Associations problem

Rails
1

Hi all,

I have some associations setup such that:

class Job
has_many :applications
end

class Candidate
has_many :applications
end

class Application
belongs_to :job
belongs_to :candidate
end

When viewing a particular job, I have the following iteration:

<% for application in @job.applications %>
<%= h application.candidate.name %>
<% end %>

I am getting a nil object error when evaluating nil.name. If I delete
“name”, I can see the candidate object and if I change it
application.candidate_id, I see the candidate_id for the application.
I have setting the @applications variable in the controller rather
than go through the association in the view but still get the same
problem.

My only thought is that maybe the model named Application is causing
trouble but wouldn’t want to change this on a hunch!

Does anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks

Robin

2

I don’t know if application is reserved, I would guess it is not since
models don’t use this term, but try what I have below before renaming
things.

In my experience you need to check the candidate is not nil.
Especially since you aren’t requiring an application has a candidate.

<% for application in @job.applications %>
<% if application.candidate != nil %>
<%= h application.candidate.name %>
<% end %>
<% end %>

You might find it better to use a has_many :through, make your models
look like this: and update your view to the view below

class Job
has_many :applications
has_many :candidates, :through => :applications
end
class Candidate
has_many :applications
end
class Application
belongs_to :job
belongs_to :candidate
end

<% for candidate in @job.candidates %>
<%= h candidate.name %>
<% end %>

3

2009/7/20 Robin F. [email protected]:

 has_many :applications
 <%= h application.candidate.name %>
trouble but wouldn’t want to change this on a hunch!
In http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/ReservedWords, application
is mentioned as a word that has caused problems.

Colin