routes for user messages - ruby-on-rails

Question

Im trying to build the functionality that gives users the ability to send each other messages. Ideally, a user can visit another user's profile and click on a link the redirects them to a form in which they will enter the message, and then click send and it will be delivered to the second user's inbox.
Separately, users should be able to visit an inbox page that displays all messages that have been sent to them.
I'm working on the first part now, and having trouble with the routes. Specifically, when I click on the send message link in a user's profile I'm redirected to the user's inbox page instead of being redirected to a form in which I can enter the context of my message and send. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here. Can anyone suggest how I can solve this routing issue?
routes.rb
devise_for :users, :controllers => { :registrations => "registrations" }
devise_scope :user do
get 'register', to: 'devise/registrations#new'
get 'login', to: 'devise/sessions#new', as: :login
get 'logout', to: 'devise/sessions#destroy', as: :logout
end
resources :users do
member do
get 'edit_profile'
get 'create_message'
end
end
resources :messages
root to: "home#index"
match '/about', to: 'static_pages#about', via: 'get'
match '/contact', to: 'static_pages#contact', via: 'get'
match '/help', to: 'static_pages#help', via: 'get'
match '/legal', to: 'static_pages#legal', via: 'get'
end
users_controller.rb
class UsersController < ApplicationController
before_filter :authenticate_user!
def index
#users = User.all
end
def show
#user = User.find(params[:id])
end
def new
end
def create
end
def edit
end
def update
#user = User.find(params[:id])
#user.update!(user_params)
redirect_to #user
end
def destroy
end
def edit_profile
#user = User.find(params[:id])
end
def create_message
end
def user_params
params.require(:user).permit(:first_name, :last_name, :email, :password, :password_confirmation, :current_industry, :years_in_current_industry, :hobbies)
end
def sender
#user = User.find(params[:id])
end
def recipient
#user = User.find(params[:id])
end
end
messages_controller.rb
class MessagesController < ApplicationController
def index
end
def new
end
def create
end
def destroy
end
end
user.rb
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
# Include default devise modules. Others available are:
# :confirmable, :lockable, :timeoutable and :omniauthable
devise :database_authenticatable, :registerable,
:recoverable, :rememberable, :trackable, :validatable
attr_accessible :first_name, :last_name, :email, :password, :password_confirmation, :remember_me, :current_industry, :years_in_current_industry, :hobbies
#validates :first_name, presence: true, length: { maximum: 50 }
#validates :last_name, presence: true, length: { maximum: 50 }
end
messages.rb
class Messages < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :sender
belongs_to :recipient
default_scope -> [ order('created_at DESC') ]
validates :sender_id, presence: true
validates :recipient_id, presence: true
end
index.html.erb
<h1>Inbox</h1>
creates_messages.html.erb
<h2>Create Message</h2>
<%= form_for #user do |f| %>
<%= f.label :content %><br />
<%= f.text_area :first_name, autofocus: true %>
<div><%= f.submit "Send" %></div>
<% end %>

Answer 1

Here's what I'd do:
#config/routes.rb
devise_for :users, path: "", :controllers => { :registrations => "registrations" }, path_names: {sign_up: "register", sign_in: "login", sign_out: "logout"}
resources :users do
resources :messages, only: [:new, :create]
end
resources :messages, only: [:index, :show, :destroy] #domain.com/messages -> inbox
#app/controllers/messages/new.html.erb
class MessagesController < ApplicationController
before_action :set_recipient
def new
#message = current_user.messages.new recipient_id: params[:user_id]
end
def create
#message = current_user.messages.new message_params
#message.sender_id = current_user.id
#message.recipient_id = #recipient.id
#message.save
end
private
def message_params
params.require(:message).permit(:title, :body, :sender_id, :recipient_id)
end
def set_recipient
#recipient = User.find params[:user_id] if params[:user_id].present?
end
end
#app/views/messages/new.html.erb
<%= form_for [#recipient, #message] do |f| %>
<%= f.text_field :title %>
<%= f.text_field :body %>
<%= f.submit %>
<% end %>
Routes
The above code will give you the ability to use the following link:
#app/views/users/show.html.erb
<%= link_to "Send Message", user_message_path(#user) %>
You must remember that since Rails is object-orientated, everything you do (routes included) should revolve around objects. This is why you see the resources directive in your routing patterns -- it gives you the ability to define a series of CRUD based routes with various objects at their core.
I believe your problem is that you are not using the object orientated nature of Rails to proper extent. If you apply the routes as my example above, backed up with the relative methods, should give you the ability to create a very compelling flow.