Question

When I submit the form, the data is not being sent in the post and set via parameters. I can’t for the life of me figure out why. This form is in the plan/show action, so that’s why you see me setting the @action variable there. It is sent via JS.

routes.rb

resources :plans do 
    resources :actions
end

action.rb

belongs_to :plan

plan.rb

has_many :actions

plans_controller.rb

def show
    @plan = current_user.plans.includes(:actions).find(params[:id])
    @action = Action.new

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

actions_controller.rb

before_filter :get_plan    

def create
    @action = @plan.actions.new(params[:action])
    @action.user_id = current_user.id
    @action.save
end

private

def get_plan
    @plan = current_user.plans.find(params[:plan_id])
end

create.js.erb in views/actions folder

$('div#actions').prepend("<%= escape_javascript(render @action) %>");
$('div#<%= dom_id(@action) %>').effect('highlight');

_form.html.erb partial

<%= form_for ([@plan, @action]), remote: true do |f| %>
  <%= f.text_field :desc %>
  <%= f.number_field :days %>
  <%= f.submit %>
<% end %>

parameters sent via POST (missing action hash – why??)

Started POST "/plans/1/actions"
Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "authenticity_token"=>"**removed**", "commit"=>"Create Action", "plan_id"=>"1"}

DB Schema

create_table "plans", :force => true do |t|
  t.string   "name"
  t.integer  "user_id"
  t.datetime "created_at", :null => false
  t.datetime "updated_at", :null => false
end

create_table "actions", :force => true do |t|
    t.string   "desc"
    t.integer  "plan_id"
    t.integer  "days"
    t.datetime "created_at", :null => false
    t.datetime "updated_at", :null => false
end

Answer 1

Action is a reserved word. If you call it anything else (except controller, which is also reserved) then it will work.

http://guides.rubyonrails.org/action_controller_overview.html#routing-parameters

The params hash will always contain the :controller and :action keys, but you should use the methods controller_name and action_name instead to access these values.