Ruby redirect to same page and show errors if form input is bad

Question

Forgive me I'm new at Ruby. I am trying to create a site to contain information about a zoo.

I have an enclosure model and an animal model.

This is my code for the create method in animal_controller

def create
    if params.has_key?(:enclosure_id)
        @enclosure = Enclosure.find(params[:enclosure_id])
        @animal = Animal.new(animals_params)
        @animal.user_id = current_user.id

        if @animal.save
           @enclosure.animals.push(@animal)
           redirect_to enclosure_path(@enclosure)
        else
           # ????
        end
    else
        @animal = Animal.new(animal_params)
        @animal.user_id = current_user.id
        if @animal.save
           redirect_to @animal
        else
           render 'new'
        end
    end
end

I then have two places where a new animal can be created. One is using a form at localhost:3000/animals/new . The other is using a similar form on the show page of a particular enclosure, so for example at localhost:3000/enclosures/1/

In my code above, I check for the presence of enclosure_id to determine where the call is coming from. If the parameter is found, I add the animal to the enclosure there and then. However, if @animal.save fails, I do not understand how I can return to the localhost:3000/enclosures/id page with the validation error messages being passed. In the case of no enclosure_id , render 'new' takes the user back to the ../animal/new page with error messages passed as well.

Thanks

Answer 1

I don't think it's a good idea to go to an other page, because you will have to serialize errors linked to the model and it's gonna be complicated and ugly.

I think you should render the show page of the enclosure and then display the errors

#....
    if @animal.save
       @enclosure.animals.push(@animal)
       redirect_to enclosure_path(@enclosure)
    else
       render 'enclosures/show'
    end
#....