Common Issues & Errors

For trouble shooting help, please see the end ...

Entries not saving - also known as "Mass assignment protection", or "Strong Param(s)" / "Strong Parameters"

There are mass assignment checks in rails. Rails 4 & 5 use Strong Parameters. Older versions of Rails used attr_accessible.

How to recognize

• Your project is in Rails 3 or newer.
• You might have accidently used a guide for an older version of Rails (pre-2014 date normally, but the gem was available 2012)
• Your Jquery stuff (dynamic forms and effects, etc) work, looks pretty & return in console
• See main guide for trouble shooting this type of issue - https://github.com/nathanvda/cocoon#strong-parameters-gotcha
• Official edge guide from Rails - http://edgeguides.rubyonrails.org/action_controller_overview.html#strong-parameters

Jquery problems

Just because Cocoon gem is adding / removing fields, does not mean that the Jquery library is working. With Jquery, there's 5 or 6 places it can go wrong OR everything can be "right", but duplicate code base can cause conflicts.

How to recognize

• You can see buttons/tabs/links, but click something & nothing happens
• Not everything you programmed is happening
• Other Jquery stuff (bootstrap, widgets, etc) stop working
• You might or might not see your assets in the Chrome web console in the elements section
• If you try logging something to the web browser console, it doesn't show up

Classes of Jquery issues

• Rails asset pipe line - assets not loading (in webconsole)

  • lack of javascript_include_tag
  • too many gemfile entries of the different Jquery libraries
  • Use of CDN alongside gemfile or Jquery file stored on your server in `app/assets/javascript or even <script> in the views
  • javascript_include_tag not side the header or header tag not closed
  • lack of //= . at the end of the application.js
  • your files are not in the app/assets/javascript directory to be included
  • new changes aren't being reflected in the Chrome web browser elements or the code base via web
  • automatically generated .coffee files in the assets directory, conflicting with .js files if you don't use coffeescript
  • Sporadic or random issues

• Non-responsive / Conflicts

  • Duplicates of the Jquery source files
    • Slow loads
    • Sudden flashes or effects
    • Most of the time there is no sign, your cocoon fields will appear, but none of the effects will work

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Resources ...

• Trouble shooting guide for Jquery - Jquery Trouble shooting
• Strong Parameters
  • Cocoon - Readme - pay attention to the nesting
  • Official Rails - Scroll to 4.5.2 Nested Parameters