Is my routing wrong?

Rails
1

My routing:

resources :incidents do
resource :timesheet do
resource :command_officer
end
end

My CommandOfficersController:
def new
@command_officer = CommandOfficer.new
…

Now if I want to add a Command Officer to an Incident’s Timesheet, I go
to:
/incidents/41/timesheet/command_officer/new

And I get this error:

NoMethodError in Command_officers#new
Showing C:/Rails/costrecovery/app/views/command_officers/_form.html.erb
where line #1 raised:

undefined method `command_officers_path’ for
#<#Class:0x422f1c0:0x422cb38>

Extracted source (around line #1):
1: <%= form_for(@command_officer) do |f| %>
2: <% if @command_officer.errors.any? %>

Can anyone explain why I’m getting this error. I’ve been trying to find
out for hours.

2

Finne J. wrote in post #971120:

My routing:

resources :incidents do
resource :timesheet do
resource :command_officer
end
end

My CommandOfficersController:
def new
@command_officer = CommandOfficer.new
…

Now if I want to add a Command Officer to an Incident’s Timesheet, I go
to:
/incidents/41/timesheet/command_officer/new

And I get this error:

NoMethodError in Command_officers#new
Showing C:/Rails/costrecovery/app/views/command_officers/_form.html.erb
where line #1 raised:

undefined method `command_officers_path’ for
#<#Class:0x422f1c0:0x422cb38>

Extracted source (around line #1):
1: <%= form_for(@command_officer) do |f| %>
2: <% if @command_officer.errors.any? %>

Can anyone explain why I’m getting this error. I’ve been trying to find
out for hours.

Since your resources are nested, you need to use the array syntax of
form_for so that the proper route is generated.

Best,

Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
[email protected]

Sent from my iPhone

3

Since your resources are nested, you need to use the array syntax of
form_for so that the proper route is generated.

<%= form_for :command_officer, @command_officer do |f| %>

That one doesn’t generate any errors, thanks.
But when I fill in the form and press submit, I get:

Routing Error
No route matches “/incidents/41/timesheet/command_officer/new”

4

Finne J. wrote in post #971133:

Since your resources are nested, you need to use the array syntax of
form_for so that the proper route is generated.

<%= form_for :command_officer, @command_officer do |f| %>

That one doesn’t generate any errors, thanks.
But when I fill in the form and press submit, I get:

Routing Error
No route matches “/incidents/41/timesheet/command_officer/new”

Nevermind this! I forgot to add the options hash: :url => { :action =>
“create” }

5

Marnen Laibow-Koser wrote in post #971140:

Finne J. wrote in post #971133:

Since your resources are nested, you need to use the array syntax of
form_for so that the proper route is generated.

<%= form_for :command_officer, @command_officer do |f| %>

No! You need the parent resource names in there, I think. Rails
already knows what kind of resource @command_officer itself is.

Hmm, it seems to work like that without the parent resource.
Probably because I have CommandOfficers#create like this?

def create
@timesheet = Incident.find(params[:incident_id]).timesheet

respond_to do |format|
  if @timesheet.create_command_officer(params[:command_officer])

…

6

Finne J. wrote in post #971133:

Since your resources are nested, you need to use the array syntax of
form_for so that the proper route is generated.

<%= form_for :command_officer, @command_officer do |f| %>

No! You need the parent resource names in there, I think. Rails
already knows what kind of resource @command_officer itself is.

That one doesn’t generate any errors, thanks.
But when I fill in the form and press submit, I get:

Routing Error
No route matches “/incidents/41/timesheet/command_officer/new”

Best,

Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
[email protected]

Sent from my iPhone

7

I’m having another issue.
This is my create method for a Command Officer:

def create
@timesheet = Incident.find(params[:incident_id]).timesheet

respond_to do |format|
  if @timesheet.create_command_officer(params[:command_officer])

This is working fine. But when I use the same code in
FireFighter#create:
if @timesheet.create_fire_fighter(params[:fire_fighter])

I get this error:
NoMethodError in Fire fightersController#create
undefined method `create_fire_fighter’ for
“#Timesheet:0x3f8b938”:Timesheet

As far as I know everything is set up identical to Command Officer and I
don’t know why the create_fire_fighter doesn’t work, while it does work
for Command Officer?

8

Finne J. wrote in post #971310:

I’m having another issue.
This is my create method for a Command Officer:

def create
@timesheet = Incident.find(params[:incident_id]).timesheet

respond_to do |format|
  if @timesheet.create_command_officer(params[:command_officer])

This is working fine. But when I use the same code in
FireFighter#create:
if @timesheet.create_fire_fighter(params[:fire_fighter])

I get this error:
NoMethodError in Fire fightersController#create
undefined method `create_fire_fighter’ for
“#Timesheet:0x3f8b938”:Timesheet

As far as I know everything is set up identical to Command Officer

Obviously it isn’t.

and I
don’t know why the create_fire_fighter doesn’t work, while it does work
for Command Officer?

You forgot to set up the associations on Timesheet properly. What
associations does Timesheet currently have?

