Html input strings to database column integers

Rails
1

Hello all,

I am pulling my hair out on this. It seems like it should be the easiest
thing in the world to do, but it’s just escaping me.

I have a rails built form and but I keep getting this error when I
submit it:

“Mysql::Error: Column ‘user_id’ cannot be null: INSERT INTO games
(…”

I have a hidden field in my form that collects @user.id which is passed
by the controller.

<% form_for @game, :url => user_games_path(@user), :method => :post do
|f| %>
<%= f.hidden_field :user_id, :value => @user.id %>

<%= f.label :my_user_empire %> <%= f.select :user_empire, Game::SelectableEmpires.options_for_select %>
<%=f.submit "Begin Game" %>
<% end %>

Controller:
def new
@user = User.find(params[:user_id])
@game = Game.new
end

And I am pretty sure the problem is b/c the HTML hidden field is sending
the database a string and the DB is expecting an integer.

I’ve tried this in the model:

before_validation :user_id

def user_id
self.user_id.to_i
end

but I get the error:
“stack level too deep”

I would greatly appreciate any help. Thank you.

2

In your controller, may be you need to set the user object in games
object.

def new
@user = User.find(params[:user_id])
@game = Game.new

@game.user = @user

end

In your current code, there is nothing in the @game that links it to
@user.

3

If below hint does not solve your problem, please paste your Game model
code
(apps/model/game.rb) here.

I hope you have “belongs_to” or “has_one” relationship setup between
game
and user.

Regards,
Srikanth

4

Here is my games model.

I do have a belongs_to relationship with users and users has_one game.

The problem isn’t with this relationship though. I am able to get
retrieve any information related to the @user, no problem. The problem
I am having is that in my form I have html inputs that need to post to
my database. But the database is looking for integers here and the form
outputs strings.

I need to know if there’s an easy (or any) to have these values from my
form be converted to integers before_save. I thought that what I have
below with defining “user_id” as “self.user_id.to_i” would do it but I
get that stack error.

class Game < ActiveRecord::Base

belongs_to :user

before_validation :user_id
before_validation :user_empire

def user_id
self.user_id.to_i
end

def user_empire
self.user_empire.to_i
end
end

Again my form:
<% form_for @game, :url => user_games_path(@user), :method => :post do
|f| %>
<%= f.hidden_field :user_id, :value => @user.id %>

<%= f.label :my_user_empire %> <%= f.select :user_empire, Game::SelectableEmpires.options_for_select %>
<%=f.submit "Begin Game" %>
<% end %>
5

Refer Section 7 here Getting Started with Rails — Ruby on Rails Guides
It
gives an example similar to the problem you are trying to solve.

Don’t think you need to define your own method “user_id”, as active
record
would have already generated one based on DB schema.

Also, conversion between integer and string is too taken care by Active
Record. From a web form, all the data are received in string form in
the
HTTP POST body, so I dont think the issue is with data type conversion.

Regards,
Srikanth

6

Thank you for your response.

So I’ve realized that the model is just not receiving anything from
these fields.

I added:
validates_presence_of :user_id
validates_presence_of :user_empire
validates_presence_of :difficulty

and I get the error in the form:
“User can’t be blank
User empire can’t be blank”

In the development log it shows these being posted with the correct
names, I’ve double checked them in the DB and it all matches up. So why
is it not submitting what’s in the input to the DB?

Also it says “User can’t be Blank” when it should be user_id. I am
completely confused here.

I do have the belongs_to relationship with :users but am not nesting the
new game form. I don’t have to still do the accepts_nested_attributes,
do I?

7

Can you please provide code of your Game controller?

Also, let me know whether you are getting the error during create or
update
of game or both?

8

In the “create” method, there is nothing that links “user” and “game”
together…that is causing the issue.

I am little rusty on exact syntax, but based on my rails code I could
refer,
I suggest trying out followings:

Based on your logs, user_id is nested within user hash, so i suggest you
use
params[:user][:user_id] in User.find.
Also, use the in-built create method to create game instance from user
instance (Refer

).

def create

@user = User.find(params*[:user][:user_id])
@game = @user.create_game(params[:game])
*
if @game.save
redirect_to user_game_path(@user, @game)
else
render :action => ‘new’
end
end

9

Here is my games_controller:

class GamesController < ApplicationController
def show
@user = User.find(params[:user_id])
@game = Game.find(params[:id])
end

def new
@user = User.find(params[:user_id])
@game = Game.new
end

def create
@user = User.find(params[:user_id])
@game = Game.new(params[:id])

if @game.save
  redirect_to user_game_path(@user, @game)
else
  render :action => 'new'
end

end

def edit

end

def update

end

def destroy

end
end

As you can see, I haven’t even begun to fight with update or edit.
Updates to the games table will occur later with responses from a flash
document.

From my dev_log. It shows that the fields I want are getting posted.
But Rails is not seeing them.

Processing UsersController#1 (for 127.0.0.1 at 2010-09-12 14:23:26)
[PUT]
Parameters: {“user”=>{“game”=>{“num_of_enemies”=>“7”,
“enemy_check_box”=>[“0”, “50”, “0”, “0”, “30”, “0”, “0”, “20”, “0”, “0”,
“0”], “user_id”=>“1”, “user_empire”=>“30”, “difficulty”=>“10”,
“selection_of_enemies”=>“2”}}, “commit”=>“Begin Game”, “action”=>“1”,
“_method”=>“put”,
“authenticity_token”=>“SX7VfUzPm3SdzqFoKX4DQObQaHQLXSJudlNIfEGUt2Q=”,
“id”=>“games”, “controller”=>“users”}

10

I am sorry…user_id is nested with game hash…so use
params[:game][:user_id]

def create

@user = User.find(params[:game][:user_id])
@game = @user.create_game(params[:game])

if @game.save
redirect_to user_game_path(@user, @game)
else
render :action => ‘new’
end
end