Trying to insert data for models that has polymorphic associations - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'm having a problem in trying to insert data into the db which has complex form involving two models and I searched every post on Stackoverflow to find the best possible answer, but I couldn't get anywhere near close in getting it right.
In my Models
class ClientIndividual < ActiveRecord::Base
has_one :client_assignment, :as => :clientassignmentable
accepts_nested_attributes_for :client_assignment
end
class ClientAssignment < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :clientassignmentable, :polymorphic => true
end
In my ClientIndividual Controller
class ClientIndividualsController < ApplicationController
before_action :set_client_individual, only: [:show, :edit, :update, :destroy]
before_filter :authenticate_user!
def new
#client_individual = ClientIndividual.new
end
def create
#client_individual = ClientIndividual.new(client_individual_params)
respond_to do |format|
if #client_individual.save
format.html { redirect_to #client_individual, notice: 'Client individual was successfully created.' }
format.json { render action: 'show', status: :created, location: #client_individual }
else
format.html { render action: 'new' }
format.json { render json: #client_individual.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
private
# Use callbacks to share common setup or constraints between actions.
def set_client_individual
#client_individual = ClientIndividual.find(params[:id])
end
# Never trust parameters from the scary internet, only allow the white list through.
def client_individual_params
params.require(:client_individual).permit(:title, :first_name, :middle_name,
:last_name, :date_of_birth, :work_phone, :home_phone, :mobile_phone, :email_address,
:preferred_contact_type, :residential_address, :residential_suburb, :residential_state,
:residential_postcode, :same_as_residential, :postal_address, :postal_suburb,
:postal_state, :postal_postcode, :emergency_contact_person, :emergency_phone_no,
:industry_type, :has_referral, :notes, clientassignmentable_attributes:
[:assignment_types_id, :employees_id, :start_date, :manager_id, :client_type] )
end
end
In my Client_Individual#new view
<%= form_for(#client_individual) do |f| %>
<div class="add_data_section">
<%= f.fields_for (:clientassignmentable) do |client_assignment_form| %>
........
........
<div class="row_container">
<div class="field 1" style="width: 409px;">
<%=client_assignment_form.label :assignment_types_id, "Assignment Type*"%>
</div>
<div class="dropdown">
<label>
<%= select('client_individual[clientassignmentable]', 'assignment_types_id', AssignmentType.all.collect {|assignment_type| [assignment_type.name, assignment_type.id ] }, {prompt: 'Select Assignment Type'}, :style =>"width: 264px;")%>
</label>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row_container">
<div class="field " style="width: 409px;">
<%=client_assignment_form.label :start_date, "Assignment Start Date"%>
</div>
<div class="inputfield">
<%=client_assignment_form.text_field :start_date, :class=>'assignmentdatepicker', :style=>'width: 260px;'%>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row_container">
<div class="field " style="width: 409px;">
<%=client_assignment_form.label :manager_id, "Manager Appointed*"%>
</div>
<div class="dropdown">
<label>
<%= select('client_individual[clientassignmentable]', 'manager_id', Employee.all.select{ |manager| manager.staff_rank_id == 2}.collect{|employee| [employee.first_name + " " + employee.last_name, employee.id ] }, {prompt: 'Select ManagerList'}, :style =>"width: 264px;")%>
</label>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row_container">
<div class="field 1" style="width: 409px;">
<%=client_assignment_form.label :employees_id, "Staff Appointed*"%>
</div>
<div class="dropdown">
<label>
<%= select('client_individual[clientassignmentable', 'employees_id', Employee.all.select{ |employee| employee.user_id == current_user_id}.collect{|employee| [employee.first_name + " " + employee.last_name, employee.id ] }, {prompt: 'Select CurrentUser'}, :style =>"width: 264px;")%>
</label>
</div>
</div>
<%=client_assignment_form.hidden_field :client_type%>
<% end %>
......
<% end %>
So what I have is that I got a ClientIndividual Model that has one ClientAssignment Model. So the ClientAssignment Model has ClientIndividual FK thus upon creating a new ClientIndividual data, I would expect a new ClientAssignment data that gets generated on the form. Thus in my controller, I declare my strong params like so
clientassignmentable_attributes: [:assignment_types_id, :employees_id, :start_date, :manager_id, :client_type]
But I click to save the new data, nothing's inserted into the db...
Then I check my development.log and it said the following.
Started POST "/client_individuals" for 127.0.0.1 at 2014-03-30 19:58:52 +1100
Processing by ClientIndividualsController#create as HTML
Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "authenticity_token"=>"0Z+BJcjQE7oa+uzdo/2sKRPiV01EQDXfedMkLE7pTjg=", "groups"=>{"id"=>"1"}, "client_individual"=>{"clientassignmentable"=>{"assignment_types_id"=>"1", "start_date"=>"03/31/2014", "manager_id"=>"13", "employees_id"=>"25", "client_type"=>""}, "title"=>"t", "first_name"=>"t", "middle_name"=>"t", "last_name"=>"t", "date_of_birth"=>"", "work_phone"=>"", "home_phone"=>"", "mobile_phone"=>"", "email_address"=>"admin#example.com", "residential_address"=>"t", "residential_suburb"=>"t", "residential_state"=>"t", "residential_postcode"=>"t", "same_as_residential"=>"0", "postal_address"=>"t", "postal_suburb"=>"t", "postal_postcode"=>"t", "emergency_contact_person"=>"", "emergency_phone_no"=>"22223", "industry_type"=>"", "notes"=>""}, "CREATE"=>"Create Client"}
[1m[36mUser Load (0.7ms)[0m [1mSELECT `users`.* FROM `users` WHERE `users`.`id` = 1 ORDER BY `users`.`id` ASC LIMIT 1[0m
Unpermitted parameters: clientassignmentable
[1m[35m (0.3ms)[0m BEGIN
[1m[36m (0.2ms)[0m [1mROLLBACK[0m
I keep getting this unpermitted parameters: clientassignmentable. But I've already whitelisted in the my controller as one of the strong params so why is it complaining???
Surely this couldn't be hard to figure out if you know what's the correct association laid out in front of you already?
What else could I be missing?!?! I've been on this for the whole day, looking very confused....

Answer 1

You should write
fields_for :client_assignment
and change this accordingly everywhere else you use :clientassignmentable
further reading:
http://guides.rubyonrails.org/form_helpers.html#understanding-parameter-naming-conventions
http://guides.rubyonrails.org/association_basics.html#polymorphic-associations
To solve the problem with fields not rendering in new form, in controller you need to do
#client_individual.build_client_assignment

Answer 2

I think where I did go wrong with this.....
It's so embarrassing after reading the basics of setting up polymorphic associations, I realised my polymorphic association was completely utterly wrong!!
As a consequence of that, I wasted almost 2 days of trying to save the form's data when clearly my initial steps of database design was utterly wrong! What a complete utter waste!!!
ARRRGGGH!!!!!
Now I need to go back to the drawing board and find what how to revert it!!!