Question

I have a controller in a rails app whereby a user can create a holiday request, it seems that when I fill out the necessary information it is not doing the POST request and submitting my form. My output in the RailsPanel follows: Rails Panel. From this its as if it is doing the GET request when surely on it should do a GET then a POST. I believe I have messed up somewhere around my create method. Any feedback would be great thank you!

controller

class HolidaysController < ApplicationController
  before_filter :authenticate_user!
  before_filter :admin_user, :only => [:index, :update, :edit, :absence]
  before_filter :correct_user, :only => [:delete]

  def new
    @holiday = Holiday.new
    @user = current_user
  end

  def show
    @holiday = Holiday.find(params[:id])
    c_u = current_user
  end

  def create
    @user = current_user
    @holiday = current.holidays.build(params[:holiday])
    @holiday.approver_id = approval_method(current_user, @holiday)
    if @holiday.save
      redirect_to root_path
      flash[:success]= "holiday application sent!"
    else
      render :new
    end
  end

  def myholidays
    @holidays = current_user.holidays.all
  end

  def index
    @holidays = Holiday.all
  end

  def absence
    #show the holidays where the approver id matches the current user id
    #and state = "requested"'

    @user = current_user
    if current_user.role? :administrator
      # a admin can view all current holiday requests
      @holidays = Holiday.all( :conditions => 'state = "requested"')
    else
    #otherwise an admin sees the holiday requests that they are approvers for
      @holidays = Holiday.all(:conditions => ["approver_id = #{current_user.id}", "state = requested"])
    end
  end

  def edit 
    today = Date.today
    @holidays = Holiday.all
    @month = (params[:month] || (Time.zone || Time).now.month).to_i
    @year = (params[:year] || (Time.zone || Time).now.year).to_i
    @shown_month = Date.civil(@year, @month)
    #L51 - Parses the given representation of date and time with the given template
    #and returns a hash of parsed elements.
    @holiday = Holiday.find(params[:id])
  end

 def update
   admin = User.find(current_user.role? :administrator)
   holiday = Holiday.find(params[:id])
   user = User.find(id = holiday.user_id)

   if holiday.update_attributes(params[:holiday])
     if holiday.state == "approved"
       user.absentdays = user.absentdays - (holiday.days_used).to_i
       user.save
     end
     redirect_to absence_path, :notice => "Request updated"
   else 
     render 'edit'
   end
 end

 def destroy 
   Holiday.find(params[:id]).destroy 
   redirect_to root_url, :notice => "Request deleted"
 end

 private 

 def current_user?(user)
   user == current_user
 end 

 def admin_user
   redirect_to dashboard_path, :notice => "You must be an admin to do this!" unless current_user.role? :administrator
 end

 def signed_in_user 
   redirect_to login_path, notice: "Please sign in." unless signed_in? 
 end

 def correct_user 
   @user = current_user 
   redirect_to dashboard, notice: "You are not the correct user." unless current_user?(@user) or current_user.role? :administrator
 end

 def approval_method(current_user, holiday_to_approve)
   found = false 
   days = holiday_to_approve.days_used
   user = current_user 
   approver = user.role? :administrator

   until found == true 
     #Admins should be automatically approved and have no approvers 
     if approver == nil 
       holiday_to_approve.state = "approved"
       #if user absent days is equal to absent days - day and convert to integer
       user.absentdays = user.absentdays - (days).to_i
       user.save

       found = true 
     else 
       redirect_to dashboard_path, :notice => "Request complete"
     end 
     break if found == true 
     end 
   end
end

holidays/show.html.erb

<form class="form">
<p>You have<b><%= @user.absentdays %> days of holiday left.</b></p>
<%= form_for @holiday do |f| %>
    <% if @holiday.errors.any? %>
        <div>
          <h2>Form is invalid</h2>
          <ul>
            <% for message in @holiday.error.full_messages %>
                <li><%= message %></li>
            <% end %>
          </ul>
        </div>
    <% end %>
    Select the dates required for absence<br>
    Start: <%= datepicker_input "holiday", "start_at", :minDate => 0, :dateFormat => "yy-mm-dd" %><br>
    End: <%= datepicker_input "holiday", "end_at", :minDate => 0, :dateFormat => "yy-mm-dd" %>

    <br><br>

    Please select the type of absence you require<br>
    <%= f.collection_select :type_id, Type.all, :id, :name, :prompt => "Select absence type" %>
    <br><br>
    <%= f.text_field :description %>
    <br><br>

    <%= f.submit "Submit Request", :class => "submit" %>
<% end %>
</form>

new.html.erb

<% provide(:title, 'apply for absence') %>

  <p>You have <b><%= @user.absentdays %></b> days of holiday time left.</p>
  <%= form_for @holiday do |f| %>
      <% if @holiday.errors.any? %>
          <div class="error_messages">
            <h2>Form is invalid</h2>
            <ul>
              <% for message in @holiday.errors.full_messages %>
                  <li><%= message %></li>
              <% end %>
            </ul>

      <% end %>
      Select the dates required for absence<br>
      start: <%= datepicker_input "holiday","start_at", :minDate => 0, :dateFormat => "yy-mm-dd" %><br>
      end: <%= datepicker_input "holiday","end_at", :minDate => 0, :dateFormat => "yy-mm-dd" %>
      <br><br>

      Please select the type of absence you require<br>
      <%= f.collection_select :type_id, Type.all, :id, :name, :prompt => "Select absence type" %>
      <br><br>
      Please provide a short description of the nature of your absence (if applicable)<br>
      <%= f.text_field :description %>
      <br><br>

      <%= f.submit "submit" %>

  <% end %>

</div>

Answer 1

The reason is, you are having a form in your holidays/show.html.erb but not in your holidays/new.html.erb.

According to rails convention, if form is submitted in new.html.erb, then by default the POST method is called of that particular controller.

But since your file is show.html.erb, you have to explicitly define your POST method in the form_for.

form_for @holiday , :url => { :action => :create }, :html => { :method => "post"} do |f|