Question

EDIT: I moved the time math into the model as a callback. I’m getting this error:

NoMethodError in OutstandingsController#create
undefined method `hours' for nil:NilClass

Is there some gem that I need to include to be able to do the time math? I thought it was included in ActiveSupport..?

class Outstanding < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :user

  before_validation(:on => :create) do
    self.panic_deadline = Time.now
    self.panic_deadline = self.panic_deadline + self.deadline_hours.hours
    self.panic_deadline = self.panic_deadline + self.deadline_minutes.minutes

    self.active = true
  end
end

---

class OutstandingsController < ApplicationController

def create
    @outstanding = Outstanding.new(params[:outstanding])
    @user = current_user
    @outstanding.user_id=@user.id

    respond_to do |format|
      if @outstanding.save ...

---

<%= form_for(@outstanding) do |f| %>
  <div class="field">
    <%= select_tag :deadline_hours, options_for_select(Array(0..99), 0)  %><%= f.label :deadline_hours %>
    <%= select_tag :deadline_mins, options_for_select(Array(1..59), 30) %><%= f.label :deadline_mins %>
  </div>
  <div class="actions">
    <%= f.submit %>
  </div>
<% end %>

Answer 1

Maybe something like

panic_deadline = Time.now
panic_deadline = panic_deadline + @outstanding.deadline_hours.hours
panic_deadline = panic_deadline + @outstanding.deadline_minutes.minutes

Make sure that there is either a virtual attribute for deadline_hours / deadline_minutes or it’s in the model schema.

class Outstanding < ACtiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :user

  before_validation(:on => :create) do
    self.panic_deadline = Time.now
    self.panic_deadline = self.panic_deadline + self.deadline_hours.hours
    self.panic_deadline = self.panic_deadline + self.deadline_minutes.minutes
    self.active = true
  end

  attr_accessor           :deadline_hours, :deadline_minutes

end