Rails fields_for pulling model name instead of ID for params id

Question

I'm using fields_for to create a page for editing multiple user objects in my app. I've been using this Railscast video as a point of reference. http://railscasts.com/episodes/198-edit-multiple-individually The issue I am running into is that rather than using the user id when generating the html, the form builder is inserting the user's name. I have no idea why. Below is my controller, view, and some of the html generated.

View

 Manage Your User Licenses
User License Management for <%= @org.title %>
<%= form_tag update_many_user_licenses_path, :method => :put do %>
  <% for user in @users %>
    <%= fields_for "users[]", user do |user_fields| %>
      <div><%= user.name %></div>
      <div><%= user_fields.label :active_license %>
      <%= user_fields.check_box :active_license %></div>
    <% end %>
  <% end %>
  <%= submit_tag "Mark as Complete" %>
<% end %>

Controller

class UserLicensesController < ApplicationController
  before_filter :authenticate_user!

  def manage
    @org = current_user.organization
    @users = @org.users
  end
  def update_many
    @users = User.find(params[:users])
    @users.each do |user|
      user.update_attributes!(params[:user].reject { |k,v| v.blank? })
    end
    flash[:notice] = "Updated users licenses."
    redirect_to manage_user_licenses_path
  end
end   

HTML

<div>Tyrel Denison</div>
<div><label for="users_Tyrel-Denison_active_license">Active license</label>
<input name="users[Tyrel-Denison][active_license]" type="hidden" value="0" /><input   id="users_Tyrel-Denison_active_license" name="users[Tyrel-Denison][active_license]" type="checkbox" value="1" /></div>

Answer 1

While I'm not familiar with the LinkedIn API Gem, based on our discussion, it seems the to_param method is being overwritten in your User model.

From the comments, this is apparently what your to_param method looks like:

def to_param  # TODO USe something better than this plz  
    self.name.gsub(/\s+/, '-')  
end

You reported that rather than using the user id when generating the html, the form builder is inserting the user's name , and as you can see, this is precisely what is happening in that method. Ultimately, fields_for calls to_param , and you don't have a choice in that matter.

I would be quite astonished that the LinkedIn gem required you to override that method, as it would most definitely break any model that used it, as you experienced (and I can't explain why the other developer decided to do that - it's possible they innocently wrote the method without realizing it already exists in the base class)

I can't give you more detailed information without examining the system more closely, however I would suggestion trying to find how/where to_param is being used (assuming it is being called explicitly somewhere), and create a separate method instead.