How to use strong parameters with foreign keys - ruby-on-rails

Question

I am having an issue with foreign keys being permitted in my new Rails 4 application.
Lets say you have a user create form, where you can create a user and assign a user type though a dropdown.
The user model will then have a foreign key: user_type_id.
I have a RSpec test which uses FactoryGirl, and if I debug and look at params the user_type has the value 2, but if my permit params look like this:
private
def user_params
params.require(:user).permit(:name, :password, :user_type_id)
end
I won't get any user_type out. I have also tried with:
private
def user_params
params.require(:user).permit(:name, :password, user_type_attributes: [:user_type_id])
end
but without any luck.
What is the way to permit it in my post action in my User controller?
Update:
I don't have a UI yet, I try to do this the TDD way, so basically it is my RSpec-tests which fails.
The create user action looks like this:
def create
#user = User.new(user_params)
authorize #user
respond_to do |format|
if #user.save
format.html { render json: #user, status: :created, location: #user }
format.json { render json: #user, status: :created, location: #user }
else
format.html { render json: #user, status: :unprocessable_entity, location: #user }
format.json { render json: #user.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
and the RSpec test looks like this:
it 'should create a user' do
expect {
post :create, { :user => FactoryGirl.attributes_for(:User) }
}.to change(User, :count).by(1)
end
The FactoryGirl for my user looks like this:
FactoryGirl.define do
factory :User do |f|
f.email { Faker::Internet.email }
f.password { '12345678' }
f.password_confirmation { '12345678' }
f.user_type { FactoryGirl.create(:UserType) }
end
end
If I debug my #user object it doesn't have a user_type added, but if I debug the params object, it does, contain a user_type: 2
Any ideas?

Answer 1

You are not creating an Id in the Factory. You are creating the new associated object. You will have to retrieve the ID in the params passed to the controller.
I suggest:
FactoryGirl.define do
factory :User do |f|
f.email { Faker::Internet.email }
f.password { '12345678' }
f.password_confirmation { '12345678' }
f.user_type 999
end
end
In your spec:
before(:each) do
type = FactoryGirl.create(:UserType, id: 999)
end
And then:
it 'should create a user' do
expect { :create, { :user => FactoryGirl.attributes_for(:User)}
}.to change(User, :count).by(1)
end
And remove the association from the FactoryGirl action.
EDIT:
If the user type is mandatory, and assuming that you have them in the database, you just need to insert in the factory the user_id you want for that user type. And you won't need to merge the params after.