Question

in the example below, what is the right way to display the item_category.name attribute within a box controller or view?

class Box < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_one :item, :dependent => :destroy
  accepts_nested_attributes_for :item, :allow_destroy => true
end


class Item < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :box
  belongs_to :item_category

end

class ItemCategory < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :items
  #contains 'name' attribute
end

I am anticipating there is some syntax like this which doesnt work:

<%= @box.item.item_category.name %>

this gives me the following error “undefined method `name’ for nil:NilClass”

Thanks

EDIT:
sorry, the item class contains a belongs_to item_category (not company), I edited the sample.

Answer 1

Since your associations are set up properly, this is probably happening because your Item doesn’t have an associated category, meaning its item_category_id field is nil.