Rails 4 Attempting to save Multiple Records to single Model

Question

I am using the Omnicontacts Gem to pull a list of contacts. So far that works. I can get the contacts and use them to populate a form so I can pass them to my Contacts Controller to be saved in the Contact Model.

I have looked at the Rails Cast #165 for guidance and several posts here on Stackoverflow. However I cannot seem to crack this nut. It feels like I am missing something basic and is driving me batty.

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EDIT: Issue Restatement

The trouble I am having is a nil contact record is getting written to memory. Please see update log section below. Effectively I am attempting to submit multiple records, only the last is being picked up. That is not actually getting saved to the model, which then causes other issues. It appears this was caused by calling NEW. By changing the method to CREATE it is now saving the last item in the list. However any fields not listed in the form are saving as nil which is causing other issues.

---

Works from the console:

$Contact.create([{ user_id: '1', first_name: 'sam'}, { user_id: '1', first_name: 'Dean'}]) 

Creates two new records in the Contact model. So I am trying to figure out how to make that happen from a form. Basically.

Can one nest a form within its own model? Should I save the contacts to a staging table first? Sees like there should be a "Rails" way of doing this. Any advice is greatly appreciated. The view belongs to the Import parts of the controller.

Controller:

def new
  @contact = Contact.new
  redirect_to action: 'index'
end

def edit
end

def create
  @user = current_user
  @contact = @user.contacts.new(contact_params)
  @contact.save
  redirect_to action: 'index'
end

def import
  @import = request.env['omnicontacts.contacts']
  respond_to do |format|
    format.html
  end
end

View:

<div class="row">
  <div class="small-12">
    <%= simple_form_for Contact.new do |f| %>
        <% unless @import.nil? %>
            <% @import.each do |c| %>
                <%= f.input :first_name, input_html: {value: c[:first_name]} %>
                <%= f.input :last_name, input_html: {value: c[:last_name]} %>
                <%= f.input :email_home, input_html: {value: c[:email]} %>
                <%= f.input :phone_home, input_html: {value: c[:phone_number]} %>
            <% end %>
        <% end %>
        <div class="actions" align="right">
          <%= f.button :submit %>
        </div>
    <% end %>
  </div>
</div>

LOG:

Started POST "/contacts" for ::1 at 2015-06-14 06:38:52 -0500
  User Load (0.3ms)  SELECT  "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."id" = $1  ORDER BY "users"."id" ASC LIMIT 1  [["id", 1]]
Processing by ContactsController#create as HTML
  Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "authenticity_token"=>"UFadEXa3yeTmQ/ySsXcRhLmt9Bulr4hp0dlPc5N6LIlYKlRPkdgwZ0tgOSgBv9eD38Ng5U2XC4zJFlIuwcpHfA==", "contact"=>{"first_name"=>"omniplan-crash", "last_name"=>"", "email_home"=>"[email protected]", "phone_home"=>""}, "commit"=>"Create Contact"}
   (0.1ms)  BEGIN
  SQL (0.5ms)  INSERT INTO "contacts" ("first_name", "last_name", "email_home", "phone_home", "user_id", "created_at", "updated_at") VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7) RETURNING "id"  [["first_name", "omniplan-crash"], ["last_name", ""], ["email_home", "[email protected]"], ["phone_home", ""], ["user_id", 1], ["created_at", "2015-06-14 11:38:52.239022"], ["updated_at", "2015-06-14 11:38:52.239022"]]
  SQL (0.3ms)  UPDATE "users" SET "contacts_count" = COALESCE("contacts_count", 0) + 1 WHERE "users"."id" = $1  [["id", 1]]
   (1.1ms)  COMMIT
Redirected to http://localhost:3000/contacts
Completed 302 Found in 12ms (ActiveRecord: 2.1ms)


Started GET "/contacts" for ::1 at 2015-06-14 06:38:52 -0500
  User Load (0.2ms)  SELECT  "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."id" = $1  ORDER BY "users"."id" ASC LIMIT 1  [["id", 1]]
Processing by ContactsController#index as HTML
   (0.6ms)  SELECT "contacts"."id" FROM "contacts" WHERE "contacts"."user_id" = $1  [["user_id", 1]]
  Contact Load (2.5ms)  SELECT "contacts".* FROM "contacts" WHERE "contacts"."id" IN (4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 29, 31, 32, 34, 35, 37, 39, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 69, 71, 79, 91, 97, 105, 106, 107, 112, 113, 114, 119, 120, 126, 136, 141, 152, 157, 158, 162, 176, 189, 194, 198, 205, 207, 220, 221, 226, 232, 235, 238, 240, 244, 246, 249, 254, 257, 261, 262, 266, 272, 289, 290, 291, 309, 327, 338, 342, 350, 361, 363, 364, 375, 376, 386, 387, 389, 393, 394, 402, 413, 416, 418, 422, 432, 434, 440, 442, 444, 446, 447, 452, 456, 459, 465, 487, 492, 494, 497, *501*)
  Contact Load (3.8ms)  SELECT "contacts".* FROM "contacts" WHERE "contacts"."user_id" = $1  ORDER BY "contacts"."last_name" ASC, "contacts"."first_name" ASC  [["user_id", 1]]

When I check my table record 501 does not actually exist, but my app does.

Answer 1

So what I was trying to do was not possible. Ultimately it took creating an Import Controller so that I could call a nested Controller form through the User model.

<div class="row">
  <div class="small-12">
    <%= simple_form_for(@user, url: import_path) do |f| %>
      <%= f.simple_fields_for :contacts, @contacts do |contact| %>
        <%= render 'contact_fields', f: contact %>
      <% end %>
    <div class="actions" align="right">
      <%= f.submit class:"button tiny" %>
    </div>
    <% end %>
  </div>
</div>

Answer 2

Try changing the view code like this

<div class="row">
    <div class="small-12">
      <%= simple_form_for Contact.new do |f| %>
        <% unless @import.nil? %>
          <% @import.each do |c| %>
              <%= f.input :first_name, input_html: {value: c[:first_name]} %>
              <%= f.input :last_name, input_html: {value: c[:last_name]} %>
              <%= f.input :email_home, input_html: {value: c[:email]} %>
              <%= f.input :phone_home, input_html: {value: c[:phone_number]} %>
          <% end %>
        <% end %>
        <div class="actions" align="right">
          <%= f.button :submit %>
        </div>
      <% end %>
     </div>
   </div>