undefined method 'first_name' for #<...>

I'm enjoying it but shame I couldn't get a quicker resolution so you can get on!

Well at this point I would look at the database table - I am assuming you're using the default database which is SQLite. I don't know how that is done with SQLite (I only use Postgres).

However, what the migrations are saying you have a first_name but the console is saying you don't have a first_name. I know of two reasons for this.

1. You have reset the server (control + C) - highly unlikely after a debugging session of this length!
2. The migrations may have been run before a change was made to them (once you have run them, editing them later on and running migration will not change the database).

I would delete the database, create it again and run the migration. So stop the webserver (control + C or whatever it is on your machine) then:

rake db:drop
rake db:create
rake db:migrate
rake db:test:prepare

Then test the console (rails console) and check your migrations have run

user =  User.new
user.first_name

rake db:migrate:status

If that passes run the tests and then try out the application. Haha... fingers crossed and good luck :-)

Rich

For these problems you need to give more of the full error message (at least the first 10 lines) and what you are doing when it happens - running the application or running the test.

Rich

OK. You've just watched Creating an authentication System / migrating Statuses

The error is in the new so it shouldn't be anything to do with old records in the database. To confirm the situation. Go into the root of your treehouse project. type:

rails console

Within the console type:

user =  User.new
user.first_name

This should reproduce your error:

NoMethodError: undefined method `first_name' for #<User:0xbd4303d8>
from /home/richard/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p195/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/activemodel-4.0.0.rc2/lib/active_model  
/attribute_methods.rb:436:in `method_missing'

If that's the case then the next thing you want to do is check the migration add_user_id_to_status. The migration should be under the db/migrate directory and the actual file begins with a lot of numbers representing the date and time it was created: treehouse/db/migrate/201305[some numbers]add_user_id_to_status.rb

class AddUserIdToStatuses < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def change
    add_column :statuses, :user_id, :integer
    add_index :statuses, :user_id
    remove_column :statuses, :name
  end
end

Does your migration look like this?

Rich

By confirm... I assume you mean that:

1. The console gave the same error
2. The migration is the same

If that is the case... from the root of your treehouse project type:

rake db:migrate:status

Copy and paste the result - we want to see if "Add user id to statuses" is present or not. It should look something like this:

database: treehouse_development

 Status   Migration ID    Migration Name
--------------------------------------------------
   up     20130612134026  Create statuses
   up     20130613125801  Devise create users
   up     20130614085711  Add user id to statuses

Rich

Hello Thierry

Actually this sounds good. The status command was to see if the migration had been run or not. It has - so we know the migrations are being run as we expected this is your current state:

Status Migration ID Migration Name

up 20130609171415 Create statuses 
up 20130617191642 Devise create users 
up 20130617200718 Add user id to statuses

Next, I would check the devise_create_users migration file. During Generating the user Model they add first_name, last_name and profile_name - you should check that the start of DeviseCreateUsers looks like this:

class DeviseCreateUsers < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def change
    create_table(:users) do |t|
      ## Database authenticatable
      t.string :first_name                                         <==== Is this here?
      t.string :last_name                                         <==== Is this here?
      t.string :profile_name                                     <==== Is this here?  
      t.string :email,              :null => false, :default => ""
      t.string :encrypted_password, :null => false, :default => ""
      ....
      ....

Is this change missing? If it is you will have to do rake db:rollback two times (one for each migration you are changing) and then rake db:migrate 1 time (it runs all the pending migrations at once).

Rich

Reference Rails Guide on Migrations

Looks like we're good! The original error was:

• Status#first_name (which sounds odd).

Now it is

• Status#name is missing.
  

This is an expected error! In the Migrating Status Video you remove the Status#name field which breaks the code in the views. You remove the name with the migration written in this video - AddUserIdToStatuses:

class AddUserIdToStatuses < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def change
    add_column :statuses, :user_id, :integer
    add_index :statuses, :user_id
    remove_column :statuses, :name   <=== During the video you remove the column.
 end                                  Views are not updated till the next video!
end

However, as you are seeing the name field is a problem when you're running the program since the Status views expect Status#name to be present. In the video after the migration one.. Getting the latest Changes ... Jim fixes this exact problem.

I think we've made it Theirry! * manic laugh * :-) But I'll need you to confirm first ;-)

Rich