REST API Help in Rails - ruby-on-rails

Question

I am trying to get some information posted using our accountancy package (FreeAgentCentral) using their API via a GEM.
http://github.com/aaronrussell/freeagent_api/
I have the following code to get it working (supposedly):
Kase Controller
def create
#kase = Kase.new(params[:kase])
#company = Company.find(params[:kase][:company_id])
#kase = #company.kases.create!(params[:kase])
respond_to do |format|
if #kase.save
UserMailer.deliver_makeakase("dropbox#12808311.macandco.highrisehq.com", "Highrise", #kase)
#kase.create_freeagent_project(current_user)
#flash[:notice] = 'Case was successfully created.'
flash[:notice] = fading_flash_message("Case was successfully created & sent to Highrise.", 5)
format.html { redirect_to(#kase) }
format.xml { render :xml => #kase, :status => :created, :location => #kase }
else
format.html { render :action => "new" }
format.xml { render :xml => #kase.errors, :status => :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
To save you looking through, the important part is:
#kase.create_freeagent_project(current_user)
Kase Model
# FreeAgent API Project Create
# Required attribues
# :contact_id
# :name
# :payment_term_in_days
# :billing_basis # must be 1, 7, 7.5, or 8
# :budget_units # must be Hours, Days, or Monetary
# :status # must be Active or Completed
def create_freeagent_project(current_user)
p = Freeagent::Project.create(
:contact_id => 0,
:name => "#{jobno} - #{highrisesubject}",
:payment_terms_in_days => 5,
:billing_basis => 1,
:budget_units => 'Hours',
:status => 'Active'
)
user = Freeagent::User.find_by_email(current_user.email)
Freeagent::Timeslip.create(
:project_id => p.id,
:user_id => user.id,
:hours => 1,
:new_task => 'Setup',
:dated_on => Time.now
)
end
lib/freeagent_api.rb
require 'rubygems'
gem 'activeresource', '< 3.0.0.beta1'
require 'active_resource'
module Freeagent
class << self
def authenticate(options)
Base.authenticate(options)
end
end
class Error < StandardError; end
class Base < ActiveResource::Base
def self.authenticate(options)
self.site = "https://#{options[:domain]}"
self.user = options[:username]
self.password = options[:password]
end
end
# Company
class Company
def self.invoice_timeline
InvoiceTimeline.find :all, :from => '/company/invoice_timeline.xml'
end
def self.tax_timeline
TaxTimeline.find :all, :from => '/company/tax_timeline.xml'
end
end
class InvoiceTimeline < Base
self.prefix = '/company/'
end
class TaxTimeline < Base
self.prefix = '/company/'
end
# Contacts
class Contact < Base
end
# Projects
class Project < Base
def invoices
Invoice.find :all, :from => "/projects/#{id}/invoices.xml"
end
def timeslips
Timeslip.find :all, :from => "/projects/#{id}/timeslips.xml"
end
end
# Tasks - Complete
class Task < Base
self.prefix = '/projects/:project_id/'
end
# Invoices - Complete
class Invoice < Base
def mark_as_draft
connection.put("/invoices/#{id}/mark_as_draft.xml", encode, self.class.headers).tap do |response|
load_attributes_from_response(response)
end
end
def mark_as_sent
connection.put("/invoices/#{id}/mark_as_sent.xml", encode, self.class.headers).tap do |response|
load_attributes_from_response(response)
end
end
def mark_as_cancelled
connection.put("/invoices/#{id}/mark_as_cancelled.xml", encode, self.class.headers).tap do |response|
load_attributes_from_response(response)
end
end
end
# Invoice items - Complete
class InvoiceItem < Base
self.prefix = '/invoices/:invoice_id/'
end
# Timeslips
class Timeslip < Base
def self.find(*arguments)
scope = arguments.slice!(0)
options = arguments.slice!(0) || {}
if options[:params] && options[:params][:from] && options[:params][:to]
options[:params][:view] = options[:params][:from]+'_'+options[:params][:to]
options[:params].delete(:from)
options[:params].delete(:to)
end
case scope
when :all then find_every(options)
when :first then find_every(options).first
when :last then find_every(options).last
when :one then find_one(options)
else find_single(scope, options)
end
end
end
# Users
class User < Base
self.prefix = '/company/'
def self.find_by_email(email)
users = User.find :all
users.each do |u|
u.email == email ? (return u) : next
end
raise Error, "No user matches that email!"
end
end
end
config/initializers/freeagent.rb
Freeagent.authenticate({
:domain => 'XXXXX.freeagentcentral.com',
:username => 'XXXX#XXXXXXX.co.uk',
:password => 'XXXXXX'
})
The above render the following error when trying to create a new Case and send the details to FreeAgent:
ActiveResource::ResourceNotFound in KasesController#create
Failed with 404 Not Found
and
ActiveResource::ResourceNotFound (Failed with 404 Not Found):
app/models/kase.rb:56:in `create_freeagent_project'
app/controllers/kases_controller.rb:96:in `create'
app/controllers/kases_controller.rb:93:in `create'
Rendered rescues/_trace (176.5ms)
Rendered rescues/_request_and_response (1.1ms)
Rendering rescues/layout (internal_server_error)
If anyone can shed any light on this problem it would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Danny

Answer 1

How are you calling create? With a normal restful create action it would be with a POST from a form or something, but 404s are generally rendered from a failed GET action, where an ActiveRecord find fails to locate a record with a specific id. My best guess is that you're calling create with a GET, and that the line
user = Freeagent::User.find_by_email(current_user.email)
simply cannot locate a user with that email, and so is throwing the ResourceNotFound exception.
Additionally, this bit of code is confusing to me:
#kase = Kase.new(params[:kase])
#company = Company.find(params[:kase][:company_id])
#kase = #company.kases.create!(params[:kase])
respond_to do |format|
if #kase.save
Why are you creating #kase twice here, once with Kase.new and once with kases.create? Also, note that the line:
if #kase.save
will always evaluate true, because the line:
#company.kases.create!(params[:kase])
would have thrown an exception if it were false, which is another way of saying that #kase.save is redundant because create! would have already persisted the new Kase record.
EDIT: What I think you meant to do was:
# this line can go #kase = Kase.new(params[:kase])
#company = Company.find(params[:kase][:company_id])
#kase = #company.kases.build(params[:kase])
EDIT: You probably want a new action like this:
def new
#kase = Kase.new # no params here
end
The 'new' erb template will have a form_for something like:
<% form_for #kase do |k| %>
etc. That form will by default post the params from the form to the create action, assuming you've set up something like resources :kase in your routes. That should get you started. Follow the standard tutorials like you're doing and things should get simpler as you go.