# Saving a new object n times to the DB **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [March 19, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/saving-a-new-object-n-times-to-the-db/132404 "2008-03-19T19:44:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ANSS](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@ANSS](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ANSS)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/saving-a-new-object-n-times-to-the-db/132404/1 "2008-03-19T19:44:45Z")
Hello, I have a generate method that generate PIN codes and serial numbers n times, n comes from a user-submitted form, something like that: \<% form\_for :card, :url =\> {:action =\> “generate”} do |f| -%\> Number of cards \<%= f.text\_field :number\_of\_cards, :size =\> 10 %\> \<%= submit\_tag ‘Generate’ %\> \<% end -%\> In the controller I have: def generate params[:number\_of\_cards].to\_i.times do pin = rand(999999999999).to\_s.center(12, rand(9).to\_s) serial = rand(999999999999).to\_s.center(12, rand(9).to\_s) Card.create({:pin =\> pin, :serial =\> serial}) end end Everything looks OK, but when I put a number and submit the form I got nothing! No error messages and no records are saved to the database !!! When I for example put : 3.times do … etc 3 new records are successfully created in the database ! what’s the problem? Maybe params[:number\_of\_cards] doesn’t get the value from the form? Why? And if so why don’t I get error about some nil value? Your help is really appreciated. Regards ---
**Author:** ![ANSS](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@ANSS](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ANSS)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 8:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/saving-a-new-object-n-times-to-the-db/132404/2 "2008-03-19T20:10:13Z")
On 19 Mar 2008, at 18:44, AN@S wrote: > 3 new records are successfully created in the database ! > > what’s the problem? Maybe params[:number\_of\_cards] doesn’t get the > value from the form? Why? And if so why don’t I get error about some > nil value? Because the parameter is being submitted as params[:card] [:number\_of\_cards] (that’s what form\_for does). You can see this in your logs. You get no error because nil.to\_i is 0 Fred ---
**Author:** ![ANSS](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@ANSS](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ANSS)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/saving-a-new-object-n-times-to-the-db/132404/3 "2008-03-19T20:23:48Z")
On Mar 19, 2008, at 2:44 PM, AN@S wrote: > \<% end -%\> > > value from the form? Why? And if so why don’t I get error about some > nil value? > > Your help is really appreciated. > > Regards You have form\_for :card and then f.text\_field :number\_of\_cards, so you’ll get a params[:card][:number\_of\_cards] Your params[:number\_of\_cards] is therefore almost certainly nil and nil.to\_i == 0 It can help tremendously to put: \<%= debug(params) %\> Into the view that comes back so you can see what really happens (or just go look in the log/development.log where you should also see the params hash). -Rob Rob B. [http://agileconsultingllc.com](http://agileconsultingllc.com) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![ANSS](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@ANSS](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ANSS)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 10:59am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/saving-a-new-object-n-times-to-the-db/132404/4 "2008-03-20T10:59:20Z")
Thanks Frederick and Rob, now it works 🙂 This debug option is really useful I didn’t know about it before\> Thanks On 19/03/2008, Rob B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > %\> > > > Card.create({:pin =\> pin, :serial =\> serial}) > > -Rob > > Rob B. [http://agileconsultingllc.com](http://agileconsultingllc.com) > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > > > – Anas Marrawi Visit me at: [www.anasonline.net](http://www.anasonline.net)