Undefined method for a belongs_to association

Question

My code:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
    belongs_to :university
end

class University < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :users, dependent: :destroy
end

and my model User has a university_id attribute.

If I do University.find(1).users I get the list of users, but if I do User.find(1).university (and I checked that university_id is not nil here) I get:

NoMethodError: undefined method `university' for #<User:0x00000003859fc8>
from /home/mari/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p290/gems/activemodel-3.0.10/lib/active_model/attribute_methods.rb :392:in `method_missing'
from /home/mari/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p290/gems/activerecord-3.0.10/lib/active_record/attribute_methods. rb:46:in `method_missing'
from (irb):14
from /home/mari/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p290/gems/railties-3.0.10/lib/rails/commands/console.rb:44:in`start'
from /home/mari/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p290/gems/railties-3.0.10/lib/rails/commands/console.rb:8:in start'
from /home/mari/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p290/gems/railties-3.0.10/lib/rails/commands.rb:23:in
`<top (required)>'
from script/rails:6:in `require'
from script/rails:6:in `<main>'

What am I doing wrong? I have another models and they are working just fine. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

Itchy

That's weird, what happens when you type User.new.university ? – Eugenol

Column in database exists? Usually this is the cause of this error. – Ronnieronny

It exists, as I mentioned, I check that the column is not nil before I call it and it still throws that error – Itchy

isn't it typo there "has_many :users, dependent: :destroy" should be "has_many :users, :dependent => :destroy: – Felly

@AmolPujari: That's new-style hash syntax and perfectly valid (when using Ruby 1.9) – Receptacle

ohh :) I must know reason behind this, else at 1st glance I think I find it weird – Felly

Answer 1

I still can't comment so I'll burn an answer:

Somehow the belongs_to :university in the User model isn't being recognized. When testing, are you certain that the User model has been saved and is in the right place and that the server or console has been refreshed? Most commonly, in my experience, when I'm meddling with models, I have to refresh my server and console often to get clean results.

Elementary

Along those lines, are there other User classes out there in a gem or library you're using? Is your User class in the proper file location (/app/models/user.rb)? Looks like a load-order problem or file inclusion problem to me - your code is fine from what you've posted. – Analogize

So it happens that Lambda Red was right. Today I was starting to work again and the problem was solved! I guess a reboot of the console (or server) did the trick. I feel stupid now haha. I just can't get my mind around it, why one "side" was working and the other one wasnt... anyhow.. its working now. Thanks! – Itchy

Perfect! reload! after every model change is a good habit to make – Sotted

Answer 2

Try

User.where("id =?", 1).first.university

Byrle