RoR - New update action

Question

I have two models

Client.rb
  has_many :addresses
  accepts_nested_atributes_for :addresses


Address.rb
  has_many :addresses

I created a new action update_establishments on the ClientsController in order to add new establishments to a client.

ClientsController.rb

   #the corresponding view of this action will render the locations_form
   def add_establishments
    @client = Client.find(params[:id])
    @client.addresses.build
   end

   def update_establishments
    create_zip
    respond_to do |format|
      if @client.update(client_params)
        set_zip
        format.html { redirect_to @client, notice:'Establishment added.'}
        format.json {head :no_content}
      else
        format.html { render action: 'edit'}
        format.json { render json: @client.error, status: :unprocessable_entity }
      end
    end
   end


locations_form

   %= form_for @client, :url=>{:action=>'update_establishments'}, html:{ :method =>"patch"}  do |form| %>

I have two questions:

1 - When the form is rendered, the form is presenting two separate fields for the addresses, one containing the values of the existing address, and another to add a new. How can I make not to present the existing addresses?

2 - It gives an obvious error on the update_establishments action because the @client is nil. Is there a way to send the client itself from the form to the action or do I have to add hidden fields with the values?

Jay Mitchell Jay Mitchell · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-28T03:16:58

Question 1, when you call @client.addresses.build it is building a third address for the client. My guess is that you are then showing all three addresses on the form.

Question 2, you'll want to send the client id with the request, and use that to find the client.

The following should solve both problems.

As much as possible - and it is almost always possible - try to stick with the standard Rails controller actions. Nonstandard controller action like add_establisments or update_establishments are usually a sign that there is a more "Rails" way to model your controllers.

In this case, I would question why ClientsContoller is handling establishments. If you add an EstablishmentsController, my guess is that things will just start to work. Here is how to do that:

In config/routes.rb, create a clients resource that has a nested establishments resource.

resources :clients do
  resources :establishments
end

This will give you some nested routes which will all start with /clients/:client_id/establishments.

Create an EstablishmentsController and move add_establishments and update_establishments to it. Rename add_establishments to new and rename update_establishments to update. Also move the corresponding views to /views/establishments/ and rename them to match their new action names.

If there's no compelling reason to find the client in the new action, you can just build a new establishment to pass to the view. Either way, your form will be associated with this new establishment, not with the existing client. (Question 1)

In update, you'll use the :client_id param to find the client. (Question 2) update will need a bit of massaging, but I'd need to know if you're really updating multiple establishments at once or just a single establishment to say what it would look like. (You won't be updating @client itself, but the client's establishments.)

RoR - New update action

1 Answers