Hey guys,
I am trying to create a helper to distinguish wether a field that employs the use of file_colum is empty or not for the purpose of a users personal image.
The reason that i am doing this is because when displaying the records i am presented with the following error:
You have a nil object when you didn't expect it! The error occurred while evaluating nil.PHOTO_relative_path
...when calling the PHOTO field with this code:
<%= image_tag url_for_file_column("user", "PHOTO") %>
This is because some users do not have an uploaded photo.
What i want to do is to work out whether or not the PHOTO field is empty or not and act accordingly. If the field has a url to an image then display that image using the image_tag else if the field is empty i want to either insert the url of a default image or just force the system to automatically display the default image.
Based on the way that file_colum works im going to guess it is easier to just point the system to an image location if the field is empty instead of trying to force a url into the db record.
Ok i am a bit of a newby at this so can someone confirm to me that this would indeed be achieved with a helper or would this code go somewhere else?
I have been toying with the following:
<% if collector.PHOTO.blank? %> <%= image_tag("/images/avatar_thumb.jpg") %> <% else %> <%= image_tag("#{collector.PHOTO}") %> <% end %>
...which works interms of determining if the field is blank or not but it does not display the image if the field is not empty. In order to do that i would have to use the call i had been previously using:
<%= image_tag url_for_file_column("user", "PHOTO") %>
...but this then throws up the initial error again. Plus i know that this is in the List view at current and im sure it would be tidier to do it somewhere else.
Cheers in advance for any help.
Pete