Saving data to two tables

[ricklach]

I am trying to save data to two tables - person and address. But first I want to do a lookup on the address table to make sure that the address entered does not already exist in the address table - if it does I want to extract the residence.id and plug that into the person table. Otherwise, I will just save the data to the respective tables. Here is the code I have tried thus far:

 def create # this part of the code does not work because I haven't a clue what I am doing
    @address_check = Residence.find(params[:residence])  #check for an existing address
    @person = Person.new(params[:person])
    if @address_check
	 @person.residence_id = @address_check.id
	 if @person.save
		 flash[:notice] = 'The Person was successfully created.'
		redirect_to :action => 'list'
	else
		render :action => 'new'
	end
    else  #this part of the code works
	@residence = Residence.new(params[:residence])
	if @person.save && @residence.save
		@person.update_attribute(:residence_id, @residence.id)
		flash[:notice] = 'The person was successfully created.'
		redirect_to :action => 'list'
	else
		render :action => 'new'
	end
    end
  end

The second part of the code works. The first part does not work primarily because I am not sure what I am doing. Is there some kind soul who can give me a hand with this.

Rick

[Luke Redpath]

The plugging in of your residence id into your person model should be handled by Rails associations.

I'm not sure how you are determining if an address already exists (Residence.find(params[:residence]) wont work) but lets say you have a house_number and a postcode field, which would be a good way of identifying a unique address.

It seems to me you want something like:

# residence.rb
class Residence
  has_one :person # could be has_many
end

# person.rb
class Person
  belongs_to :residence
end

# your controller
def create
  # will load an existing address if it exists, else create a new one
  residence = Residence.find_or_create_by_house_number_and_postcode(params[:residence][:house_number], params[:residence][:postcode])
  person = residence.build_person(params[:person])
  if person.save and residence.save
    flash[:notice] = 'The person was created successfully'
    redirect_to :action => 'list'
  else
    redirect_to :action => 'new'
  end
end

Note that the above hasn't been tested but it should be along the right lines. There isn't any validation in the models either so you'll need to add that, and deal with any errors.

See the following API docs for more details:

http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/A...cord/Base.html
http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/A...ssMethods.html

[ricklach]

Luke,

Thanks for that - I will give it a try. I had a look at the API references but I must admit it will take some time before I get it (that is understand just what is going on). For example, just what does this mean:

 residence = Residence.find_or_create_by_house_number_and_postcode(params[:residence][:house_number], params[:residence][:postcode])

, especially the _or_create_by... Lets say you wanted to add another parameter aptnum. Would the code then read

residence = Residence.find_or_create_by_house_number_and_postcode_and_aptnum(params[:residence][:house_number], params[:residence][:postcode] params[:residence][:aptnum])

or is everything after "find" just a nemonic that describes the action?

Sorry for that - I found the answer by reading the documentation - Dynamic attribute-based finders. But I am still puzzeled by the second statement.

I believe I will have to check for the aptnum also because people in an apt all live at the same address and postalcode but different apts. Should I expect any problems with nil apt numbers.

Finally, I found the syntax in the API docs but what does this line of code do exactly:

person = residence.build_person(params[:person])

?

Thanks for your patience.

Rick

[Luke Redpath]

The first code breaks down into two parts.

First, find_or_create will return a matching record if it exists or a new record if it doesn't.

Rails supports dynamic name based finders so yes, you could add aptnum in exactly the way you did above.

See "Dynamic attribute-based finders" here:
http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/A...cord/Base.html

The last method, build_person is a dynamically create method available due to the association made between people and residences. residence.build_person() creates a new Person object that is automatically linked to the residence object you call it on - it creates the link for you. build_person() returns the new person object without saving it. There is also create_person() which does save the associated record.

See the associations API and look under each association type for the methods it makes available to your objects:
http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/A...ssMethods.html

[ricklach]

Thanks Luke for your time and knowledge. The more I find out about ror the more I like it.

Rick

[ricklach]

Luke,
I tried your example code and received the following error: undefined method `find_or_create_by_number_and_aptnum_and_postcode' for Residence:Class

Any idea what generates this error?

Rick

[Luke Redpath]

Does your residences table have the columns 'number', 'aptnum' and 'postcode'?

[ricklach]

It does now - I completely missed postcode - should have been postalcode. Must have checked it a dozen or more time but couldn't see the forest. Now the following statement

person = residence.build_person(params[:person])

is throwing a similar error: undefined method `build_person' for #<Residence:0x3716780>. I am using has_many :person in the residence method and belongs_to in the person method. Can you help me on this one.

Rick

[Luke Redpath]

It should be

has_many :people

[ricklach]

I tried that and it did not work either. It threw the same error. Here is what I have:

class Residence < ActiveRecord::Base
	has_many :people  #I assume this has to be plural to fit with has_many
	
end
class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
	belongs_to :residence
end

# and the line that is throwing the error
person = residence.build_person(params[:person])

Is this correct? The pluralization rules are sometimes confusing.

Rick

[Luke Redpath]

Mmm, should work. What version of Rails are you using?

Try residence.people.build() or residence.build_people()

[ricklach]

Well Luke,

I have had mixed success. I did get the record to post to the db and everything looks correct at first blush. The code I used was

people = residence.people.build(params[:people])

Then when it wast to return to the list view I started getting the following error:You have a nil object when you didn't expect it!
The error occured while evaluating nil.aptnum

and the ofending line of code is:

<%=h list_stripes.residence.aptnum.nil? ? ' ' : ('Apt.' + list_stripes.residence.aptnum + ' - ')  %>

I think this is saying if the aptnum is nil (or NULL?) leave it blank otherwise put in the aptnum.

What would be the cause of this error?

Rick

[Luke Redpath]

In fact, the error means that list_stripes.residence is returning a nil object (of NilClass) rather than a Residence object, and you are trying to call the method aptnum() on nil, which of course doesn't exist.

So you need to look at why list_stripes.residence is retruning nil. What is list_stripes?

[ricklach]

list_stripes is just a helper to alternately color the rows of a table. I did find the problem - I had one row in my person table thad did not have a corresponding row in the residence table. Fixed it and problem solved.

Finally, how do you show an email image with an address attached to it. I have tried numerous mail_to and image_tag variations but just can't seem to figure it out.

Rick