".save" only inserts null values in database - mysql

Question

I'm trying to make a RoR application for a Hospital so it has patients, doctors, offices, etc.
The problem I'm having is that, at the patient "Sign-up", I'm not able to save the new patient in the database. In fact, despite I've checked that the attributes are ok (It's just a name and a personal ID), once the method is excecuted, in the database only appears a new row with "<null>" instead of the actual attribute values. Here's the method:
def pat_create
pName = params[:name].to_s
id = params[:pid].to_s.to_i
pat = Patient.where(:pID => id).first
if pat == nil
pat = Patient.new(:name => pName, :pID =>id)
pat.save
end
end
Also, This is the query that it constructs:
INSERT INTO `patients` (`created_at`, `name`, `pID`, `updated_at`) VALUES ('2013-05-20 02:04:28', NULL, NULL, '2013-05-20 02:04:28')
This method is called after some other view collects the :name and :pid information in this form:
<%= form_tag('/page/pat_create') do %>
<%= text_field_tag :name, nil%>
<%= text_field_tag :pid, nil%>
<%= button_tag(type: "submit", class: "btn btn-success") do %>
Register<i class="icon-white icon-plus"></i>
<%end%>
<%end%>
Needless to say, pat.errors.empty? is true, and so is pat.save.
Any idea why this happens?
Here's Patient Model:
class Patient < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :name, :pID
attr_accessor :name, :pID
has_many :appointments
validates_presence_of :name
validates :name, :format => {:with=> /^[a-zA-Z\s\D]+$/}
validates_presence_of :pID
validates_numericality_of :pID
validates_inclusion_of :pID, :in => 100000..9999999999
end

Answer 1

Remove the following line in class Patient:
attr_accessor :name, :pID
What happened was that attr_accessor replaced the two database column attributes :name and :pID (which were automatically generated) with its own, resulting in two virtual attributes, :name and :pID.
Thus, the virtual attributes were being set and validated instead of the corresponding database attributes, which resulted in no errors yet null values in the database.

Answer 2

Can you show us how this method is called? Also are you sure that params[:name] and params[:pid].
You have used the column :pid and :pID, as below
pat = Patient.where(:pID => id).first
if pat == nil
pat = Patient.new(:name => pName, :pID =>id) # should use pat = Patient.new(:name => pName, :pid =>id)
pat.save
end

Answer 3

So in your controller your params are nil but you call .to_s and .to_s.to_i which results in an empty string "" and 0 (zero). You then save them into your database. A couple recommendations:
def pat_create
pat = Patient.new(:name => params[:name], :pid =>params[:pid])
pat.save
end
In addition to the uniqueness validation I would make sure your db column has a unique index on it to insure no duplicate patients.
class Patient < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :name, :pid
attr_accessor :name, :pid
has_many :appointments
validates :name, presence: true,
length: { maximum: 50 },
format: {:with=> /^[a-zA-Z\s\D]+$/}
validates :pid, presence: true,
numericality: { only_integer: true,
greater_than_or_equal_to: 100000,
less_than_or_equal_to: 9999999999 },
uniqueness: true
end
If you are getting valid values this will work and if not you will see why it is not.