Creating variable for association in ruby on rails controller - ruby-on-rails-4

Question

I have a set up where Goals have Steps and Steps have Tasks. In my view I am showing a goal, if that goal has steps then I can pull those and show them as well. I am having a hard time showing the tasks for each individual step now. I can get the task associated with the proper step so part of this is working, but I cannot access any of the data, name and description specifically for the task.
I am just unsure how to create this in the controller. I have cruised around the guide trying to find a solution and tried things like
#goal.steps.tasks
#step.tasks
I just cannot find anything that clicks for creating the variable in the controller so I can access it.
goals_controller.rb show method
def show
#goal = Goal.find(params[:id])
#steps = #goal.steps(page: params[:page])
# #tasks = ?
end
goal.rb
class Goal < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :steps, dependent: :destroy
has_many :tasks, through: :steps
end
step.rb
class Step < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :goals
has_many :tasks, dependent: :destroy
default_scope -> { order(created_at: :desc) }
end
task.rb
class Task < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :steps
end
views
goals/show view
<p>
<% if #goal.steps.any? %>
<!-- Projects Row -->
<div class="row">
<%= render #steps %>
</div>
<!-- /.row -->
<% else %>
No steps for this goal.
<% end %>
</p>
the partial rendered for the steps
<div id="steps-<%= step.id %>" class="col-md-3 portfolio-item not completed" style="background-color:#e26a5c;border-radius:10px;border:1px solid #6cbdc4;margin:0 5px 5px 0;">
<h3>
<p>In order to achieve this goal I need to <strong><%= step.name %></strong> in <strong><%= time_ago_in_words(step.deadline) %></strong></p>
</h3>
<img src="/img/icon-edit.png">
<% if step.tasks.any? %>
<%= render "tasks/task" %>
<% else %>
<%end %>
</div>
<% else %>
<div id="steps-<%= step.id %>" class="col-md-3 portfolio-item completed" style="background-color:#6cbdc4;border-radius:10px;border:1px solid #e26a5c;margin:0 5px 5px 0;">
<h3>
<p>In an effort to achieve this goal I needed to <strong><%= step.name %></strong> in <strong><%= time_ago_in_words(step.deadline) %></strong></p>
</h3>
<img src="/img/icon-edit.png">
</div>
Tasks/task is the partial I am trying to pull in, I can link to it on the correct step and everything, but it says undefined method when I put task.name or task.description in.

Answer 1

Try this in your goals_controller.rb:
def show
#goal = Goal.find(params[:id])
#steps = #goal.steps(page: params[:page]).includes(:tasks)
end
Then in your view you could have something like this:
<ul>
<% #steps.each do |step| %>
<li>
<%= step %>
<p>Tasks:</p>
<ul>
<% step.tasks.each do |task| %>
<li><%= task %></li>
<% end %>
</ul>
</li>
<% end %>
</ul>
For more info on includes: http://guides.rubyonrails.org/active_record_querying.html#eager-loading-associations