Inserting Multiple values from a single form Rails 4 - ruby-on-rails

Question

Hello all i am trying to insert multiple records into the table using the same form so far i have achieved the following
class ProjectController < ApplicationController
def new
#project = Project.new
end
def create
#projec = Project.new(project_params)
respond_to do |format|
if #project.save
format.html { flash[:notice] = 'User successfully created.' and redirect_to action: "index"}
format.json { render :show, status: :created, location: #project }
else
format.html { render :new }
format.json { render json: #project.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
def project_params
params.require(:project).permit(:PROJECT_ID,:COMPANY_ID, :ASSESSMENT_ID, :PROJECT_SCORE , :CREATED_BY, :UPDATED_BY)
end
end
so in my view i have used like this since i want only the project level score to be saved into the database with all other values remaining the same
<% 10.times do %>
<%= f.range_field :PROJECT_SCORE[], :min=>0, :max=>10, :class=>"slide", :id=>"slider1", name: 'PROJECT_SCORE[of_values][]'%>
<% end %>
next in my model i have used like this
class Project< ActiveRecord::Base
serialize :PROJECT_SCORE ,Array
end
but i receive an error
Attribute was supposed to be a Array, but was a Fixnum. -- 0
SO is there any alternate ways to insert multiple records in the table at the same time ? or how do i solve this issue ?

Answer 1

There is an alternate way for inserting multiple records and I would highly recommend doing so. You could get this to work but it feels a bit hacky and not very flexible to me. Try using a has_many association and nested forms instead. If you're not familiar with has_many associations there is an introductory course at codeschool.com called Models Taste Like Chicken. There is also a great RailsCasts episode (#196) that goes into detail about nested forms with some cool AJAX features.
To do this you could create a Model called Score and tell it to belong the projects:
rails g model Score score:integer project:references
class Score < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :project
end
And each project will have many scores:
class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :scores, dependent: :destroy
accepts_nested_attributes_for :scores, allow_destroy: true
end
The dependent destroy makes sure the associated scores get deleted if a Project is deleted. You also need to tell it to accept nested attributes for the scores model. Details here.
Next, set up the strong parameters with things_attributes:[:thing1, :thing2, :etc]
class ProjectController < ApplicationController
### other stuff
def project_params
params.require(:project).permit(:PROJECT_ID, :etc, scores_attributes: [:id, :score])
end
One thing I would like to mention here is the best practice for
naming conventions is to use snake_case for your
variables and database names. So instead of :PROJECT_ID name it
:project_id
ALL_CAPS is usually used for constants.
Now your view you can use the fields_for form helper to create another form block within the form block.
<%= form_for #project do |f| %>
<div class="field">
<!-- all normal form inputs -->
</div>
<!-- and now the nested form -->
<%= f.fields_for :scores do |ff| %>
<div class="field">
<%= ff.range_field :score %>
</div>
<% end %>
<div class="form-actions">
<%= f.button :submit %>
</div>
<% end %>
This won't allow you to create new scores yet, but that starts to get really complicated and is explained in the RailsCasts I mentioned above (However he is using an older version of rails so make sure and set the strong parameters for the nested attributes).