Best,

Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
[email protected]

Sent from my iPhone

9

You forgot to set up the associations on Timesheet properly. What
associations does Timesheet currently have?

class Timesheet < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :incident

has_one :command_officer
has_one :fire_chief
has_many :fire_fighters

class FireFighter < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :timesheet

I tested it with the console, Tiemsheet.last.fire_fighters returns an
empty array []

10

Finne J. wrote in post #971314:

You forgot to set up the associations on Timesheet properly. What
associations does Timesheet currently have?

class Timesheet < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :incident

has_one :command_officer
has_one :fire_chief
has_many :fire_fighters

Still using the data model I advised you against, I see…

…but in any case, I think you want @timesheet.fire_fighters.create,
not @timesheet.create_fire_fighter , which doesn’t exist on has_many.

class FireFighter < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :timesheet

I tested it with the console, Tiemsheet.last.fire_fighters returns an
empty array []

You do know that Timesheet.last will return an arbitrary timesheet, and
that you can’t predict which one it returns, right?

Best,

Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
[email protected]

11

Marnen Laibow-Koser wrote in post #971320:
…

You do know that Timesheet.last will return an arbitrary timesheet, and
that you can’t predict which one it returns, right?

That is not entirely true. It is ‘Timesheet.first’ that would better be
renamed to ‘Timesheet.random’ :wink: Same goes for Timesheet.find_by_name
(that is really “pick an arbitrary entry with that name”).

But ‘Timesheet.last’ actually has a default ordering on ‘id DESC’.

I saw that behavior in Rails 2.3.5 and 3.0.3. Here in 3.0.3:

ruby-1.9.2-p136 :013 > Timesheet.first
=> #<Timesheet id: 1, name: “Jon”, date: “2010-12-29”, project: “test”>
ruby-1.9.2-p136 :014 > Timesheet.last
=> #<Timesheet id: 4, name: “Jon”, date: “2010-12-31”, project: “test
4”>
ruby-1.9.2-p136 :015 > Timesheet.find_by_name(‘Jon’)
=> #<Timesheet id: 1, name: “Jon”, date: “2010-12-29”, project: “test”>

yields:

Timesheet Load (0.2ms) SELECT “timesheets”.* FROM “timesheets” LIMIT
1
Timesheet Load (0.2ms) SELECT “timesheets”.* FROM “timesheets” ORDER
BY timesheets.id DESC LIMIT 1
Timesheet Load (0.2ms) SELECT “timesheets”.* FROM “timesheets” WHERE
(“timesheets”.“name” = ‘Jon’) LIMIT 1

This caused us quite some fun at work (e.g. flickering tests at best,
unpredictable results at worst), so I eventually implemented a “.single”
method that barfs loudly if you expect to find only zero or 1 entries
for a certain query or in a certain array and then unexpectly, there are
more entries there …

For that reason, at work, I advise against the use of:

  • .first => replaced by .single
  • find_by => replaced by find_all_by().single

HTH,

Peter

12

Still using the data model I advised you against, I see…

Yes, unfortunately my boss has been pushing to get a first version
online within two weeks. I’ve decided to use this current structure for
now and then restructure after launch.

…but in any case, I think you want @timesheet.fire_fighters.create,
not @timesheet.create_fire_fighter , which doesn’t exist on has_many.

Thanks, I did not know that ‘create_modelname’ was only available with
has_one relationships.

I tested it with the console, Tiemsheet.last.fire_fighters returns an
empty array []

You do know that Timesheet.last will return an arbitrary timesheet, and
that you can’t predict which one it returns, right?

Yes, I was just using that to test if the association was working
correctly.

13

Finne J. wrote in post #971329:

Still using the data model I advised you against, I see…

Yes, unfortunately my boss has been pushing to get a first version
online within two weeks. I’ve decided to use this current structure for
now and then restructure after launch.

I advise against this course of action in the strongest possible terms.
Normalizing the schema will be easy. Refactoring the application code
will be easy if you have proper tests. But normalizing the data already
entered into the denormalized schema will be nearly impossible.

This is one of those things that you want to get right the first time.
Normalize your schema. It’s easier to denormalize later than to
normalize later.

…but in any case, I think you want @timesheet.fire_fighters.create,
not @timesheet.create_fire_fighter , which doesn’t exist on has_many.

Thanks, I did not know that ‘create_modelname’ was only available with
has_one relationships.

Did you check the docs? :slight_smile:

I tested it with the console, Tiemsheet.last.fire_fighters returns an
empty array []

You do know that Timesheet.last will return an arbitrary timesheet, and
that you can’t predict which one it returns, right?

Yes, I was just using that to test if the association was working
correctly.

OK. You’d probably be better served to get good automated tests
working.

Best,

Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
[email protected]

Sent from my iPhone

14

I advise against this course of action in the strongest possible terms.
Normalizing the schema will be easy. Refactoring the application code
will be easy if you have proper tests. But normalizing the data already
entered into the denormalized schema will be nearly impossible.

This is one of those things that you want to get right the first time.
Normalize your schema. It’s easier to denormalize later than to
normalize later.

Ok thanks, I am going to ask my boss to move the launch deadline in
order to avoid those problems.