Why are my model params being considered an undefined local variable?:

Question

I have an app with three models. The primary model has_one of the other two models, and and the secondary models belongs_to the primary model.

The first model has two views, each with a form that populates the primary model and part of its respective secondary model. The first view is called new, and I simply created another view entitled new2, as they both populate the primary model's database.

In both my forms, I have:

  <%= f.fields_for @primarymodel.secondary_model do |secondary_model_field| %>

I don't have a controller for the secondary models, and in my primary model controller I have defined the params to include all attributes from all thee models.

When I attempt to submit the forms in dev mode, I get an error that my params are an "undefined local variable."

The params are defined in the controller.

The create in the controller is:

 def create
     @primarymodel= Primarymodel.create(primarymodel_params)
    @primarymodel.save

end

Is there a reason that params would show up as an undefined variable?

Update: Here is my whole controller

    class ParticipantsController < ApplicationController
  def new
    @participant= Participant.new
  end

  def new2
    # @participant= Participant.new
  end

  def create
     @participant = Participant.create(participant_params)
    @participant.save
    if @participant.save
            flash[:success] = "Successfully Registered!"        

            #email notifes admin of new registration
        NotifyMailer.notify_email(@participant).deliver_now

        redirect_to '/signup'
  end

  def edit
  end

  def update
  end

  def show
  end

  def index
  end

 private
    def participant_params
      params.require(:participant).permit(:first_name, :last_name, :gender, :email, :birthdate, :phone, :street_name, :city, :state, :zip, :baptism_date, :baptism_importance, :christian_story, :questions, :nationality, :religion, :need_ride, 
        :has_spouse, :spouse_name, :english_level, :expectations, :length_of_stay, :exact_length, :volunteer_id, :matched, :returned_home)

    end

  end
end

Here is the server error:

Started POST "/participants" for 127.0.0.1 at 2019-01-14 21:15:38 -0600
  ActiveRecord::SchemaMigration Load (0.5ms)  SELECT "schema_migrations".* FROM "schema_migrations"
Processing by ParticipantsController#create as HTML
  Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "authenticity_token"=>"oMlCbilHzH18I9WmwqweShDLa3vhPy8d+t4cdsU8fSR2ReijiwMhIOmdi0vzQfdsO4rwD3OqGRR7ZvLshOuFtg==", "participant"=>{"first_name"=>"J", "last_name"=>"W", "gender"=>"Male", "email"=>"[email protected]", "phone"=>"xxxxxxxxxx", "street_name"=>"41 Belling", "city"=>"Nashville", "state"=>"Tennessee", "zip"=>"", "role"=>"Reader", "student_details"=>{"nationality"=>"", "religion"=>"", "birthdate"=>"", "need_ride"=>"Yes", "has_spouse"=>"married", "spouse_name"=>"", "english_level"=>"Low", "expectations"=>"", "length_of_stay"=>"Less than 1 Year", "exact_length"=>""}}, "commit"=>"Register"}
Completed 500 Internal Server Error in 445ms (ActiveRecord: 0.0ms)
NameError (undefined local variable or method `participant_params' for #<ParticipantsController:0x0000000008915228>
Did you mean?  participant_path
               participant_url
               participants_path):
 
app/controllers/participants_controller.rb:11:in `create'
  Rendering C:/Ruby24-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.4.0/gems/actionpack-5.0.7.1/lib/action_dispatch/middleware/templates/rescues/diagnostics.html.erb within rescues/layout
  Rendering C:/Ruby24-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.4.0/gems/actionpack-5.0.7.1/lib/action_dispatch/middleware/templates/rescues/_source.html.erb
  Rendered C:/Ruby24-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.4.0/gems/actionpack-5.0.7.1/lib/action_dispatch/middleware/templates/rescues/_source.html.erb (8.0ms)
  Rendering C:/Ruby24-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.4.0/gems/actionpack-5.0.7.1/lib/action_dispatch/middleware/templates/rescues/_trace.html.erb
  Rendered C:/Ruby24-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.4.0/gems/actionpack-5.0.7.1/lib/action_dispatch/middleware/templates/rescues/_trace.html.erb (2.8ms)
  Rendering C:/Ruby24-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.4.0/gems/actionpack-5.0.7.1/lib/action_dispatch/middleware/templates/rescues/_request_and_response.html.erb
  Rendered C:/Ruby24-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.4.0/gems/actionpack-5.0.7.1/lib/action_dispatch/middleware/templates/rescues/_request_and_response.html.erb (2.9ms)
  Rendered C:/Ruby24-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.4.0/gems/actionpack-5.0.7.1/lib/action_dispatch/middleware/templates/rescues/diagnostics.html.erb within rescues/layout (1881.1ms)

This is the model:

class Participant < ApplicationRecord
                                validates :last_name, presence: true
                                # validates :gender, inclusion: { in: %w(male female) }
                                validates :nationality, presence: true
                                validates :phone, presence: true
                                has_one :volunteer_detail
                                has_one :reader_detail
end

Answer 1

Take a look at your create method:

def create
    @participant = Participant.create(participant_params)
    @participant.save
    if @participant.save
      flash[:success] = "Successfully Registered!"        

      #email notifes admin of new registration
      NotifyMailer.notify_email(@participant).deliver_now

      redirect_to '/signup'
  end

As you can see, you don't end the method, you only have an end for the if statement. This means that when you define other methods like edit and participant_params they are defined within the create method.

Change your create method so that you end both the if statement and the method like so:

def create
    @participant = Participant.create(participant_params)
    @participant.save
    if @participant.save
      flash[:success] = "Successfully Registered!"        

      #email notifes admin of new registration
      NotifyMailer.notify_email(@participant).deliver_now

      redirect_to '/signup'
    end
 end

(Notice the last end, you currently have that at the bottom of your file rather than here)