Rails - Aug 2006 - Creating a child simultaneously with parent via form

Hi there

I''ve got a user model and an address model; a user has_many addresses.

A user object can be created via an html form which also allows for an
initial address to be created.

I''ve got a controller method working to save both objects via the
form, but I suspect I can achieve this in a more rails-esque manner.
Here is my controller method:

def signup
 @user = User.new(params[:user])
 @address = Address.new(params[:address])
 return unless request.post?
 if @user.save
    @address.user_id = @user.id
    if @address.save
       flash[:notice_good] = "Your account needs to be now be
activated. You have been sent a confirmation email with activation
instructions."
       redirect_to :controller => "/shop", :action =>
"index"
    end
 end
end


Maybe this is OK, but any clues would be appreciated.

Richard Sandilands wrote:
> I''ve got a user model and an address model; a user has_many
addresses.
> 
> A user object can be created via an html form which also allows for an
> initial address to be created.
> 
> I''ve got a controller method working to save both objects via the
> form, but I suspect I can achieve this in a more rails-esque manner.
> Here is my controller method:
> 
> def signup
> @user = User.new(params[:user])
> @address = Address.new(params[:address])
> return unless request.post?
> if @user.save
>    @address.user_id = @user.id
>    if @address.save
>       flash[:notice_good] = "Your account needs to be now be
> activated. You have been sent a confirmation email with activation
> instructions."
>       redirect_to :controller => "/shop", :action =>
"index"
>    end
> end
> end
> 
> Maybe this is OK, but any clues would be appreciated.
What you''ve done is fine, but perhaps somewhat railier would be:

   @user = User.new(params[:user])
   @address = @user.addresses.build(params[:address])
   if request.post? && @user.save
     flash[:notice_good] = ...
     redirect_to :controller => :shop
   end

-- 
We develop, watch us RoR, in numbers too big to ignore.

Thanks Mark - that all makes sense.

It leads to another question however:

How to display validation errors for the address object along with
those for the user object? At present I can only get "address can not
be blank" to display, whereas I would like to see a field-by-field
listing of errors as I get with user.

Richard Sandilands wrote:
> How to display validation errors for the address object along with
> those for the user object? At present I can only get "address can not
> be blank" to display, whereas I would like to see a field-by-field
> listing of errors as I get with user.
Do you have "error_messages_for :address" in your view?

By the way, I was wrong when I said your original code was fine, because
the user is saved even if the address doesn''t validate.  With the code
I gave Rails does automatic validation of the whole associated pair
before any save is done.

-- 
We develop, watch us RoR, in numbers too big to ignore.

> Do you have "error_messages_for :address" in your view?
Yes, after using your code I can now display error_messages_for
:address. Thank you :-)

I''d like to consolidate them however with the messages for :user and
suspect that involves hacking my own helper?

I''m also trying to functionally test the signup controller. In my
functional test I have a create_user method which gets called by my
functional tests:

protected
def create_user(options = {})
  post :signup, :user =>
       {
         :login => ''quire'',
         :email => ''quire@example.com'',
         :password => ''quire'',
         :password_confirmation => ''quire'',
         :first_name => ''quire'',
         :last_name => ''quire''
       }.merge(options)
end

But since requiring that address fields are validated before a user
can be saved, I need to ensure that dummy address attributes are added
to my create_user method above so that I can test the account
controller methods properly.

This is where my lack of Ruby shows through...any clues appreciated.