Join table cannot update or destroy throw error of no primary key #25347

starkshaw · 2016-06-10T11:35:50Z

Steps to reproduce

Have models as follow:

class Event < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :deal
  has_many :events_users
  has_many :users, through: :events_users
end

class Deal < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :team
  has_many :deals_users
  has_many :users, through: :deals_users
  has_many :events
end

class Team < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :deals
  has_many :team_users
  has_many :users, through: :team_users
end

class User < ApplicationRecord
  has_one :team, through: :team_user
  has_one :team_user
  has_and_belongs_to_many :deals
  has_and_belongs_to_many :events
end

class EventsUser < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :event
  belongs_to :user
  validates_uniqueness_of :event_id, scope: :user_id
  enum status: [:pending, :accepted, :maybe, :rejected]
end

class DealsUser < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :user
  belongs_to :deal
  validates_uniqueness_of :deal_id, scope: :user_id
end

class TeamUser < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :user
  belongs_to :team
  validates_uniqueness_of :team_id, scope: :user_id
  validates_uniqueness_of :user_id
end

Expected behavior

The join tables, EventsUser, DealsUser, TeamUser can be updated or deleted.

Actual behavior

It can only be created, the update will throw

ActiveRecord::UnknownPrimaryKey: Unknown primary key for table events_users in model EventsUser.
Can not validate uniqueness for persisted record without primary key.

and destroy will throw

NoMethodError: undefined method `to_sym' for nil:NilClass

These following are my testing procedures in rails c.

eu = EventsUser.first
eu.status = "maybe"
eu.save (throw update error)
eu.destroy (throw destroy error)
eu (it exists)
eu.status (return the status)

status is an enum in model, and defined in migration as such:

t.integer :status, default: 0

System configuration

Rails version:
Rails 5.0.0.rc1
Ruby version:
ruby 2.3.1p112 (2016-04-26 revision 54768) [x86_64-darwin15]

Reference

#21304

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

maclover7 · 2016-06-10T13:34:02Z

cc @sgrif

prakashmurthy · 2016-07-01T23:10:40Z

Tried reproducing this behavior with a demo app; could not reproduce the buggy behavior. The join tables can be updated and deleted as per normal expectation.

The demo app is at https://github.com/prakashmurthy/join_table_issue_demo

Tried with both 5.0.0 and 5.0.0.rc1.

Ruby version: ruby 2.3.1p112 (2016-04-26 revision 54768) [x86_64-darwin15]

Not sure what I am missing....

ibussieres · 2016-08-05T14:31:07Z

Experiencing the exact same problem, also with a joint table. Rails 5.0.0.

Extract from db/schema.rb

create_table "likes", id: false, force: :cascade do |t|
    t.integer  "item_id"
    t.integer  "owner_id"
    t.datetime "created_at", null: false
    t.datetime "updated_at", null: false
    t.index ["item_id", "owner_id"], name: "index_likes_on_item_id_and_owner_id", unique: true, using: :btree
end

@prakashmurthy's example does not use joint indices. Perhaps that is the root problem ?

ibussieres · 2016-08-08T16:10:37Z

fwiw, I changed it to seperated indices and still have the same issue.

prakashmurthy · 2016-08-12T22:12:42Z

Created a bug_report_template script for this issue; the behavior is not being reproduced by the script. Hopefully, it will help identify the difference that is causing the issue for @starkshaw and @ibussieres .

Script to reproduce the issue with join table update and delete

begin
  require "bundler/inline"
rescue LoadError => e
  $stderr.puts "Bundler version 1.10 or later is required. Please update your Bundler"
  raise e
end

gemfile(true) do
  source "https://rubygems.org"
  # Activate the gem you are reporting the issue against.
  gem "activerecord", "5.0.0"
  gem "sqlite3"
end

require "active_record"
require "minitest/autorun"
require "logger"

# Ensure backward compatibility with Minitest 4
Minitest::Test = MiniTest::Unit::TestCase unless defined?(Minitest::Test)

# This connection will do for database-independent bug reports.
ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(adapter: "sqlite3", database: ":memory:")
ActiveRecord::Base.logger = Logger.new(STDOUT)

