# Problems with file\_column plugin **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [August 14, 2006, 12:46am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problems-with-file-column-plugin/102248 "2006-08-14T00:46:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ivanstorck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/e99b99/32.png) [@ivanstorck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ivanstorck)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 12:46am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problems-with-file-column-plugin/102248/1 "2006-08-14T00:46:00Z")
1. installation is not as smooth as some other plug-ins. If you follow the instructions on [http://www.kanthak.net/opensource/file\_column/](http://www.kanthak.net/opensource/file_column/) it makes a directory called trunk instead of file\_column. You have to manually rename it to file\_column. I guess this is a minor annoyance but it gives me the feeling that things aren’t quite like other plugins. 1. I get this error: undefined method `file\_column’ for Mymodel:Class after following the directions to to that on the same page. I thought it was maybe because I had to add require ‘rails\_file\_column’ to environment.rb but I still get the same error Does anyone have an example of a getting this plugin working? A complete example would be great (model, list and form views, and controller, and schema) [http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/HowToUseFileColumn](http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/HowToUseFileColumn) only has model and view code thanks! ---
**Author:** ![ivanstorck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/e99b99/32.png) [@ivanstorck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ivanstorck)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 8:48am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problems-with-file-column-plugin/102248/2 "2006-08-14T08:48:48Z")
in the db you need a text type column for the path that is stored in the coresponding model; so the whole story would go like this: Db: (1) some\_table id int … foo (file\_column\_field–you can call this whatever you want–) varchar(255) not null… … primary key (id) … (2)you must download the file\_column instructions from sabastian’s page (it’s actually quite simple; just copy the ruby script/plugin install http:// … into the directory of your application (it is done for every application, not entirely for rails, as far as i know) (3)in the model of SomeTable, put: Class SomeTable file\_column :foo end (4) to put it in a form do: start\_form\_tag ({:action =\> … }, :mulitpart =\> true ) # so that it can recieve files, encoding issues… … … … file\_column\_field ‘some\_table’, ‘foo’ end\_form\_tag and then, to get the relative path to the file that was downloaded do: @var = SomeTable.find(theoneyouwant) url\_for\_file\_column(“var”, “foo”) to get what you want. [[[ can be image\_tag(url\_for\_file\_column(“var”, “foo”)) or link\_to(url\_for\_file\_column(“var”, “foo”)) etc. ]]] hope it helps. harp ---
**Author:** ![ivanstorck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/e99b99/32.png) [@ivanstorck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ivanstorck)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 8:54am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problems-with-file-column-plugin/102248/3 "2006-08-18T08:54:37Z")
Thanks, Harp! It works, mostly. It works great in my new, edit, and show methods, but not in the list method. The error I get is: Showing app/views/cabmembers/list.rhtml where line #6 raised: You have a nil object when you didn’t expect it! The error occured while evaluating nil.logo\_relative\_path Extracted source (around line #6): 3: \<% for cabmember in @cabmembers %\> 4: 5: 6: \<%= image\_tag url\_for\_file\_column( ‘cabmember’, ‘logo’ ) %\> 7: I think the nil object has something to do with me not knowing how to pass url\_for\_file\_column the right info?? Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![ivanstorck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/e99b99/32.png) [@ivanstorck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ivanstorck)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problems-with-file-column-plugin/102248/4 "2006-08-18T16:38:39Z")
I believe url\_for\_file\_column requires an instance variable (i.e. one with an @ before it). So you could try this: \<% for @cabmember in @cabmembers %\> \<%= image\_tag url\_for\_file\_column( 'cabmember', 'logo' ) %\> -Greg ---
**Author:** ![ivanstorck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/e99b99/32.png) [@ivanstorck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ivanstorck)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 9:38am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problems-with-file-column-plugin/102248/5 "2006-09-15T09:38:35Z")
This is a late reply, but I’m also having problems with file\_column The svn install didn’t work so I copied the files manually into vendor/plugins and renamed the dir file\_column I think my problem is in the require statements in environment.rb At the moment I have require ‘file\_column’ require ‘file\_column\_helper’ require ‘rails\_file\_column’ at the bottom of the environment.rb file. Im not sure about the syntax here, in particular whether I need to specify the filepath, or move these from the vendor folder to a higher lib. Im also not sure if they are in the correct place in the environment.rb file. The error I am getting is when trying to save the file; Do not know how to handle a string with value ‘060910 rebecca cannon radio.jpg’ that was passed to a file\_column. Check if the form’s encoding has been set to ‘multipart/form-data’. (Even tho my form specifies multipart: \<%= start\_form\_tag :action =\> ‘create’, :multipart =\> true %\> Any suggestions appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![ivanstorck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/e99b99/32.png) [@ivanstorck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ivanstorck)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 9:59am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problems-with-file-column-plugin/102248/6 "2006-09-15T09:59:00Z")
user error syntax problem as usual \<%= start\_form\_tag :action =\> ‘create’, :multipart =\> true %\> should have been \<%= start\_form\_tag({:action =\> ‘create’}, {:multipart =\> true}) %\>