Wondering regarding: how to get the [gender] reference?

rubyonrails-talk
1

Original Post:

please help solve the problem.

There is a table users: id :integer, autoincrement name :string gender_id :integer

There is a table genders: id :integer, autoincrement gender_name :string

model User: class User < ActiveRecord::Base   belongs_to :gender end

model Gender: class Gender < ActiveRecord::Base   has_many :users end

I need the gendername. I try to do so: <% @users.each do |user| %>     <div class="col-xs-6"><%= user.name %></div>     <div class="col-xs-2"><%= user.gender_id %></div> <% end %>

the result is output number, but I need to gendername

p.s. so I tried: <div class="col-xs-2"><%= user.gender.gender_name %></div>

in this case receives the following error message: undefined method `gender_name' for nil:NilClass

Dear All,

I think that this post raises interesting issues regarding the gathering of a user's gender. The developer is evidently not requiring user indication of gender, and has problems in the event of null. Perhaps that matter is optional. If so, why didn't the developer provide an option for "User Declines" as an example.

I think you would have to ask the developer this. It is not a Rails issue. Perhaps in this case the developer allowed the field to be left empty, marking it as an optional field.

But generally I think this matter is very important. We exist in the 21st Century where a request for gender must be done with sensitivity. What is the convention in this matter?

Rails does not have a convention in this any more than php does. It is not an issue for the underlying framework or language, it is a matter for the developer.

Colin

2

I think that it is a Rails issue. Scott writes: "Oh please, let’s not turn the simplest of bugs into a debate on gender politics. " The developer was not aware that gender name could be null. And we are all okay with that… Seems to me a serious disconnect. This developer perhaps on a very large project where data requirements are not shared well. Whether is it gender or some other sensitive matter, it would be really cool to see some tie in data presentation.

3

As I mentioned before it was not the gender_name that was nil, it was that there was no gender object associated with the user. The developer did not understand the error message was caused by this and was apparently happy with the solution to only display the gender name if there was an associated gender. Otherwise it seems he was perfectly happy with no specified gender. I cannot understand why this is causing you issues.

Colin