Using checkboxes in a belongs to and has one relationship

Question

On the "show" page of my "Account" model I a have a "Checklist" model. I want to be able to check on/off the each of the boolean values on the checklist within the account's show page. I'm getting the following error:

NoMethodError in Accounts#show
undefined method `model_name' for NilClass:Class

• app/models/account.rb

  class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
    has_one :checklist
  end
  

• app/models/checklist.rb

  class Checklist < ActiveRecord::Base
    belongs_to :account
    belongs_to :user
  
    validates :account_id, :presence => true
    validates :user_id, :presence => true
  end
  

• app/models/user.rb

  class User < ActiveRecord::Base
    has_many :checklists
  end
  

• app/controllers/account_controller.rb

  class AccountController < ApplicationController
    def show
      @account = Account.find(params[:id])
      @checklist = @account.checklist
    end
  end
  

• app/views/account/show.html.erb

  <% simple_form_for(@checklist) do |checklist| %>
    <div>
      <%= checklist.user.email %>
      <div class="pull-right">
        <%= checklist.created_at.strftime("%b. %d %Y") %>
      </div></br>
      <ul>
        <li><%= checklist.contract_signed %></li>
        <li><%= checklist.contract_details %></li>
        <li>…</li>
      </ul>
      <%= f.submit "Update", class: 'btn' %>
    </div>
  <% end %>
  

• app/controllers/checklists_controller.rb

  class ChecklistsController < ApplicationController
    before_filter :authenticate_user!
  
    def create
      @account = Account.find(params[:account_id])
      @checklist = @account.checklist.build(params[:checklist])
      @checklist.user = current_user
  
      respond_to do |format|
        if @checklist.save
          format.html { redirect_to(@account, :notice => 'Checklist Saved.') }
        else
          format.html { redirect_to(@account, :notice => 'There was an errors') }
        end
      end
    end
  
  
    def destroy
      @checklist = current_user.checklists.find(params[:id])
      @account = Account.find(params[:account_id])
      @checklist.destroy
  
      respond_to do |format|
        format.html { redirect_to @account }
      end
    end
  end
  

Answer 1

I'm not sure I fully understand your view logic, but I think what you need to be doing is building the checklist before you get to the create section of the controller.

e.g.

  def show
    @account = Account.find(params[:id])
    @checklist = @account.build_checklist
  end

This will allow you to call the attributes in the view you are displaying.

You can also adjust the create method to, using new instead of build

def create
  @account = Account.find(params[:account_id])
  @checklist = @account.checklist.new(params[:checklist])
  @checklist.user = current_user

  respond_to do |format|
      if @checklist.save
        format.html { redirect_to(@account, :notice => 'Checklist Saved.') }
      else
        format.html { redirect_to(@account, :notice => 'There was an error saving your comment (empty comment or comment way to long).') }
      end
  end
end

Hope this helps :)