Question

I need to duplicate a record, with the same attributes of the original except ID of cource. I do:

In the View:

<%= link_to "Duplicate", :action => "clone", :id => Some_Existing_ID %>

And in the Controller:

def clone
  @item = Item.find(params[:id]).clone

  if @item.save
    flash[:notice] = 'Item was successfully cloned.'
  else
    flash[:notice] = 'ERROR: Item can\'t be cloned.'
  end

  redirect_to(items_path)
end      

But nothing happens! In Console I figured out that clone generates the copy without ID.

Any ideas ?

*> BTW: I am running Rails 2.3.5 and Ruby 1.8

Answer 1

Make sure the default cloned behavior works for you. the cloned record might actually be invalid according to your validation rules.

Try to use @item.save! instead of @item.save and check whether an exception is raised.
You can also try the code directly in a console instance.

In Console I figured out that clone generates the copy without ID.

That’s true. #clone actually creates a clone but doesn’t save the record.
This is why you need to call a save method in your action, which is what you actually do with

if @item.save # <-- here you save the record
  flash[:notice] = 'Item was successfully cloned.'
else
  flash[:notice] = 'ERROR: Item can\'t be cloned.'
end