# Problem with error\_messages\_for **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [May 24, 2007, 8:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-with-error-messages-for/105000 "2007-05-24T20:01:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 8:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-with-error-messages-for/105000/1 "2007-05-24T20:01:51Z")
I have a number of validations in client.rb like this… validates\_length\_of :first\_name, :last\_name, :maximum =\> 25, :message =\> “Maximum 25 characters and numbers combined” and in my clients\_controller.rb I have this… def update @client = Client.find(params[:id]) if @client.update\_attributes(params[:client]) flash[:notice] = ‘Client was successfully updated.’ redirect\_to :back else flash[:notice] = ‘There was a problem with saving your edits.’ redirect\_to :back end end and the first line in my view\_code is \<%= error\_messages\_for ‘client’ %\> my the flash[:notice] (on my layout) displays properly but nothing ever displays in the view code. What detail am I missing? Is it because I am using ‘:redirect\_to :back’ ? – Craig W. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 8:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-with-error-messages-for/105000/2 "2007-05-24T20:19:55Z")
On May 24, 12:00 pm, Craig W. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > What detail am I missing? Is it because I am using > ‘:redirect\_to :back’ ? Yes - you need to use render instead to preserve the errors. ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-with-error-messages-for/105000/3 "2007-05-24T20:53:01Z")
On Thu, 2007-05-24 at 11:18 -0700, Phrogz wrote: > On May 24, 12:00 pm, Craig W. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > What detail am I missing? Is it because I am using > > ‘:redirect\_to :back’ ? > > Yes - you need to use render instead to preserve the errors. * * * OK - that’s why they stopped outputting the ‘messages’ I really want to use ‘redirect\_to’ instead of ‘render’ because I have a number of different data entry screens using the same ‘update’ method. Is it possible to get the same effect in flash[:notice] - I ask because ‘error\_messages\_for’ is ActionView and doesn’t work in controllers and something like flash[:notice] = error\_messages\_for ‘client’ flash[:notice] = @client.errors flash[:notice] = @client.valid? all don’t work – Craig W. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 9:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-with-error-messages-for/105000/4 "2007-05-30T21:13:14Z")
Does anybody has an answer for this? I have the same problem. And adding a new user while the url is : users/save doesn’t seem “REST” to me. ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-with-error-messages-for/105000/5 "2007-05-30T23:13:39Z")
If you need to access formatted errors in controllers your best bet is to use @object.errors.full\_messages, which returns an array of error messages corresponding to the LIs that error\_message\_for prints out. If you are constructing a flash message you might do something like flash[:warning] = @object.errors.full\_messages.join(" ") Which will yield something like “Attribute X can’t be blank. Attribute Y must be numeric.” etc ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 4:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-with-error-messages-for/105000/6 "2007-06-02T16:25:51Z")
Beautiful. Gonna try that. Thanks. But I think Rails won’t remember the post values, right?