ActiveRecord::Schema.define do
  create_table :teams, force: true do |t|
    t.string :name
  end

  create_table :deals, force: true do |t|
    t.string :name
    t.integer :team_id
  end

  create_table :events, force: true do |t|
    t.string :name
    t.integer :deal_id
  end

  create_table :users, force: true do |t|
    t.string :first_name
    t.string :last_name
  end

  create_table :events_users, force: true do |t|
    t.integer :event_id
    t.integer :user_id
    t.integer :status, default: 0
  end

  create_table :deals_users, force: true do |t|
    t.integer :deal_id
    t.integer :user_id
    t.integer :status, default: 0
  end

  create_table :team_users, force: true do |t|
    t.integer :team_id
    t.integer :user_id
    t.integer :status, default: 0
  end
end

class ApplicationRecord < ActiveRecord::Base
  self.abstract_class = true
end

class Event < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :deal
  has_many :events_users
  has_many :users, through: :events_users
end

class Deal < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :team
  has_many :deals_users
  has_many :users, through: :deals_users
  has_many :events
end

class Team < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :deals
  has_many :team_users
  has_many :users, through: :team_users
end

class User < ApplicationRecord
  has_one :team, through: :team_user
  has_one :team_user
  has_and_belongs_to_many :deals
  has_and_belongs_to_many :events
end

class EventsUser < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :event
  belongs_to :user
  validates_uniqueness_of :event_id, scope: :user_id
  enum status: [:pending, :accepted, :maybe, :rejected]
end

class DealsUser < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :user
  belongs_to :deal
  validates_uniqueness_of :deal_id, scope: :user_id
end

class TeamUser < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :user
  belongs_to :team
  validates_uniqueness_of :team_id, scope: :user_id
  validates_uniqueness_of :user_id
end

User.create(first_name: "Almaz", last_name: "Ayana")
User.create(first_name: "Vivian", last_name: "Cheruiyot")

Team.create(name: "10000m")
Team.create(name: "100m")

Deal.create(name: "Half Off", team_id: 1)
Deal.create(name: "BOGO", team_id: 2)

Event.create(name: "Christmas", deal_id: 1)
Event.create(name: "Halloween", deal_id: 1)

EventsUser.create(user_id: 1, event_id: 1)
EventsUser.create(user_id: 2, event_id: 1)

TeamUser.create(user_id: 1, team_id: 1)
TeamUser.create(user_id: 2, team_id: 2)

DealsUser.create(user_id: 1, deal_id: 1)
DealsUser.create(user_id: 2, deal_id: 2)

class BugTest < Minitest::Test
  def test_join_table_update
    eu = EventsUser.first
    eu.status = "maybe"
    eu.save
    assert_equal "maybe", EventsUser.first.status
    eu.destroy
    assert_equal true, eu.destroyed?
  end
end

ibussieres · 2016-08-14T16:53:35Z

It works if I remove id: false. I can work around the problem by testing uniqueness in the model, but it leaves me with a useless id field in a join table.

sgrif · 2016-08-14T20:34:42Z

Active Record doesn't have built in support for composite primary keys. You'll need to remove the validates_uniqueness_of. If this isn't an error you expect the user to be able to recover from (e.g. it's just to enforce data integrity), you can use a unique index on the database for the same purpose.

sgrif · 2016-08-14T20:35:39Z

Actually if you can reproduce this by deleting through associations, there probably is a real issue here. Please update with a repro script if that's the case.

lhammond · 2016-12-13T18:56:43Z

happening for me on 5.0.0.1

stale · 2017-03-27T18:51:10Z

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not been commented on for at least three months.
The resources of the Rails team are limited, and so we are asking for your help.
If you can still reproduce this error on the 5-1-stable branch or on master, please reply with all of the information you have about it in order to keep the issue open.
Thank you for all your contributions.

roolo · 2017-04-01T17:57:21Z

Happening to me on Rails 5.0.2

batmanbury · 2017-04-02T02:51:53Z

Also happening to me on Rails 5.0.2

I have id: false, force: :cascade in the schema and dependent: :destroy in the model. Still happening.

rohineematale · 2017-04-03T09:03:37Z

Hi @batmanbury ,
Rails is looking for a primary key for deleting a record. Check this
Rails take ID as default primary key and as it's not present it gives a to_sym error for null class.
For temporary basis, you can avoid this issue by mentioning primary_key in model as

self.primary_key = <column_name having uniq index>

or you need to add ID column in a table which will serve as a primary_key.

