Rails: Create a survey with the data in a database table - ruby-on-rails-3

Question

I'm currently trying to create a survey which will use questions that are stored in a table. I've read nested model form part 1 from rails casts however i'm not getting anywhere as the questions are not displaying in the survey.
I have three tables, one tables has the text of the questions, another table keeps the record of who entered the survey and a third table which keeps the answers from a user for the questions.
variable table:
name: varchar
id: integer
report table
employee name: varchar
date: date
id: integer
report_variable table
question_id
report_id
answer
Code i modified for reports/new:
# GET /reports/new
# GET /reports/new.json
def new
#report = Report.new
#variable = #report.variable.build #dont know what to do here, gives an error with report_id
respond_to do |format|
format.html # new.html.erb
format.json { render json: #report }
end
end
modified report/_form.html.erb
<div >
<%= f.fields_for :variable do |builder| %>
<%= render variable_fields, :f => builder %>
<% end %>
</div>
created report/_variable_fields.html.erb
<p>
<%= f.label :name %>
<%= f.text_field :name, :class => 'text_field' %>
<p>
model for report_variable
class ReportVariable < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :report_id, :value, :variable_id
has_and_belongs to many :reports
has_and_belongs to many :variables
end
model for report
class Report < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :employeeName
has_many :report_variable
has_many :variable
accepts_nested_attributes_for :report_variable
accepts_nested_attributes_for :variable
end
Sorry if it's a simple question, im pretty new to rails.

Answer 1

Welcome to Rails!
I think the simple answer is the fields aren't showing up because there aren't any nested records. You can probably get around that by uncommenting the variable line as you have it:
def new
#report = Report.new
#report.variables.build #this line creates 1 new empty variable, unsaved.
respond_to do |format|
format.html # new.html.erb
format.json { render json: #report }
end
end
If you want more than one variable, call something like:
3.times { #report.variables.build }
That way the #report object you're placing in the form helper will have three variables on it. This should get you moving again, the harder thing is going to be adding ajax addition / removal of variables, but if you know how many there are in advance you don't have to deal with that.
Good luck!