Rails default parameters on page load - ruby-on-rails

I have a page that I want to display all of the entries in the database for a given week. Each entry in the database has an :entrydate field that contains the date that the entry is for.
In /config/routes.rb:
match "reports/*date" => "reports#index", :defaults => { :date => DateTime.now.strftime('%m/%d/%Y') }
In /app/controllers/reports_controller.rb:
def index
#reports = Report.where(:entrydate => Date.strptime(params[:date], '%m/%d/%Y').beginning_of_week..Date.strptime(params[:date], '%m/%d/%Y').end_of_week)
respond_to do |format|
format.html # index.html.erb
format.json { render :json => #reports }
format.js
end
end
However, when I try to run the page localhost:3000/reports, I get an error:
can't dup NilClass
/app/jruby-1.6.5.1/lib/ruby/1.8/date/format.rb:599:in `_strptime'
/app/jruby-1.6.5.1/lib/ruby/1.8/date.rb:979:in `strptime'
app/controllers/reports_controller.rb:7:in `index'
It works fine if I input a date such as localhost:3000/reports/10/29/2012.

It appears as though your default value is not getting set properly. Perhaps this is because it is not a constant?
Anyway, you probably don't want to set the default like this anyway because you have less control over when the default gets set.
I think something like this would be a better approach:
def index
my_date = params[:date] || DateTime.now.strftime('%m/%d/%Y')
#reports = Report.where(:entrydate => Date.strptime(my_date, '%m/%d/%Y').beginning_of_week..Date.strptime(my_date, '%m/%d/%Y').end_of_week)

It looks like your variable may be getting lost between routes and the controller. Maybe try declaring a default date within the controller itself?
def index
params[:date].blank? ? date = DateTime.now.strftime('%m/%d/%Y') : date = params[:date]
#reports = Report.where(:entrydate => Date.strptime(date, '%m/%d/%Y').beginning_of_week..Date.strptime(date, '%m/%d/%Y').end_of_week)
respond_to do |format|
format.html # index.html.erb
format.json { render :json => #reports }
format.js
end
end

Related

passing variables between methods in ROR controller

In my controller I pass date from method create to method index. How can I pass it back from index to create (for new create)?
def index
#date = params[:date].
end
def create
<<<NEED to get #date from index here>>>
#entry = Entry.new(:input => input, :user => current_user, :time => #date)
respond_to do |format|
if #entry.save
format.html { redirect_to(:action => "index", :edit => true) }
end
end
Why do you need to get it from index?
Keep it in a hidden form variable and submit it, etc. You can't get it from index.

returning rails object by id & routing problem?(Ruby rails)

This should have been a relatively simple one but I must be making a mistake with my routes or something. I want to return an active record as json based on an id. So heres what I have and in my eyes it should have worked.
The route:
match '/repository/infoid/(.:id)(.:format)' =>'repo#infoID', :via =>:get
The def within the controller
def infoID
puts (params[:id])
#specificObject = myObject.find_by_id(params[:id])
respond_to do |format|
format.xml{
render :xml =>
{
:returnedObject => #specificObject
}
}
end
end
Why is it that when I go to my address of http://127.0.0.1:3008/repository/infoid/1.xml
I get no route found for /infoid/1.xml
get '/repository/infoid/:id' => 'repo#infoID'
little refacrtoring for controller
def infoID
#specificObject = MyObject.find(params[:id])
respond_to do |format|
format.html{}
format.xml{
render :xml => #specificObject
}
end
end

Load XML into variable with Rails

This is how I generate XML for purchase model:
# GET /purchases/1
def show
#purchase = Purchase.find(params[:id])
#purchases = Purchase.all
respond_to do |format|
format.html # show.html.erb
format.xml { render :action => "something.xml.builder", :layout => false }
end
end
Now I'd like to get this rendered XML as string into variable so I could post it to WebService.
How can I get XML through sales_invoice.xml.builder without rendering it?
I don't want use dirty hacks and loading XML from http://appurl/purchases/1.xml
Thanks!
What I was looking for was render_to_string method.

