problem with form submitting

[macsig]

Hello, I have a problem with a form that is driving me crazy


I have a 2 models Book and BookAuthor associated as below:

class BookAuthor < ActiveRecord::Base
 
  belongs_to :book
  ...
end

class Supplier < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_one :author, :class_name => "BookAuthor"
   ...
end

I'm would like to have a 3 steps process in order to submit a book: first book ID, second author ID, third publisher ID so I created these views

add_view
add_author
add_publisher

and the form on add_author is:

<% form_for :book_author do |form| %>
       <label for="book_author_first_name">first</label>
	<%= form.text_field :first_name%>
	<label for="book_author_last_name">last</label>
	<%= form.text_field :last_name,%>
        <%= submit_tag "next" %></div>
	<% end %>

and one controller as below:

...
def add_book
    if session[:book].nil? 
      @book = Book.new(params[:book])
      @book.status = 0
    else
      @book = session[:book] 
    end
 
    if request.post? and @book.valid?
      @updated_book = Book.new(params[:book])
      @updated_book.status = 0
 
      session[:book] = @updated_book
      redirect_to :action => "add_author"
    end
  end
 
  def add_author
     @book = session[:book]
 
     if @book.author.nil? 
 
       @author = BookAuthor.new(params[:bookAuthor])
       @book.author = @author
     else
       @author = @book.author
      end
 
 
    if request.post? and @author.valid?
      @updated_author = BookAuthor.new(params[:bookAuthor])
      @book.author = @updated_author
      session[:book] = @book
      redirect_to :action => "add_apublisher"
    end
  end

My issue is that when I submit add_author the submitted values are not inserted into @author (@author = BookAuthor.new(params[:bookAuthor])) so it is not valid.


What's wrong with my code ???


THANK YOU SO MUCH (really SO MUCH)

[pjleonhardt]

  def add_author
     @book = session[:book]
 
 
#your problem is here, when you first hit this page with a get request, @book.author is nil, so you set @book.author to a blank BookAuthor.
     if @book.author.nil? 
      @author = BookAuthor.new(params[:bookAuthor])
       @book.author = @author
     else
       @author = @book.author
      end
 
    if request.post? and @author.valid?
      @updated_author = BookAuthor.new(params[:bookAuthor])
      @book.author = @updated_author
      session[:book] = @book
      redirect_to :action => "add_apublisher"
    end

I would try this:

  def add_author
     @book = session[:book]
     @author = BookAuthor.new
 
    if request.post?
      @author = BookAuthor.new(params[:bookAuthor])
      @book.author = @author
      if @book.save
        session[:book] = @book
        redirect_to :action => "add_publisher"
       end #else author didn't pass validation
    end

[macsig]

Hello thanks for you idea but there is a problem with it

if I already have an author (this happens when I go back from publisher) I want to keep it and no to create a new empty one.
And once I post again the form the new author has to be saved on my session.


Moreover, I guess the issue is about saving the author (related to the form on the view) because if I try to display it on add_publisher, with your code (flash[:notice] = @book.author.name) it doesn't show anything. and if I try with mine I can not hit the page since the author object is empty so it can not be validated.


I hope it's clear what I wanna do.


THANK YOU and HAVE A NICE DAY!

[macsig]

why with this

@updated_bookAuthor = BookAuthor.new(params[:bookAuthor])
   session[:book][:bookAuthor]=  @updated_bookAuthor

having this form

<&#37; form_for :bookAuthor do |form| %>
<label for="bookAuthor_first_name">first</label>
<%= form.text_field :first_name %>
<label for="bookAuthor_last_name">last</label>
<%= form.text_field :last_name%>
<%= submit_tag "next" %>
<% end %>

I can not have on session[:book][:bookAuthor] a bookAuthor object with the attributes of the submitted form ????


PS I have changed the association on Book, now
class Book < ActiveRecord::Base
has_one :bookAuthor
...
end

THANK YOU

[macsig]

Update:

if I save bookAuthor as new session variable (session[:bookAuthor]) instead of save the author as a attribute of book (session[:book]) it works but I want to have only 1 object on my session.


Maybe this can help you to figure out what's wrong.


THANK YOU

[macsig]

any idea ???

HAVE A NICE DAY !

[macsig]

Please I can not figure out what's wrong

any suggestion ????