# Activerecord not working **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [September 11, 2007, 12:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/activerecord-not-working/114327 "2007-09-11T12:49:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dodgyboz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/b19c9b/32.png) [@dodgyboz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dodgyboz)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2007, 12:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/activerecord-not-working/114327/1 "2007-09-11T12:49:19Z")
Hi all, I have a table like the one below called key\_value\_pairs id spec val 1 size small 2 size medium 3 size small In my controller i have def edit @pair = KeyValuePair.find(params[:id]) end and in my view i have such code as \<%= @pair.val %\>. This code was all working as expected before (before what i’m not sure, but now it no longer works) as far as im aware i have made no changes to the edit method in the controller or any changes to the view and all the data is still in the database table but now when i try and view the page i get nil object error message You have a nil object when you didn’t expect it! The error occurred while evaluating nil.val Does any one have any suggestions or ideas? has this happened to anyone else? I am not sure how to proceed as all my code (which is rather simple) looks like it should work. ---
**Author:** ![dodgyboz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/b19c9b/32.png) [@dodgyboz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dodgyboz)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/activerecord-not-working/114327/2 "2007-09-11T20:57:38Z")
nil object is what you get when the you get no results. Check for nil in your view, or adjust your controller to not send a nil. \<%= @pair.val unless @pair.nil? -%\> OR # Don’t set @pair to a nil, ever def edit value = KeyValuePair.find\_by\_id(params[:id]) @pair value || KeyValuePair.new # You’ll get an empty object if value is nil. end dodgyboz wrote: > Hi all, > I have a table like the one below called key\_value\_pairs > > id spec val > 1 size small > 2 size medium > 3 size small > > In my controller i have > > def edit > @pair = KeyValuePair.find(params[:id]) > end > > and in my view i have such code as \<%= @pair.val %\>. > > This code was all working as expected before (before what i’m not > sure, but now it no longer works) as far as im aware i have made no > changes to the edit method in the controller or any changes to the > view and all the data is still in the database table but now when i > try and view the page i get nil object error message > > You have a nil object when you didn’t expect it! > The error occurred while evaluating nil.val > > Does any one have any suggestions or ideas? has this happened to > anyone else? > > I am not sure how to proceed as all my code (which is rather simple) > looks like it should work. ---
**Author:** ![dodgyboz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/b19c9b/32.png) [@dodgyboz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dodgyboz)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2007, 11:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/activerecord-not-working/114327/3 "2007-09-11T23:04:31Z")
On 9/11/07, dodgyboz [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > In my controller i have > view and all the data is still in the database table but now when i > try and view the page i get nil object error message > > You have a nil object when you didn’t expect it! > The error occurred while evaluating nil.val > > Does any one have any suggestions or ideas? has this happened to > anyone else? There’s not enough information to know what the problem is. The find() should raise an exception if the record isn’t found, so I suspect that for some reason, the find() isn’t being performed, and thus @pair isn’t being set. One quick thing you can do is to temporarily add this to your controller right after the find: raise @pair.inspect Then call your action from the browser. If you still get the view error, then the find didn’t happen.