RoR: How can I get my microposts to show up? - ruby

Question

Here is the users show view where they are supposed to show up. ..
<section>
<div id= "purchases">
<%= render 'shared/micropost_form_purchase' %>
</div>
<div id="sales">
<%= render 'shared/micropost_form_sale' %>
</div>
</section>
<%= #sales %> <%# This is just to see if it outputs anything. It doesn't :( %>
<div id="purchases list">
<ol class="microposts">
<%= render #purchases unless #purchases.nil? %>
</ol>
</div>
<div id="sales list">
<ol class="microposts">
<%= render #sales unless #sales.nil? %>
</ol>
</div>
so the forms (partials) are loading fine, but then when I make a post, in either one, neither the purchases list nor the sales list shows up. I checked the database and they are being created along with an entry in the column indicating kind (either sale or purchase).
Here are the forms:
<%= form_for (#micropost) do |f| %>
<div class="field no-indent">
<%= f.text_area :content, placeholder: "What's something else you want to buy?" %>
<%= hidden_field_tag 'micropost[kind]', "purchase" %>
</div>
<%= f.submit "Post", class: "btn btn-large btn-primary" %>
<% end %>
and
<%= form_for (#micropost) do |f| %>
<div class="field no-indent">
<%= f.text_area :content, placeholder: "What's something else you want to buy?" %>
<%= hidden_field_tag 'micropost[kind]', "sale" %>
</div>
<%= f.submit "Post", class: "btn btn-large btn-primary" %>
<% end %>
also, here is the show part of the users_controller.rb
def show
#user = User.find(params[:id])
#micropost=Micropost.new
#microposts = #user.microposts.paginate(page: params[:page])
end
and here is the show part of the microposts_controller.rb
def show
#micropost = Micropost.find(params[:id])
#microposts = Micropost.where(:user_id => #user.id)
#purchases= #microposts.collect{ |m| m if m.kind == "purchase"}.compact
#sales = #microposts.collect{ |m| m if m.kind == "sale"}.compact
end
additionally, with the help of this post (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12505845/ruby-error-wrong-number-of-arguments-0-for-1#12505865) the variables #microposts, #purchases, and #sales are all outputting correctly in the console.
can anyone help me out?
edit: using scopes as suggested by the answer given works in the console (it outputs everything correctly, but they still don't show up in the view. Does this mean it is something wrong with my syntax for the users show page?
edit 2:
Here is the view/microposts/_micropost.html.erb code
<li>
<span class="content"><%= micropost.content %></span>
<span class="timestamp">
Posted <%= time_ago_in_words(micropost.created_at) %> ago.
</span>
<% if current_user?(micropost.user) %>
<%= link_to "delete", micropost, method: :delete,
confirm: "You sure?",
title: micropost.content %>
<% end %>
</li>

Answer 1

I'm making some assumptions without seeing more of your code, but it looks like you could
write what you've shown a little differently. I'm assuming your databases are migrating
and have the required columns, e.g., Micropost#kind, Micropost#user_id, etc.
You can use scopes to refine a collection of microposts more expressively. It might be helpful to read
up about ActiveRecord scopes: http://guides.rubyonrails.org/active_record_querying.html#scopes.
class Micropost < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :user
scope :purchases, where(:kind => "purchase")
scope :sales, where(:kind => "sale")
# your code
end
I'm also assuming your user has many microposts:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :microposts
# your code
end
For your forms, I'd suggest attaching your hidden field to the form object (f.hidden_field) so
you don't have to specify the name as 'micropost[kind]'.
<%= form_for(#micropost) do |f| %>
<div class="field no-indent">
<%= f.text_area :content, placeholder: "What's something else you want to buy?" %>
<%= f.hidden_field :kind, :value => "sale" %>
</div>
<%= f.submit "Post", class: "btn btn-large btn-primary" %>
<% end %>
In MicropostsController#show, you can use your new scopes:
def show
#micropost = Micropost.find(params[:id])
#microposts = #user.microposts
#purchases = #microposts.purchases
#sales = #microposts.sales
end
You should also confirm that your MicropostsController#create action is actually adding
the microposts to the user sending the form (I'm assuming a current user method).
def create
#micropost = current_user.microposts.create(params[:micropost])
# yada
end
You can also confirm expected results on rails console after creating purchases or sales micropost with:
Micropost.purchases
Micropost.sales
Again, I could be missing something without seeing more of the code base.

Answer 2

Check Micropost.count, #purchases.count, #sales.count (by printing them in the controller, or some part of the view) to see if the records actually exist.
Also, if you want to render collections likes #sales and #purchases, you need to make sure that the model partial exists (_micropost.html.erb in your case). That is probably where you need to look for the view errors. For all you know, that file could be empty, thus no errors will show up at all.
The problem might also lie in your microposts#create (or whichever action that you are saving the micropost in), the micropost should be associated with the current_user:
#micropost = current_user.microposts.build(params[:micropost])
Taking this and your previous question into account, I suggest you go through the original code for the RoR tutorial again (and verify that all tests are passing) before taking it apart. You can always add new tests to it for your experiments and they will help in figuring out where you went wrong.