rails drop down not passing selection to records - ruby-on-rails

Question

still going on my first rails program (ruby 2.0, rails 4.0). I've got a drop down that displays static options from a second model, but when I click on a selection from that drop down, nothing happens. Saving it to the record (presence_of validation turned off) just leaves the field empty.
I'm thinking something in controller or view? Any help?
Sorry for the massive code dump, but I'm so noob that I wasn't sure what was relevant
Contact.rb
class Contact < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :first_name, :last_name, :email, :zip_code, :favorite_color, :color_id, :name, :hex
belongs_to :color
accepts_nested_attributes_for :color
Color.rb
class Color < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :contacts
accepts_nested_attributes_for :contacts
attr_accessible :name, :hex
end
contacts_controller.rb
class ContactsController < ApplicationController
before_action :set_contact, only: [:show, :edit, :update, :destroy]
before_filter :prepare_colors
# GET /contacts
# GET /contacts.json
def index
#contacts = Contact.all
end
# GET /contacts/1
# GET /contacts/1.json
def show
end
# GET /contacts/new
def new
#contact = Contact.new
end
# GET /contacts/1/edit
def edit
end
# POST /contacts
# POST /contacts.json
def create
#contact = Contact.new(contact_params)
respond_to do |format|
if #contact.save
format.html { redirect_to #contact, notice: 'Contact was successfully created.' }
format.json { render action: 'show', status: :created, location: #contact }
else
format.html { render action: 'new' }
format.json { render json: #contact.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
# PATCH/PUT /contacts/1
# PATCH/PUT /contacts/1.json
def update
respond_to do |format|
if #contact.update(contact_params)
format.html { redirect_to #contact, notice: 'Contact was successfully updated.' }
format.json { head :no_content }
else
format.html { render action: 'edit' }
format.json { render json: #contact.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
# DELETE /contacts/1
# DELETE /contacts/1.json
def destroy
#contact.destroy
respond_to do |format|
format.html { redirect_to contacts_url }
format.json { head :no_content }
end
end
private
# Use callbacks to share common setup or constraints between actions.
def set_contact
#contact = Contact.find(params[:id])
end
def prepare_colors
#colors = Color.all
end
# Never trust parameters from the scary internet, only allow the white list through.
def contact_params
params.require(:contact).permit(:first_name, :last_name, :email, :zip_code, :favorite_color, :color_id)
end
end
views/contacts/_form.html.erb
%= form_for(#contact) do |f| %>
<% if #contact.errors.any? %>
<div id="error_explanation">
<h2><%= pluralize(#contact.errors.count, "error") %> prohibited this contact from being saved:</h2>
<ul>
<% #contact.errors.full_messages.each do |msg| %>
<li><%= msg %></li>
<% end %>
</ul>
</div>
<% end %>
<div class="field">
<%= f.label :first_name %><br>
<%= f.text_field :first_name %>
</div>
<div class="field">
<%= f.label :last_name %><br>
<%= f.text_field :last_name %>
</div>
<div class="field">
<%= f.label :email %><br>
<%= f.text_field :email %>
</div>
<div class="field">
<%= f.label :zip_code %><br>
<%= f.number_field :zip_code %>
</div>
<div class="field">
<%= f.label :favorite_color %><br>
<%= f.collection_select(:color_id, #colors, :id, :name, :include_blank => "Please select") %>
</div>
<div class="actions">
<%= f.submit %>
</div>
<% end %>
and /views/contacts/index.html
h3>Listing contacts</h1>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>First name</th>
<th>Last name</th>
<th>Email</th>
<th>Zip code</th>
<th>Favorite color</th>
<th></th>
<th></th>
<th></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<% #contacts.each do |contact| %>
<tr>
<td><%= contact.first_name %></td>
<td><%= contact.last_name %></td>
<td><%= contact.email %></td>
<td><%= contact.zip_code %></td>
<td><%= contact.favorite_color %></td>
<td><%= link_to 'Show', contact %></td>
<td><%= link_to 'Edit', edit_contact_path(contact) %></td>
<td><%= link_to 'Destroy', contact, method: :delete, data: { confirm: 'Are you sure?' } %></td>
</tr>
<% end %>
</tbody>
</table>
<br>
<%= link_to 'New Contact', new_contact_path %>

Answer 1

Ok, I am not entirely sure what is relationship here, but it seems to me that you have two columns in your Contact model which are created for the same reason: favorite_color and colour_id. You are not setting favorite_color value, but you are trying to display it. I guess color_id is to be a foreign_key to contact's favurite color. if so, you need to rename assocaition:
belongs_to :favorite_color, class_name: 'Color'
Rename color_id column to favorite_color_id, and then inside your view:
# form
<div class="field">
<%= f.label :favorite_color %><br>
<%= f.collection_select(:favorite_color_id, #colors, :id, :name, :include_blank => "Please select") %>
</div>
# index
<td><%= contact.favorite_color.name %></td>

Answer 2

Strong Params
First of all, if you're using rails 4.0 you don't need this line:
attr_accessible :first_name, :last_name, :email, :zip_code, :favorite_color, :color_id, :name, :hex
This has been replaced with strong_params now, so you should put this into the bottom of your contacts controller:
private
def contact_params
params.require(:contact).permit(:first_name, :last_name, :email, :zip_code, :favorite_color, :color_id, :name, :hex, colors_attributes: [])
end
Fields_For
The next thing is that you need to include the fields_for tag in your form, like this:
<%= f.fields_for :colors do |color| %><br>
<%= f.collection_select(:color_id, #colors, :id, :name, :include_blank => "Please select") %>
<% end %>
I think that will work. Your code was pretty long, so I guess if you have problems implementing it, just leave a comment :)
Update
You need to add this to your new function:
# GET /contacts/new
def new
#contact = Contact.new
#contact.color.build
#colors = Color.all
end
Also, I don't know if this will work again, but you might want to edit your collection_select to have this code:
<%= f.fields_for :colors do |color| %><br>
<%= color.collection_select(:color, #colors, :id, :name, :include_blank => "Please select") %>
<% end %>
Finally, you should include the :id attribute in your nested_attributes:
private
def contact_params
params.require(:contact).permit(:first_name, :last_name, :email, :zip_code, :favorite_color, :color_id, :name, :hex, colors_attributes: [])
end