Multiple Record Forms for Ruby on Rails

********************UPDATE**********************************
I have moved to a new blog location and moved my blogger posts to http://thebitt.com

I have also created a zip file of multi-record app which you can find at http://thebitt.com/2006/01/03/multiple-record-forms-for-ruby-on-rails/

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I have been experimenting with creating a new goal management application using Ruby on Rails. The first challenge has been creating a signup application that takes account information and account owner information and then updates both an account and an user model. I couldn't find any examples on this that I could understand so I thought I would put up a short example of a working app.

First the database - two tables Account and User

• Account has two fields
  
  • id
  • name



• User has four fields
  
  • id
  • first_name
  • last_name
  • account_id

The models

Account Model

class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
 has_many :users
 validates_presence_of :name
 validates_uniqueness_of :name
 validates_length_of :name, :maximum => 100
end

User Model

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :account
  validates_presence_of :first_name, :last_name
  validates_uniqueness_of :first_name
end

The view

<h1>New account</h1>
<%= start_form_tag :action => 'create' %>
  <%= error_messages_for 'account' %>
  <!--[form:account]-->
  <p><label for="account_name">Name</label><br/>
  <%= text_field 'account', 'name'  %></p>
  <!--[eoform:account]-->

  <%= error_messages_for 'user' %>
  <!--[form:user]-->
  <p><label for="user_first_name">First name</label><br/>
  <%= text_field 'user', 'first_name'  %></p>


  <p><label for="user_last_name">Last name</label><br/>
  <%= text_field 'user', 'last_name'  %></p>
  <!--[eoform:user]-->
  <%= submit_tag "Create" %>
<%= end_form_tag %>

<%= link_to 'Back', :action => 'list' %>

The controller - Signup

class SignupController < ApplicationController

  model :user
  model :account


  def index
    new
    render :action => 'new'
  end


   def new
    @account = Account.new(@params['account'])
    @user= User.new(@params['yser'])
   end


  def create
    @account = Account.new(@params['account'])
    @user = User.new(@params['user'])
    @account.valid?
    @user.valid?
       if @account.valid? && @user.valid?
         name = @account.name
         @account.save
         @account = Account.find_by_name(name)
         @account.users << @user
         flash[:notice] = 'Account was successfully created.'
         redirect_to :action => 'new'
      else
         render :action => 'new'
      end
  end
end

I haven't figured out how to consolidate the validation error messages - If anybody knows how please let me know.