Rails 4 - undefined method - Probably an easy answer

Question

I think this is probably an easy fix, I'm just not sure what to do.

I have the following:

User model

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :events
  def full_name
     [first_name, last_name].join(" ")
  end
end

Event model

class Event < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :user
    def as_json(options = {})
    {
     :id => self.id,
     :title => self.name,
     :location => self.location,
     :start => start_time.rfc822,
     :end => end_time.rfc822,
     :event_creator => user.full_name  #this is what is causing the problem
    }
   end
end

I get the following error when I run the query:

NoMethodError in CalendarController#index 
undefined method `full_name' for nil:NilClass

But, when I am in Rails Console, if I run the method:

irb>> Event.find(1).as_json
irb>>  => {:id=>1, :title=>"Your title", :location=>"Bermuda", :start=>"Sun, 05 Jan 2014 02:50:07 +0000", :end=>"Sun, 05 Jan 2014 02:51:46 +0000", :event_creator=>"John Smith"} 

As you can see, the "event_creator" works with no problem in the Rails console.

Any ideas on what is going on here and what I need to change?

Thanks very much!

Answer 1

You would get this error if Event.user_id is nil, meaning there is no user assigned to the Event.