Model types and sorting in Rails?

This is something I've been stuck on for a while now, and I have to apologize in advance for going into so much detail for such a simple problem. I just want to make it clear what I'm trying to do here.
Scenario
So, there's a model Foo, each Foo can either be red, green, or blue. Having URLs like /reds to list all red objects, and /reds/some-red-object to show a certain object. In that "show" view, there should be next/previous links, that would essentially "find the next RedFoo in alphabetical order, and once at the last RedFoo, the next record should be the first GreenFoo, continuing in alphabetical order, and so on".
I've tried implementing this in a couple of ways and mostly ended up at a roadblock somewhere. I did get it working for the most part with single table inheritance though, having something like this:
class Foo < ActiveRecord::Base
class RedFoo < Foo
class GreenFoo < Foo
class BlueFoo < Foo
Each subclass's models and controllers are identical, just replace the model names. So the controllers look something like:
class RedFoosController < ApplicationController
def index
#foos = RedFoo.find(:all, :order => "title ASC")
respond_to do |format|
format.html { render :template => 'foos/index'}
format.xml { render :xml => #foos }
end
end
def show
#foo = RedFoo.find(params[:id])
respond_to do |format|
format.html { render :template => 'foos/show'}
format.xml { render :xml => #foo }
end
end
def new
#foo = RedFoo.new
respond_to do |format|
format.html { render :template => 'foos/new'}
format.xml { render :xml => #foo }
end
end
def edit
#foo = RedFoo.find(params[:id])
respond_to do |format|
format.html { render :template => 'foos/edit'}
end
end
def create
#foo = RedFoo.new(params[:foo])
respond_to do |format|
if #foo.save
flash[:notice] = 'Foo was successfully created.'
format.html { redirect_to(#foo) }
format.xml { render :xml => #foo, :status => :created, :location => #foo }
else
format.html { render :action => "new" }
format.xml { render :xml => #foo.errors, :status => :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
def update
#foo = RedFoo.find(params[:id])
respond_to do |format|
if #foo.update_attributes(params[:foo])
flash[:notice] = 'Foo was successfully updated.'
format.html { redirect_to(#foo) }
format.xml { head :ok }
else
format.html { render :action => "edit" }
format.xml { render :xml => #foo.errors, :status => :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
def destroy
#foo = RedFoo.find(params[:id])
#foo.destroy
respond_to do |format|
format.html { redirect_to(foos_url) }
format.xml { head :ok }
end
end
end
The models only contain methods for next/previous, which work fine, surprisingly.
class RedFoo < Foo
def next
if self == RedFoo.find(:all, :order => "title ASC").last
GreenFoo.find(:all, :order => "title ASC").first
else
RedFoo.find(:first, :conditions => ["title > ?", self.title], :order => "title ASC")
end
end
def previous
if self == RedFoo.find(:all, :order => "title ASC").first
BlueFoo.find(:all, :order => "title ASC").last
else
RedFoo.find(:first, :conditions => ["title < ?", self.title], :order => "title DESC")
end
end
end
Problem
For whatever reason when I try to create and edit records, none of the attributes get saved in the database. It simply adds a new record with completely empty columns, regardless of what's filled in the form. No errors get returned in the script/server output or in the log files. From the script/console however, everything works perfectly fine. I can create new records and update their attributes no problem.
It's also quite a bad code smell that I have a lot of code duplication in my controllers/models (they're using the same views as the base model, so that's fine though). But I think that's unavoidable here unless I use some meta-goodness.
Any advice or suggestions about tackling this record saving issue would be great, but the reason I posted my setup in detail is because I have a feeling I'm probably going about this whole thing the wrong way. So, I'm open to other approaches if you know of something more practical than using STI. Thanks.
Update
The parameters hash looks about right:
{"commit"=>"Create", "authenticity_token"=>"+aOA6bBSrZP2B6jsDMnKTU+DIAIkhc8fqoSicVxRJls=", "red_foo"=>{"title"=>"Hello world!"}}
But #foo.inspect returns the following RedFoo object (all nil, except for type):
#<RedFoo id: nil, title: nil, type: "RedFoo", created_at: nil, updated_at: nil>
Problem is the params
:red_foo
is the name of the params in the view, whereas you use
params[:foo]
in the controller, I think the best way would be to be use :foo, in the view by using text_field_tag rather than any (what i assume can be) form builders text_field.
You can get out of the controller smell by using a module to do the basic crud stuff, since i assume most of the new/create/edit/update/destroy stuff is the same
OR
you could map all the routes to a foo controller and use some sort of parameter either passed in from the route, or through URI analysis to get the red/green/blue foo
Please take a look at the section called "Single table inheritance" on this page and let us know if it solves your problem.
Must admit, the way I go about STI is to use set_table_name inside a model.
e.g.
class RedFoo < AR::Base
set_table_name "foos"
include FooModule
extend FooClassModule # for self methods
def next; ...; end
end
But anyway, for this situation, what does your logger say when you do a #foo.inspect just before a save, and also what is the SQL that is ran on insert/update?
Right, so #foo.inspect gives you "nil" in the log?
What I mean (if I wasn't clear enough) was:
def create
#foo = RedFoo.new(params[:foo])
logger.error "******************* foo: #{#foo.inspect} **************"
respond_to do |format|
if #foo.save
...
if you do that and tail -f your log you can easily find out what is happening to foo and compare that to the incoming params hash
Infact, that would also be some useful information to have, what is the params hash?

