Rails not showing error on form submit - ruby-on-rails

Question

I am working in rails 2, I have a form containing data of two models, In one model I am validating fields and entering error using self.errors.add_to_base , but this is not displaying error on form and submitting that request successfully.
This is my Model validation\
validate :checkPunchingEntries
def checkPunchingEntries
if self.punch_in_time.blank? && self.punch_out_time.blank?
self.errors.add_to_base("Both 'Punch in' and 'Punch out' time can not be blank")
end
end
This is my Form
<% form_tag '/punching_requests/create', :method => :post, :class=>"punching_request_form" do %>
<% #punching_request.errors.full_messages.each do |msg| %>
<p class="error"><%=msg%></p>
<% end %>
<p>
<label>Date </label>
<%= text_field_tag 'date'%> <%= calendar_for("date") %>
</p>
<p>
<label> </label>
<input type="checkbox" onclick="punch_in_toggle()">Punch In</input>
<input type="checkbox" onclick="punch_out_toggle()">Punch Out</input>
</p>
<div id="punch_in">
<p>
<label>Punch In Time </label>
<%= text_field_tag 'punch_in_time'%>
</p>
</div>
<div id="punch_out">
<p>
<label>Punch Out Time </label>
<%= text_field_tag 'punch_out_time'%>
</p>
</div>
<p>
<label>Assign To</label>
<%= select_tag(:approved_by, options_from_collection_for_select(#human_resource_persons, "id", "login")) %>
</p>
<p>
<label>Reason </label>
<%=text_area_tag 'reason'%>
</p>
<p class="actions"><label></label><%= submit_tag 'Save' %></p>
<% end %>
It comes into validation, but error is not shown on validation fails.

Answer 1

Have you tried the IRB console? If not, take a look what is going on there, just to be sure, that #punching_request.errors contains something.

Answer 2

try this
def checkPunchingEntries
if self.punch_in_time.blank? && self.punch_out_time.blank?
errors[:base]<< "Both 'Punch in' and 'Punch out' time can not be blank"
end
end
and use form_for and #punching_request
for example
# in your controller
def new
#punching_request = PunchingRequest.new
end
def create
...
...
end
your form look like in your new.html.erb
form_for(#punching_request)
...
...
end

Answer 3

In this you're generating the form using form_tag and the errors you're expecting would be stored in the form builder,form_for.
Instead of form_tag use form_for(#punching_request). This should do the trick.