Question

I have two models jobs and clients.

A user can simple create a client and then assign them a number of jobs.

Here’s my models for both.

job.rb

class Job < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_and_belongs_to_many :clients
end

client.rb

class Client < ActiveRecord::Base 
  has_and_belongs_to_many :jobs
end

My form for creating a new job looks like this:

<%= simple_form_for :job do |f| %>
  <%= f.input :name %>
  <%= <%= collection_select(:job, :client_ids, Client.all, :id, :name, {:include_blank => 'None'}, { :multiple => true }) %>%>
  <%= f.button :submit %>
<% end %>

So as you can see there is a drop down box on the form which contains all of the clients.

When try to save it however, I recieve this messed:

ActiveRecord::UnknownAttributeError in JobsController#create

unknown attribute: client_id

Application Trace | Framework Trace | Full Trace
app/controllers/jobs_controller.rb:22:in `new'
app/controllers/jobs_controller.rb:22:in `create'
Request

Parameters:

{"utf8"=>"✓",
 "authenticity_token"=>"0ZVYpM9vTgY+BI55Y9yJDwCJwrwSgGL9xjHq8dz5OBE=",
 "job"=>{"name"=>"Sample Monthly",
 "client_id"=>"1"},
 "commit"=>"Save Job"}

My job controller is quite basic and looks like this:

class JobsController < ApplicationController

  def index
    @jobs = Job.find(:all)

    respond_to do |format|
      format.html # index.html.erb
      format.xml { render :xml => @job }
    end
  end

  def new
    @jobs = Job.new 

    respond_to do |format|
      format.html # index.html.erb
      format.xml { render :xml => @job }
    end
  end

  def create
    @jobs = Job.new(params[:job])
    respond_to do |format|
      if @jobs.save
        format.html { redirect_to @jobs, notice: 'Job was successfully created.' }
        format.json { render json: @jobs, status: :created, location: @jobs }
      else
        format.html { render action: "new" }
        format.json { render json: @jobs.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
      end
    end
  end

  def show
    @jobs = Job.find(params[:id])

    respond_to do |format|
      format.html # show.html.erb
      format.json { render json: @jobs }
    end
  end
end

I have a junction table setup with both job_id and client_id as a integer value in them.
So I think its just a case of defining them in my controller under the new and create action like the error message suggests.

This is my first Rails app though sand im not quite sure how.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Problem might be in your form. Try to replace this

<%= <%= collection_select(:job, :client_ids, Client.all, :id, :name, {:include_blank => 'None'}, { :multiple => true }) %>%>

with

<%= f.association :clients %>

so the form will look like this

<%= simple_form_for @job do |f| %>
  <%= f.input :name %>
  <%= f.association :clients %>
  <%= f.button :submit %>  
<% end %>