This solved my issue

vishalzambre · 2017-04-03T09:41:03Z

@sgrif
This is reproduced by deleting through associations got following exception

BugTest#test_join_table_update:
NoMethodError: undefined method `to_sym' for nil:NilClass

Here is attached template
Verified with versions
activerecord 5.1.0.rc1 and 5.0.0
ruby 2.4.0

It works smooth if we remove id: false from join table

peracchi · 2017-05-09T01:53:37Z

I think I have the same problem...

rails g model City name:string
rails g model Event title:string city:belongs_to
rails g model Entity name:string
rails g model Sponsorship --no-migration
rails g migration CreateSponsorshipJoinTable event entity
rails db:migrate

Models:

class City < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :events
end

class Event < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :city

  has_many :sponsorships, inverse_of: :event
  accepts_nested_attributes_for :sponsorships, reject_if: :all_blank, allow_destroy: true

  has_many :entities, through: :sponsorships
end

class Sponsorship < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :event
  belongs_to :entity
end

class Entity < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :sponsorships
  has_many :events, through: :sponsorships
end

Then I try the following on rails console:

params = { title: 'First Event', city_id: 4, sponsorships_attributes: [ { entity_id: 2 }, { entity_id: 5 }, { entity_id: 7 } ] }

event = Event.create(params)

params = { title: 'First Event (first change)', sponsorships_attributes: { "0" => { entity_id: 5, _destroy: 1 } } }

event.update_attributes(params)

params = { title: 'First Event (second change)', sponsorships_attributes: { "0" => { entity_id: 5, _destroy: 1, id: 9 } } }

event.update_attributes(params)

On the first update attempt, nothing happens on sponsorships table.

On the second update attemt I got:
NoMethodError: undefined method to_sym' for nil:NilClass`

Any ideas?

matthewd · 2017-05-09T05:44:25Z

Per #25347 (comment):

Active Record doesn't have built in support for composite primary keys

That means you can't manipulate a model whose corresponding table doesn't have a single-column primary key defined. That includes doing so through an association that uses said model.

roolo · 2017-06-17T21:08:27Z

Happens to on Rails 5.1.1

Migration

class CreateUsersSubscriptions < ActiveRecord::Migration[5.1]
  def change
    create_join_table :users, :subscriptions do |t|
      t.references :user, foreign_key: true
      t.references :subscription, foreign_key: true
      t.datetime :since_date
      t.datetime :expire

      t.timestamps
    end
  end
end

rails console:

2.4.1 :010 > frk = SubscriptionsUser.create user: User.first, subscription: Subscription.first
  User Load (1.1ms)  SELECT  "users".* FROM "users" ORDER BY "users"."id" ASC LIMIT $1  [["LIMIT", 1]]
  Subscription Load (0.8ms)  SELECT  "subscriptions".* FROM "subscriptions" ORDER BY "subscriptions"."id" ASC LIMIT $1  [["LIMIT", 1]]
   (0.5ms)  BEGIN
  SQL (0.7ms)  INSERT INTO "subscriptions_users" ("user_id", "subscription_id", "created_at", "updated_at") VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4)  [["user_id", 1], ["subscription_id", 1], ["created_at", "2017-06-17 20:45:47.117825"], ["updated_at", "2017-06-17 20:45:47.117825"]]
   (23.7ms)  COMMIT
 => #<SubscriptionsUser user_id: 1, subscription_id: 1, since_date: nil, expire: nil, created_at: "2017-06-17 20:45:47", updated_at: "2017-06-17 20:45:47"> 
2.4.1 :011 > frk.destroy
   (1.1ms)  BEGIN
   (1.1ms)  ROLLBACK
NoMethodError: undefined method `to_sym' for nil:NilClass
	from (irb):11

When I try to manually change schema_statements.rb:373 to id: true, I get following

