attr_accessible missing in Rails 4 - Here's the workaround for the Treebook tutorial.

Question

If you are following along in the tutorial, you might run into the problem of missing attr_accessible. This means you are using Rails 4, which no longer uses attr_accessible within the model to pass along data into a database, and instead uses Strong Parameters within the Controller.

If anyone runs into this problem and wants to continue using Rails 4 for this tutorial (instead of reverting back to Rails 3), here is a quick 5 minute workaround, so that you can still use Devise and add extra fields to your forms using Strong Parameters instead of attr_accessible.

1:

Ignore everything in this Treebook tutorial that has to do with attr_accessible. You can ignore all of those steps until you reach the 'Customizing Forms' section of this Treebook tutorial.

2:

Once you reach the 'Customizing Forms' section of this Treebook tutorial, open this tutorial: http://www.jacopretorius.net/2014/03/adding-custom-fields-to-your-devise-user-model-in-rails-4.html

3:

Skip ahead in this new tutorial to "Customizing the RegistrationsController," because we already did the first few steps before reaching the 'Customizing Forms' section in the Treebook tutorial.

4:

Following along in this new short tutorial, go to Sublime Text and open up the controllers folder, where you should have application_controller.rb and statuses_controller.rb. Create a new ruby file below these controllers in the controllers folder, calling it: registrations_controller.rb

5:

Copy and paste the following into the registrations_controller.rb file that you created:

class RegistrationsController < Devise::RegistrationsController

private

def sign_up_params params.require(:user).permit(:first_name, :last_name, :profile_name, :email, :password, :password_confirmation) 
end

def account_update_params params.require(:user).permit( :email, :password, :password_confirmation, :current_password) 
end 
end

6:

Then, go to the config folder in Sublime text and open the routes.rb file. Delete the

devise_for :users

line and replace it with the following:

devise_for :users, :controllers => { registrations: 'registrations' }

7:

Then, go to your statuses_controller.rb file and, at the very bottom, find this def:

def status_params
  params.require(:status).permit(:name, :content)
end

and change it to this:

def status_params 
params.require(:status).permit(:user_id, :content) 
end

You are all set! All of your parameters within your form should now be passed to the database when a new user signs up. You can continue forward in the Treebook tutorial.

Answer 1 · 2014-08-12T08:21:28Z

August 12, 2014 8:21am

That's a very good entry, Tanner, and Treehouse team should add something like this to the treebook course, because I regularny have to explain those things to people who are not aware of differences between Rails 3 and 4 (I was SO frustrated the first time I encountered this problem...). There's also another way to do this thing using one initializer file, I described it here:

https://teamtreehouse.com/forum/validates-firstname-presence-true-not-working

Unfortunately these entries will sooner or later get lost in time like tears in the rain (time to die), so our mission is to do this regularly ;). Join me in my quest!

Answer 2 · 2015-01-06T04:41:43Z

January 6, 2015 4:41am

i followed this tutorial but have a couple of issues...

in the show.html.erb

works and generates the id #

but when I try to do @status.user_id.first_name

I get a big no-no error

on a side note:

when I refresh my home page my hover works but when I push back from the edit page the edit/delete buttons disappear!

Answer 3 · 2014-08-19T02:18:23Z

August 19, 2014 2:18am

Hi guys -

Followed these steps but still getting an error. I've tripled checked and all the associations/code that you provided is exactly correct.

I noticed that when I do:

<%= status.user %>

I don't get an error. It's only when I do

<%= status.user/first_name %> (or full_name with the method)

That I'm getting the error. Do you have any idea why?

Answer 4 · 2014-08-19T02:18:50Z

August 19, 2014 2:18am

And sorry, that's a <%= status.user.first_name %> ha, just a typo

Answer 5 · 2014-08-19T03:01:15Z

August 19, 2014 3:01am

Thanks for the rapid reply,

I was using it in the index file, not the show, so not an instance variable

If you don't know it's no worries and I'll head over to codementor.io

Thanks!

Answer 6 · 2014-08-19T14:31:02Z

August 19, 2014 2:31pm

I did! I did User.delete_all and Status.delete_all, still didn't work!

Answer 7 · 2014-08-19T14:55:22Z

August 19, 2014 2:55pm

Will do! I am speaking to an expert tonight and will see if I can review

Best, Andy

Answer 8 · 2014-09-05T14:44:01Z

September 5, 2014 2:44pm

Thank you very much for this tutorial. It works perfect!!! :D

Answer 9 · 2015-01-21T16:49:09Z

January 21, 2015 4:49pm

Could anyone please push to github for this solution. I tried for several times but it just doesn't work.

Answer 10 · 2015-05-13T16:12:22Z

May 13, 2015 4:12pm

Thank you so much for this! I was going to give up the application entirely.

Answer 11 · 2016-06-26T07:36:50Z

June 26, 2016 7:36am

The tutorial is great, however it doesn't seem to work for me. I keep getting the same error:

NoMethodError in Statuses#new app/views/statuses/_form.html.erb where line #15 raised:

Extracted source (around line #15): <div class="field"> <%= f.label :name %><br /> <%= f.text_field :name %> #this is where it keeps pointing to. </div> <div class="field"> <%= f.label :content %><br />

I checked the multiple tutorials, deleted all previous statuses, and can't seem to find it.

It's probably one of those easy things a rookie like me keeps overlooking :P.

Thanks for the help in advance.

Björn

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Tanner Brandt

Tanner Brandt

attr_accessible missing in Rails 4 - Here's the workaround for the Treebook tutorial.

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Maciej Czuchnowski

Maciej Czuchnowski

Tanner Brandt

Tanner Brandt

11 Answers

Maciej Czuchnowski

Maciej Czuchnowski

Tanner Brandt

Tanner Brandt

Alexander Lee

Alexander Lee

Maciej Czuchnowski

Maciej Czuchnowski

Tanner Brandt

Tanner Brandt

Maciej Czuchnowski

Maciej Czuchnowski

Alexander Lee

Alexander Lee

Andrew Hunt

Andrew Hunt

Maciej Czuchnowski

Maciej Czuchnowski

Andrew Hunt

Andrew Hunt

Tanner Brandt

Tanner Brandt

Andrew Hunt

Andrew Hunt

Andrew Hunt

Andrew Hunt

Maciej Czuchnowski

Maciej Czuchnowski

Andrew Hunt

Andrew Hunt

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Miguel Hernández

mamat golo

mamat golo

Anna K

Anna K

Maciej Czuchnowski

Maciej Czuchnowski

Bjorn Bakker

Bjorn Bakker