"Accepts nested attributes" not actually accepting attributes in model - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'm working on a project where there are tasks that make up a scavenger hunt. When a user creates a new hunt, I'd like the hunts/show.html.erb file to show the hunt as well as the tasks associated with that hunt. But the models are giving me trouble. I've got the hunt model setup to that it accepts nested attributes for the tasks model. So when the user creates a new hunt, she also creates three tasks automatically. I can get the new hunt to save, but I can't get those new tasks to save. Here are my models.
What's missing? Do I need an "attr accessible" statement in the HunTasks.rb file?
class Hunt < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :hunt_tasks
has_many :tasks, :through => :hunt_tasks
accepts_nested_attributes_for :tasks, :reject_if => lambda { |a| a[:content].blank? }, :allow_destroy => true
attr_accessible :name
validates :name, :presence => true,
:length => { :maximum => 50 } ,
:uniqueness => { :case_sensitive => false }
end
class Task < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :hunt_tasks
has_many :hunts, :through => :hunt_tasks
attr_accessible :name
validates :name, :presence => true,
:length => { :maximum => 50 } ,
:uniqueness => { :case_sensitive => false }
end
class HuntTask < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :hunt # the id for the association is in this table
belongs_to :task
end
Here's what my Hunt controller looks like:
class HuntsController < ApplicationController
def index
#title = "All Hunts"
#hunts = Hunt.paginate(:page => params[:page])
end
def show
#hunt = Hunt.find(params[:id])
#title = #hunt.name
#tasks = #hunt.tasks.paginate(:page => params[:page])
end
def new
if current_user?(nil) then
redirect_to signin_path
else
#hunt = Hunt.new
#title = "New Hunt"
3.times do
hunt = #hunt.tasks.build
end
end
end
def create
#hunt = Hunt.new(params[:hunt])
if #hunt.save
flash[:success] = "Hunt created!"
redirect_to hunts_path
else
#title = "New Hunt"
render 'new'
end
end
....
end

Answer 1

The major difference between your example and the railscast is that you are doing many-to-many instead of one to many (I think his was Survey had many Questions). Based on what you described, I wonder if the HuntTask model is necessary. Are the tasks for one hunt ever going to be resused in another hunt? Assuming they are, then looks like your answer is here:
Rails nested form with has_many :through, how to edit attributes of join model?
You'll have to modify your new action in the controller to do this:
hunt = #hunt.hunt_tasks.build.build_task
Then, you'll need to change your Hunt model to include:
accepts_nested_attributes_for :hunt_tasks
And modify your HuntTask model to include:
accepts_nested_attribues_for :hunt