |art| %>
<li>
<h2><%= link_to article_path(art) do %><%= art.title %><% end %><br>
<p>
<% if art.user %>
<%= art.user.first_name %> <%= art.user.last_name %><br>
<$ end %></h2>
<%= time_ago_in_words(art.created_at) %>
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
<%= truncate simple_format(x.body), length: 250, escape: false %> (<%= link_to "read more", article_path(x) %>)
</p>
</li>
<% end %> <!--end refers to #articles.each -->
</ul>
<% end %>
<!--end refers to #articles.any? -->
I believe that some of your articles may not have been created with users authoring them ensure that your
db/seeds.rb:
user = User.create(email: "email#gmail.com", first_name: Faker.first_name, last_name: Faker.last_name)
user.articles.create(title: "ARTICLEs are awesome man!", body: 'Yes in a shocking report people are reading articles")
Also to test specifically do:
rails c
to enter rails console.
articles = Article.all
articles.each { |art| print art.user } => I am guessing you'll get nilClass Nil!