undefined method `permit' for "Submit Now! ":String. Where am I going wrong?

Question

I've been trying like crazy to work through this permit error using some of the other StackOverflow postings, but can't seem to get past it. I've got a projects model & controller & a versions model & controller. Projects/##/versions/new is a form page to create a new version of project id ##. But when I click the submit button to create the version...it throws the following error in the VersionsController:

undefined method `permit' for "Submit Now! ":String

Extracted source (around line #36):
34
35
36
37
38


    def version_params
      params.require(:version).permit(:title)
    end
end

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated...I've been trying to fix this for too long now. My Code is as follows:

ROUTES.RB

resources :users
  resources :sessions, only: [:new, :create, :destroy]
  resources :projects, only: [:create, :new, :show, :edit, :update, :destroy]

  resources :projects do
    resources :versions
  end

  # get "static_pages/home"
  # get "static_pages/help"
  # get "static_pages/about"
  #The original routes above map to...
  root  'static_pages#home'
  match '/signup',  to: 'users#new',            via: 'get'
  match '/signin',  to: 'sessions#new',         via: 'get'
  match '/signout', to: 'sessions#destroy',     via: 'delete'
  match '/help',    to: 'static_pages#help',    via: 'get'
  match '/about',   to: 'static_pages#about',   via: 'get'
  match '/contact', to: 'static_pages#contact', via: 'get'

PROJECTS MODEL:

class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :users
  has_many :versions, dependent: :destroy
  validates :title, presence: true, length: { maximum: 100 }
  validates :background, presence: true
  validates :user_id, presence: true

  default_scope -> { order('created_at DESC') }
end

VERSIONS MODEL:

class Version < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :project
  validates :title, presence: true, length: { maximum: 140 }

  default_scope -> { order('created_at DESC') }
end

VERSIONS CONTROLLER:

class VersionsController < ApplicationController
  def new
    @version = Version.new
  end

  def show
    @project = Project.find(params[:project_id])
    @version = Version.find(params[:id])
  end

  def index
    @versions = Version.paginate(page: params[:page])
  end

  def create
    @project = Project.find(params[:project_id])
    @version = @project.versions.create(version_params)
    if @version.save
      flash[:success] = "You've successfully added a version to this branch..."
      redirect_to project_path(@project)
    else
      render 'new'
    end
  end

  def edit

  end

  def update

  end

  def destroy

  end

  private

    def version_params
      params.require(:version).permit(:title)
    end
end

NEW.HTML.ERB (new version form):

<% provide(:title, 'New Version') %>
<h1>Add a version to this project</h1>

<div class="row-fluid">
  <div class="col-md-5 no-pad offset3">
    <%= bootstrap_form_for @version, :url => project_versions_path do |f| %>

      <%= render 'shared/error_messages', object: f.object %>

      <%= f.text_field :title %>

      <br clear="all">

      <%= f.submit "Submit Now! ", class: "btn btn-lg btn-primary" %>
    <% end %>
  </div>
</div>

PARAMS:

{"utf8"=>"✓",
 "authenticity_token"=>"######AAAA",
 "submit"=>"Submit Now! ",
 "project_id"=>"51"}

Processing by VersionsController#create as HTML
  Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "authenticity_token"=>"################=", "version"=>"Submit Now! ", "project_id"=>"51"}
  Project Load (0.3ms)  SELECT "projects".* FROM "projects" WHERE "projects"."id" = ? ORDER BY created_at DESC LIMIT 1  [["id", "51"]]
Completed 500 Internal Server Error in 3ms

NoMethodError (undefined method `permit' for "Submit Now! ":String):
  app/controllers/versions_controller.rb:41:in `version_params'
  app/controllers/versions_controller.rb:17:in `create'

Answer 1

I can recognize the problem in the params. You have this:

{"utf8"=>"✓",
 "authenticity_token"=>"######AAAA",
 "submit"=>"Submit Now! ",
 "project_id"=>"51"}

You should have this:

{"utf8"=>"✓",
 "authenticity_token"=>"######AAAA",
 "project_id"=>"51",
 "version"=>{"title"=>"Foo Bar"},
"button"=>""}

The reason this is a problem is because you do not have a version title being passed in the params, and you are trying to create a new version with the params. It instead looks for the closest thing which in this case happens to be the string "Submit Now!", but since "submit" is not permitted than strong params tosses it out.

It looks like you are creating your form correctly, it may be an issue with bootstrap_form_for. Can you post what the input output for title looks like in html on your form?

In the meantime I have two suggestions, First thing that may solve the problem, is to change f.submit to f.button. f.button will still create a submit button, but it allows you to name is in the way that you are trying to.

Also in the controller, you don't need to save after you call create. create will actually store it in the database, so you are saving it twice. You should either call new instead of create

@version = @project.versions.new(version_params)
if @version.save

of check if new record

@version = @project.versions.create(version_params)
unless @version.new_record?