help with a NoMethodError caused by comparing start and end dates

rubyonrails-talk
1

I have a "job" model for adding job experiences to a resume and am seeing the following error on occasion:

NoMethodError: undefined method `>' for nil:NilClass

The line of code throwing the error is: if self.started_on > self.ended_on

The code for this portion of the job form view is:   <label>Date started *</label>     Start: <%= f.date_select :started_on, :order => [:month, :year], :start_year=>1970, :include_blank=>true %>   <br/>   <label>Date ended *</label>     Stop: <%= f.date_select :ended_on, :order => [:month, :year], :start_year=>1970, :include_blank=>true %>   <br>   Hint: leave blank for current position

The relevant code from the job model is:   def validate     unless self.ended_on.nil?       if self.started_on > self.ended_on       errors.add_to_base( "Start date is after end date. Please check your dates." )       end     end   end

In the form, it tells the user to select a start date and end date, but to leave the end date blank if they are still employed at that job. I am not certain why this is generating an error sometimes but not others, other than some combination of selecting the start and stop dates in an unexpected way.

2

I have a "job" model for adding job experiences to a resume and am seeing the following error on occasion:

NoMethodError: undefined method `>' for nil:NilClass

The line of code throwing the error is: if self.started_on > self.ended_on

That means started_on is nil.

The code for this portion of the job form view is: <label>Date started *</label> Start: <%= f.date_select :started_on, :order => [:month, :year], :start_year=>1970, :include_blank=>true %> <br/> <label>Date ended *</label> Stop: <%= f.date_select :ended_on, :order => [:month, :year], :start_year=>1970, :include_blank=>true %> <br> Hint: leave blank for current position

The relevant code from the job model is: def validate unless self.ended_on.nil? if self.started_on > self.ended_on

I guess you have the situation where ended_on is not nil but started_on is. If you don't think this should be happening then have a look at the Rails Guide on debugging to find out how to use ruby-debug to break into the code and inspect data.

Colin