# Validations continued **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [February 21, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validations-continued/71534 "2006-02-21T20:45:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **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:** [February 21, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validations-continued/71534/1 "2006-02-21T20:45:16Z")
I simply can’t figure this out. I have been reading and re-reading Agile book and [wiki.rubyonrails.org](http://wiki.rubyonrails.org) - all sorts of validation methods and still, it doesn’t work. Controller code def create @client = Client.new(params[:client]) if @client.save! flash[:notice] = ‘Client was successfully created.’ redirect\_to :action =\> ‘list’ else render :action =\> ‘new’ end end Model # includes the following validates\_presence\_of :first\_name protected def validate errors.add\_on\_empty %w(first\_name) end And if I try to enter a new ‘client’ missing the first name, it sends me to trace error page but doesn’t capture it as it suggests in Agile book. This is making me crazy and is a continuation of my issue from last night which a decent night sleep and breakfast has failed to clarify. Help! Craig ---
**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:** [February 21, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validations-continued/71534/2 "2006-02-21T21:13:00Z")
Your working to hard. Simply leave the validates\_presence\_of in and get rid of the validate method. The validate method is mainly used when you want to add some custom validation that isn’t covered by the supplied validates\_\* methods. Also, you want to use @client.save (no !). The ! is what is actually sending out the exception, instead of just failing and adding the errors to the object. HtH! -Nick ---
**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:** [February 21, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validations-continued/71534/3 "2006-02-21T21:22:23Z")
Whats the stacktrace? If it says the error is in your view code, then thats where it is, and not in your controller. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2006, 9:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validations-continued/71534/4 "2006-02-21T21:19:19Z")
OK - but following your instructions and I have been there many times…I get sent to the trace error screen (not what I want) and it states that there is an error in my ‘view’ code “\_form.rhtml” on a meaningless line. Craig ---
**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:** [February 21, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validations-continued/71534/5 "2006-02-21T21:59:15Z")
Do you have a ‘Case Manager’? This error is occuring because it is trying to load your object, and it is empty - a separate issue. Check your development.log and see what is trying to load… - Nic. On 2/21/06, Craig W. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > 28: > Of course, if I have an entry in ‘first\_name’ the new record is saved > > > > > > def create > > > > > > > > > > This is making me crazy and is a continuation of my issue from last > > > > > night which a decent night sleep and breakfast has failed to clarify. > > > > > > > > > > Help! > > * * * > > Rails mailing list > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) – - Nic ---
**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:** [February 21, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validations-continued/71534/6 "2006-02-21T21:59:15Z")
Yep, you need to reload your @case\_manager options in your action. Instance variables aren’t saved across requests and need to be repopulated. And as I stated in the other thread about this, render just renders the action, it doesn’t actually call the action method. So again, in your controller, before you call the render method to redisplay the form you have to load the @case\_manager variable with something. Try it. See if it works. -Nick ---
**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:** [February 21, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validations-continued/71534/7 "2006-02-21T21:59:16Z")
I got it…I applied the answer you gave to Seth… Thanks Craig ---
**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:** [February 21, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validations-continued/71534/8 "2006-02-21T22:08:36Z")
Yes indeed - I thought that it would get that information from the ‘new’ method but it doesn’t so I had to explicitly put it there as you suggested. Painful lesson. Thanks Craig ---
**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:** [February 21, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validations-continued/71534/9 "2006-02-21T21:49:53Z")
On Tue, 2006-02-21 at 15:21 -0500, Nick S. wrote: > Whats the stacktrace? If it says the error is in your view code, then > thats where it is, and not in your controller. * * * NoMethodError in Clients#create Showing app/views/clients/\_form.rhtml where line #25 raised: You have a nil object when you didn’t expect it! You might have expected an instance of Array. The error occured while evaluating nil.collect Extracted source (around line #25): 22: \<%= text\_field ‘client’, ‘gov\_id’ %\> 23: 24: Case Manager 25: \<%= options = [[‘Select a Case Manager’, ‘’]] + @case\_manager.collect { 26: |cm| [cm.wholename, cm.id] } 27: select ‘client’, ‘case\_manager\_id’, options %\> 28: As you can see from further down the page…I do have a ‘case\_manager\_id’… Request Parameters: {“commit”=\>“Create”, “client”=\>{“gov\_id”=\>“111”, “dob (1i)”=\>“1920”, “dob(2i)”=\>“2”, “dob(3i)”=\>“21”, “sex”=\>“M”, “case\_manager\_id”=\>“13”, “middle\_initial”=\>"", “first\_name”=\>"", “last\_name”=\>“test”}} ## Of course, if I have an entry in ‘first\_name’ the new record is saved and all is happy - that’s why I expected validations to capture it.