parent model id not passing, using ryan bates nested forms - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'm trying to use Ryan Bates' excellent 'nested forms' to create the following->
When creating a new 'Job', a user will have the option to write in multiple bullet points about it, and multiple 'Roles'
Here's how the models are set up :
Job Model
# == Schema Information
#
# Table name: jobs
#
# id :integer not null, primary key
# job_title :string(255)
# job_summary :string(255)
# qualifications :string(255)
# created_at :datetime
# updated_at :datetime
#
class Job < ActiveRecord::Base
validates :job_title, presence: true
validates :job_summary, presence: true
validates :qualifications, presence: true
has_many :bullets, dependent: :destroy
has_many :roles, dependent: :destroy
accepts_nested_attributes_for :bullets, :reject_if => lambda { |a| a[:bullet].blank? }, :allow_destroy => true
accepts_nested_attributes_for :roles, :reject_if => lambda { |a| a[:role_title].blank? }, :allow_destroy => true
#lambda { |a| a[:bullet].blank? } makes sure that on edit, if a value is left blank, then it doesn't save it
end
Bullet Model
# == Schema Information
#
# Table name: bullets
#
# id :integer not null, primary key
# job_id :integer
# bullet :string(255)
# created_at :datetime
# updated_at :datetime
#
class Bullet < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :job
validates :job_id, presence: true
validates :bullet, presence: true
end
Role Model
# == Schema Information
#
# Table name: roles
#
# id :integer not null, primary key
# job_id :integer
# role_title :string(255)
# role_desc :string(255)
# created_at :datetime
# updated_at :datetime
#
class Role < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :job
validates :job_id, presence: true
validates :role_title, presence: true
validates :role_desc, presence: true
end
Jobs Controller :
class JobsController < ApplicationController
before_action :signed_in_user, only: [:new, :create, :update, :show, :edit, :destroy] # index, at least partially is available to all viewers
before_action :admin_user, only: [:new, :edit, :update, :create, :destroy] # only admins can make jobs
def new
#job = Job.new
3.times {
#job.bullets.build
#job.roles.build
}
end
def create
#job = Job.new(job_params)
if #job.save
redirect_to root_path, :flash => { :success => "Job created!" }
else
render 'new'
end
end
def job_params
params.require(:job).permit(:job_title, :job_summary, :qualifications,
bullets_attributes: [:id, :bullet, :_destroy],
roles_attributes: [:id, :role_title,:role_desc, :_destroy])
end
end
Jobs/New View
<% provide(:title, "Publish a new job") %>
<%= nested_form_for #job do |f| %>
<%= render 'shared/error_messages', object: f.object %>
<%= f.label :job_title %>
<%= f.text_field :job_title %>
<div style="margin-left:30px">
<%= f.fields_for :bullets do |bullet_form| %>
<%= bullet_form.label :bullet %>
<%= bullet_form.text_field :bullet %>
<%= bullet_form.link_to_remove "Remove this bullet" %>
<% end %>
<p><%= f.link_to_add "Add a Bullet", :bullets %></p>
</div>
<%= f.label :job_summary %>
<%= f.text_area :job_summary %>
<%= f.label :qualifications %>
<%= f.text_area :qualifications %>
<div style="margin-left:30px">
<%= f.fields_for :roles do |role_form| %>
<%= role_form.label :role_title %>
<%= role_form.text_field :role_title %>
<%= role_form.label :role_desc %>
<%= role_form.text_field :role_desc %>
<%= role_form.link_to_remove "Remove this Role" %>
<% end %>
<p><%= f.link_to_add "Add a Role", :roles %></p>
</div>
<%= f.submit "Publish the Job", class: "button" %>
<% end %>
Alas, it looks like I'm doing it incorrectly. When I try to create a new job, I get the error :
* Bullets job can't be blank
* Roles job can't be blank
It seems to me like the info for job_id is not passing through the nested forms.
What you think is happening, and ideas about making this work would be greatly appreciated :)
Logs
Here are some logs to make it a bit clearer:
1) When I submit the form, choosing only 1 bullet I get the following parameters in development:
--- !ruby/hash:ActionController::Parameters
utf8: ✓
authenticity_token: ezgktBZjcrdI6nMTro8Aqd0Djs2k3M+HFAdACrxajS8=
job: !ruby/hash:ActionController::Parameters
job_title: Job Title example
bullets_attributes: !ruby/hash:ActionController::Parameters
'0': !ruby/hash:ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess
bullet: Example bullet
_destroy: 'false'
job_summary: Job Summary Example
qualifications: Example Qualifications here
roles_attributes: !ruby/hash:ActionController::Parameters
'1387448871560': !ruby/hash:ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess
role_title: Example Role Name
role_desc: Example Role Description
_destroy: 'false'
commit: Publish the Job
action: create
controller: jobs
On my Rails Server, this is what it's saying ->
Started POST "/jobs" for 127.0.0.1 at 2013-12-19 14:28:01 +0400
Processing by JobsController#create as HTML
Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "authenticity_token"=>"ezgktBZjcrdI6nMTro8Aqd0Djs2k3M+HFAdACrxajS8=", "job"=>{"job_title"=>"Job Title example", "bullets_attributes"=>{"0"=>{"bullet"=>"Example bullet", "_destroy"=>"false"}}, "job_summary"=>"Job Summary Example", "qualifications"=>"Example Qualifications here", "roles_attributes"=>{"1387448871560"=>{"role_title"=>"Example Role Name", "role_desc"=>"Example Role Description", "_destroy"=>"false"}}}, "commit"=>"Publish the Job"}
User Load (0.3ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."remember_token" = '449addc616f3035c031b3220404a4d5eb5351c74' LIMIT 1
(0.2ms) begin transaction
(0.2ms) rollback transaction
Rendered shared/_error_messages.html.erb (2.4ms)
Rendered jobs/new.html.erb within layouts/application (15.7ms)
Rendered layouts/_shim.html.erb (0.1ms)
Rendered layouts/_header.html.erb (1.3ms)
Completed 200 OK in 101ms (Views: 32.0ms | ActiveRecord: 0.7ms | Solr: 0.0ms)

Answer 1

From what you've posted, there are several issues which could be causing the problem
Strong Params
def job_params
params.require(:job).permit(:job_title, :job_summary, :qualifications,
bullets_attributes: [:bullet],
roles_attributes: [:role_title,:role_desc])
end
I don't know why you've called your columns role_title and role_desc, but it's better to call the columns only by their actual name (title and desc)
It's basically because if you load #role, it's much more efficient to write #role.title rather than #role.role_title. The same for your other tables
You may wish to update your schemas to reflect that
ActiveRecord Build
Second problem is you're building your new ActiveRecord objects 3 times:
def new
#job = Job.new
3.times {
#job.bullets.build
#job.roles.build
}
end
This would be okay if you wanted to send 3 objects, but you only have 1. And I know you've done it so you can add extra fields (I'll explain that in a second)
You should change to this:
def new
#job = Job.new
#job.bullets.build
#job.roles.build
end
I believe this is your main issue actually - if you build the objects & they don't get populated, they are blank, no?
I would only declare the objects I wanted to show up front, and add the extras when required
Adding Fields
If you wish to add fields on the fly (with Ajax), I would highly recommend this tutorial. It uses the same principles as Ryan Bates' method, but is much cleaner & adds the objects when required. I can talk about this via chat if you wanted