 $ rake db:migrate 
== 20170617204034 CreateUsersSubscriptions: migrating =========================
-- create_join_table(:users, :subscriptions)
rake aborted!
StandardError: An error has occurred, this and all later migrations canceled:

undefined method `to_sym' for true:TrueClass
Did you mean?  to_s
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/schema_definitions.rb:313:in `column'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/schema_definitions.rb:162:in `primary_key'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql/schema_definitions.rb:56:in `primary_key'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/schema_statements.rb:278:in `create_table'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/schema_statements.rb:352:in `create_join_table'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:849:in `block in method_missing'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:818:in `block in say_with_time'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:818:in `say_with_time'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:838:in `method_missing'
/Users/mailo/Projects/my/webapps/subscriptions/subscriptions/db/migrate/20170617204034_create_users_subscriptions.rb:3:in `change'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:792:in `exec_migration'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:776:in `block (2 levels) in migrate'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:775:in `block in migrate'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:408:in `with_connection'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:774:in `migrate'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:953:in `migrate'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1230:in `block in execute_migration_in_transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1298:in `block in ddl_transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/database_statements.rb:225:in `block in transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/transaction.rb:194:in `block in within_new_transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/transaction.rb:191:in `within_new_transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/database_statements.rb:225:in `transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:210:in `transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1298:in `ddl_transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1229:in `execute_migration_in_transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1201:in `block in migrate_without_lock'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1200:in `each'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1200:in `migrate_without_lock'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1148:in `block in migrate'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1317:in `with_advisory_lock'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1148:in `migrate'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1007:in `up'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:985:in `migrate'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/tasks/database_tasks.rb:171:in `migrate'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake:58:in `block (2 levels) in <top (required)>'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/rake-12.0.0/exe/rake:27:in `<top (required)>'
NoMethodError: undefined method `to_sym' for true:TrueClass
Did you mean?  to_s
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/schema_definitions.rb:313:in `column'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/schema_definitions.rb:162:in `primary_key'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql/schema_definitions.rb:56:in `primary_key'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/schema_statements.rb:278:in `create_table'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/schema_statements.rb:352:in `create_join_table'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:849:in `block in method_missing'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:818:in `block in say_with_time'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:818:in `say_with_time'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:838:in `method_missing'
/Users/mailo/Projects/my/webapps/subscriptions/subscriptions/db/migrate/20170617204034_create_users_subscriptions.rb:3:in `change'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:792:in `exec_migration'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:776:in `block (2 levels) in migrate'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:775:in `block in migrate'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:408:in `with_connection'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:774:in `migrate'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:953:in `migrate'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1230:in `block in execute_migration_in_transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1298:in `block in ddl_transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/database_statements.rb:225:in `block in transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/transaction.rb:194:in `block in within_new_transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/transaction.rb:191:in `within_new_transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/database_statements.rb:225:in `transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:210:in `transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1298:in `ddl_transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1229:in `execute_migration_in_transaction'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1201:in `block in migrate_without_lock'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1200:in `each'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1200:in `migrate_without_lock'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1148:in `block in migrate'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1317:in `with_advisory_lock'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1148:in `migrate'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:1007:in `up'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/migration.rb:985:in `migrate'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/tasks/database_tasks.rb:171:in `migrate'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/activerecord-5.1.1/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake:58:in `block (2 levels) in <top (required)>'
/Users/mailo/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.4.1@global/gems/rake-12.0.0/exe/rake:27:in `<top (required)>'
Tasks: TOP => db:migrate
(See full trace by running task with --trace)

GomaaK · 2018-11-19T20:07:50Z

I've read the thread and I can't wrap my head around the fact that create_join_table by default creates a join table with no primary_key and at the same time:

Per #25347 (comment):

Active Record doesn't have built in support for composite primary keys

That means you can't manipulate a model whose corresponding table doesn't have a single-column primary key defined. That includes doing so through an association that uses said model.

How can both be true?
Is using create_join_table something we should avoid?
Or am I missing something here?

Swizec · 2018-12-10T22:05:58Z

@GomaaK I'm in the same boat as you. I think if we upgraded to Rails 5 everything would be fine.

bensaufley · 2019-07-26T15:59:16Z

I'm in Rails 5 in a new project and encountering this same issue. I echo @GomaaK's confusion. I don't have a model for these join tables; there's nowhere to even stick self.primary_key = if I wanted to. What is create_join_table good for if it can't … be … used?

andreimoment · 2019-10-27T23:38:10Z

Having this issue on Rails 6.0.

What are best practices here and are there plans to fix the AR behavior with join tables? Ideally join tables would not need a primary id for the dependent: :destroy option to be honored.

