# Weird ArgumentError in non-ActiveRecord models **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [June 24, 2010, 6:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/weird-argumenterror-in-non-activerecord-models/190627 "2010-06-24T06:21:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![candor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@candor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/candor)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 6:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/weird-argumenterror-in-non-activerecord-models/190627/1 "2010-06-24T06:21:36Z")
Hi, I have a rails (2.3.5) project that has two models that are not ActiveRecord based - one is called Wiki and another is called WebApi. I have been using this in the past, and it was working. However, something I did is now causing ArgumentError to be raised when I call a class method on WebApi from a Wiki class method. Here is the relevant code: wiki.rb class Wiki def self.get\_url phrase=’’ response = WebApi.format\_and\_call(WIKIPEDIA\_URL, phrase) #error occurs here … end … end web\_api.rb class WebApi def self.format\_and\_call url\_format\_string, phrase) … end end Here is the error I get: ArgumentError (wrong number of arguments (0 for 1)): app/models/wiki.rb:7:in `get\_url’ On debugging, i notice that the error is coming from a const\_missing triggered by the attempt to access the WebApi object (it has nothing to do with the Wikipedia Url constant, which is fine). Here is the debug session: /(rdb:18) step /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/ gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.5/lib/active\_support/dependencies.rb: 91 if [Object, Kernel].include?(self) || parent == self (rdb:18) step /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/ gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.5/lib/active\_support/core\_ext/module/ introspection.rb:31 parent\_name ? parent\_name.constantize : Object (rdb:18) step /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/ gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.5/lib/active\_support/core\_ext/module/ introspection.rb:8 unless defined? @parent\_name (rdb:18) next /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/ gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.5/lib/active\_support/core\_ext/module/ introspection.rb:9 @parent\_name = name =~ /::[^:]+\Z/ ? $`.freeze : nil (rdb:18) next /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/ gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.3.5/lib/action\_controller/rescue.rb:162 rescue\_action(exception) (rdb:18) exception #\ I had initially named the WebApi class as Web, and thought the problem may be due to a name collision, but I tried different names, and get the same problem. I am quite confused, since this seems fairly simple code, and I don’t know where to look. I am using devise, and have delayed\_job as well in the project, but not really using it in this case. Thanks Anand ---
**Author:** ![candor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@candor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/candor)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/weird-argumenterror-in-non-activerecord-models/190627/2 "2010-06-24T21:17:26Z")
I have tried several things in the last few hours - including branching, ripping out all the files, and adding the code back one bit at a time. I am really out of choices now - one interesting thing - this error seems to occur only on the rails app codepath. When I call the same function from a unit test, it works fine. I did suspect that this was due to some gem being out of sync, as several articles suggested, so I have removed everything except uri, open-uri and nokogiri. It still does repro. Can someone please advise- at this point, any suggestion is useful. Thanks Anand ---
**Author:** ![candor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@candor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/candor)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/weird-argumenterror-in-non-activerecord-models/190627/3 "2010-06-25T01:18:07Z")
I got a very ugly workaround to work - I created a fresh project from scratch (no git, no delayed job, no devise, nothing:-)) and added the files in. Then I merged the non-active record models into one (non AR) model. So, all calls are within the same class, and this works. The interesting thing is that the error occurs only where I have calls from one non-AR model to another. When i call a non-AR model from an AR model it works. I dont like this at all, since each of the non-AR models is a separate model for a reason (at the least to share common code). Also, i checked out an old branch that had the same scenario, but somewhat different code - i.e, it had non-AR models talking to each other, but it had no ajax whatsoever (the problems I mentioned occured in a project that has ajax views, rjs, etc.). That branch works fine on the local machine, so this doesnt seem like an environment problem on the machine… Any pointers would be very helpful, as I dont want to hang on to this workaround for too long. Thanks Anand ---
**Author:** ![candor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@candor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/candor)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/weird-argumenterror-in-non-activerecord-models/190627/4 "2010-06-25T22:09:47Z")
BTW, there is a typo in the code snippet where I am missing an open parenthesis. Adding it also causes the problem. Can anybody help, please? Thanks