Question

In my calendar application the date is stored as a text_field

  = text_field :task_time, :day, :value => display_date(@date), :id => "date-n"

I read this date in the controller’s index method but then am pre-generating default time as today in the model:

private

   def generate_task_time

   self.task_time = Time.now if self.task_time.nil?

   end

I need to change it and set default task_time to the time currently displayed in the calendar, but am getting undefined local variable or method `params’ error when trying to read it in the model: convert_to_string(params[:task_time]

Is it possible to do it in the model at all or is it better to remove generate_task_time and do everything in the controller?

Any suggestion on the syntax –

DateTime.strptime("#{params[:date]}")

or

convert_to_string(params[:task_time]) unless params[:task_time].nil?

Answer 1

params is an instance method on the controller, so you won’t have access to it in the model. You can pass the value of params[:task_time] to the model, though:

task.task_time = convert_to_string(params[:task_time]) if params[:task_time]

It’s perfectly valid to set attributes on the model from the controller. This is a common Rails pattern for updating the model attributes in a controller action:

if model.update_attributes(params[:model])
  # do something success-y
else
  # do something fail-y
end

But if you start doing too much in the controller, you get tied up with the request lifecycle and have a hard time testing your actual business logic. It’s always about balance!