I'm switching to manually delete-ing dependencies -- is this the best option?

kofronpi · 2020-02-07T14:54:39Z

After being tired of these errors I just put a primary key on all my join tables

rusikf · 2020-05-20T07:48:57Z

The problem is still actual
If we have
models/Page.rb

has_many :items, dependent: destroy
has_many :page_items, through: :items

Page.last.destroy => PG::Error: ERROR: zero-length delimited identifier at or near “”“”

Meekohi · 2021-05-04T19:21:24Z

Old thread but in case it helps... my understanding is that if you use create_join_table you should also be using has_and_belongs_to_many, not has_many through:. This creates a simple bare join table with no id, and you cannot work with those as objects directly.

stereobooster · 2021-06-16T17:44:11Z

It works if you use dependent: :delete_all instead of :destroy

agiratech-praveenkumar · 2022-01-17T06:43:15Z

Facing this on Rails 6.1.4.1

maclover7 added the activerecord label Jun 10, 2016

rafaelfranca added the needs work label Jul 2, 2016

sgrif closed this as completed Aug 14, 2016

sgrif reopened this Aug 14, 2016

stale bot added the wontfix label Mar 27, 2017

rafaelfranca added stale and removed wontfix labels Mar 27, 2017

stale bot removed the stale label Apr 1, 2017

matthewd closed this as completed May 9, 2017

sergiivorobei mentioned this issue Nov 3, 2017

ActiveRecord dependent: :destroy requires id on the associated object, raises NoMethodError: undefined method `to_sym' for nil:NilClass #31022

Closed

benoittgt mentioned this issue Nov 22, 2017

Delete has_one join_table row fails #31198

Closed

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Join table cannot update or destroy throw error of no primary key #25347

Join table cannot update or destroy throw error of no primary key #25347

starkshaw commented Jun 10, 2016 •

edited

maclover7 commented Jun 10, 2016

prakashmurthy commented Jul 1, 2016

ibussieres commented Aug 5, 2016 •

edited

ibussieres commented Aug 8, 2016

prakashmurthy commented Aug 12, 2016

ibussieres commented Aug 14, 2016

sgrif commented Aug 14, 2016

sgrif commented Aug 14, 2016

lhammond commented Dec 13, 2016

stale bot commented Mar 27, 2017

roolo commented Apr 1, 2017

batmanbury commented Apr 2, 2017

rohineematale commented Apr 3, 2017 •

edited

vishalzambre commented Apr 3, 2017

peracchi commented May 9, 2017 •

edited

matthewd commented May 9, 2017

roolo commented Jun 17, 2017

GomaaK commented Nov 19, 2018

Swizec commented Dec 10, 2018

bensaufley commented Jul 26, 2019

andreimoment commented Oct 27, 2019 •

edited

kofronpi commented Feb 7, 2020

rusikf commented May 20, 2020

Meekohi commented May 4, 2021

stereobooster commented Jun 16, 2021

agiratech-praveenkumar commented Jan 17, 2022

Join table cannot update or destroy throw error of no primary key #25347

Join table cannot update or destroy throw error of no primary key #25347

Comments

starkshaw commented Jun 10, 2016 • edited

Steps to reproduce

Expected behavior

Actual behavior

System configuration

Reference

maclover7 commented Jun 10, 2016

prakashmurthy commented Jul 1, 2016

ibussieres commented Aug 5, 2016 • edited

ibussieres commented Aug 8, 2016

prakashmurthy commented Aug 12, 2016

ibussieres commented Aug 14, 2016

sgrif commented Aug 14, 2016

sgrif commented Aug 14, 2016

lhammond commented Dec 13, 2016

stale bot commented Mar 27, 2017

roolo commented Apr 1, 2017

batmanbury commented Apr 2, 2017

rohineematale commented Apr 3, 2017 • edited

vishalzambre commented Apr 3, 2017

peracchi commented May 9, 2017 • edited

matthewd commented May 9, 2017

roolo commented Jun 17, 2017

GomaaK commented Nov 19, 2018

Swizec commented Dec 10, 2018

bensaufley commented Jul 26, 2019

andreimoment commented Oct 27, 2019 • edited

kofronpi commented Feb 7, 2020

rusikf commented May 20, 2020

Meekohi commented May 4, 2021

stereobooster commented Jun 16, 2021

agiratech-praveenkumar commented Jan 17, 2022

starkshaw commented Jun 10, 2016 •

edited

ibussieres commented Aug 5, 2016 •

edited

rohineematale commented Apr 3, 2017 •

edited

peracchi commented May 9, 2017 •

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andreimoment commented Oct 27, 2019 •

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