Excluding some ActiveRecord properties from xml rendering in rails

I have an ActiveRecord model that I would like to convert to xml, but I do not want all the properties rendered in xml. Is there a parameter I can pass into the render method to keep a property from being rendered in xml?
Below is an example of what I am talking about.
def show
#person = Person.find(params[:id])
respond_to do |format|
format.xml { render :xml => #person }
end
end
produces the following xml
<person>
<name>Paul</name>
<age>25</age>
<phone>555.555.5555</phone>
</person>
However, I do not want the phone property to be shown. Is there some parameter in the render method that excludes properties from being rendered in xml? Kind of like the following example
def show
#person = Person.find(params[:id])
respond_to do |format|
format.xml { render :xml => #person, :exclude_attribute => :phone }
end
end
which would render the following xml
<person>
<name>Paul</name>
<age>25</age>
</person>
You can pass an array of model attribute names to the :only and :except options, so for your example it would be:
def show
#person = Person.find(params[:id])
respond_to do |format|
format.xml { render :text => #person.to_xml, :except => [:phone] }
end
end
to_xml documentation
I just was wondering this same thing, I made the change at the model level so I wouldn't have to do it in the controller, just another option if you are interested.
model
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
def to_xml
super(:except => [:phone])
end
def to_json
super(:except => [:phone])
end
end
controller
class PeopleController < ApplicationController
# GET /people
# GET /people.xml
def index
#people = Person.all
respond_to do |format|
format.html # index.html.erb
format.xml { render :xml => #people }
format.json { render :json => #people }
end
end
end
I set one of them up for json and xml on every object, kinda convenient when I want to filter things out of every alternative formatted response. The cool thing about this method is that even when you get a collection back, it will call this method and return the filtered results.
The "render :xml" did not work, but the to_xml did work. Below is an example
def show
#person = Person.find(params[:id])
respond_to do |format|
format.xml { render :text => #person.to_xml(:except => [:phone]) }
end
end
The except is good, but you have to remember to put it everywhere. If you're putting this in a controller, every method needs to have an except clause. I overwrite the serializable_hash method in my models to exclude what I don't want to show up. This has the benefits of not having t put it every place you're going to return as well as also applying to JSON responses.

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