# Nil object for nested resource

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/nil-object-for-nested-resource/107332>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [June 20, 2007, 4:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/nil-object-for-nested-resource/107332 "2007-06-20T16:39:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![turnkeytraders](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@turnkeytraders](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/turnkeytraders)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 4:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/nil-object-for-nested-resource/107332/1 "2007-06-20T16:39:52Z")

</div>

Hi all,

I have 2 models with a standard 1 to many relationship. I’m also  
using  
REST on the two models and have added the appropriate code to the  
routes.rb file.

# scorecard.rb:

class Scorecard \< ActiveRecord::Base  
has\_many :attributes  
end

# attribute.rb:

class Attribute \< ActiveRecord::Base  
belongs\_to :scorecard  
end

# routes.rb:

map.resources :scorecards do |scorecard|  
scorecard.resources :attributes  
end

My problem is that I want to show a single scorecard with all it’s  
attributes. I then want to display a “New attribute” link to add a  
new  
attribute to the current scorecard.

# scorecards/show.rhtml:

\<%= label\_for(“scorecard”) %\>  
\<%=h @scorecard.name %\>

\<%= label\_for(“template”) %\>  
\<%=h @scorecard.template %\>

**Attributes:**

\<% for attribute in @scorecard.attributes %\> \<% end %\>

| \<%=h attribute.name %\> | \<%=h attribute.weight %\> |

\<%= link\_to "New Attribute", new\_attribute\_path(@scorecard) %\>

However I get the message for line 17 (last line) when I try to view  
this page,

You have a nil object when you didn’t expect it!  
The error occurred while evaluating nil.to\_sym

I have tried checking against various REST and Rails books and  
articles,  
and I thought I had used the correct syntax for creating a link to a  
new  
attribute from this scorecard.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Matthew