User ID is NULL when saving record for logged in user - mysql

Question

I am starting to learn rails and have run into a problem. I am writing a simple application (similar to the twitter tutorials I have seen) where a user logs in and creates a new post.
When a user logs in, I am setting the session information as follows
session[:id] = authorized_user.id
session[:email] = authorized_user.email
So now I have the ID of the user logged in. Upon login, the user is brought to a form where they can submit a new post (3 fields.) When user clicks submit, I want to create a new record with the data they entered, and associate the record to that user (User ID). I am not exactly sure how to do this.
Below is the code on the controller:
def create
#Used for creating new status posts
#Need to get the ID of the user logged in
#user = AdminUser.find(session[:id])
#Instantiate new object using form parameters
#post = Post.new(post_params)
#post.AdminUser = #user # THIS IS THE LINE NOT WORKING
#Save the object
if #post.save
#If save succeeds, redirect to the index action
flash[:notice] = "Status has been saved"
redirect_to(:action => 'index')
else
#If the save fails, redisplay the form so user can fix problems
render('new')
end
end
Here is the Private method for post_params
def post_params
#Defining the params that are allowed to be passed with forms.
params.require(:post).permit(:post_status, :post_title, :post_content)
end
The record is saved but the UserID for the record is NULL.
My first instict was to try to pass UserID as a post parameter, but i think this is a potential security risk, so I am trying to figure out an alternate way. I am sure it is something simple and I am just missing it.

Answer 1

Attributes
Firstly,
#post.AdminUser = #user # THIS IS THE LINE NOT WORKING
You should use snake_case for your attribute names (you're using CamelCase). Calling an attribute AdminUser has all sorts of potential issues which will arise down the line.
Call it admin_user or admin_id or something similar
--
Params
Secondly,
I want to create a new record with the data they entered, and
associate the record to that user (User ID)
If you're trying to save a "dependent" record for an object (for example, saving a post for a user), you'll have to assign the user_id record yourself, and pass it through the params, like so:
#app/controllers/posts_controller.rb
Class PostsController < ApplicationController
def create
#post = Post.new(post_params)
#post.save
end
private
def post_params
params.require(:post).permit(:title, :body).merge({user_id: authorized_user.id})
end
end
When you create an element in your app, you're basically just taking data from the params hash & sending to the model to save. This is done using the strong_params functionality introduced in Rails 4:
def post_params
params.require(:post).permit(:title, :body).merge({user_id: authorized_user.id})
end
As you can see from my example above, you basically need to be able to send through the user_id / admin_id / AdminUser value through to the model (so it can save)
You can also do this by setting the attribute as the example below:
#app/controllers/posts_controller.rb
def create
#post = Post.new(post_params)
#post.user_id = authorized_user.id
#post.save
end
private
def post_params
params.require(:post).permit(:title, :body, :user_id)
end
--
You should also look at the difference between authentication & autorhization for better definition of your logged-in user object :)

Answer 2

Rewrite the line like this, taking UserID as the column name in posts table
#post.UserID = #user.id