Been trying to sort this for over a day now, and I am sure that it is something simple that I am missing.

I have a project, which can have one main category and two optional categories. My relevant code for the project model:

```
has_many :project_categories

has_one  :optional_category_1,
         :through => :project_categories,
         :conditions => 'is_main_category = 0',
         :order => 'category_id',
         :source => :category,
         :class_name => 'Category'

has_one  :optional_category_2,
         :through => :project_categories,
         :conditions => 'is_main_category = 0',
         :order => 'category_id DESC',
         :source => :category,
         :class_name => 'Category'

has_one  :main_category,
         :through => :project_categories,
         :conditions => 'is_main_category = 1',
         :source => :category,
         :class_name => 'Category'

```

The relevant code from the Category class:

```
has_many :project_categories
has_many :projects, :through => :project_categories, :source => :project

```

and from the ProjectCategory class:

```
class ProjectCategory < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :project
  belongs_to :category
end

```

In my view:

```
    Main Category: <%= f.select(:main_category, Category.find(:all, :order => 'parent_id, categories.desc').collect {|c| [c.display_name, c.id] }, :prompt => "Select a Main Category") %><br>
Optional Category 1: <%= f.select(:optional_category_1, Category.find(:all, :order => 'parent_id, categories.desc').collect {|c| [c.display_name, c.id] }, :prompt => "Select an Optional Category") %><br>
Optional Category 2: <%= f.select(:optional_category_2, Category.find(:all, :order => 'parent_id, categories.desc').collect {|c| [c.display_name, c.id] }, :prompt => "Select an Optional Category") %><br>

```

and in my controller:

```
      @project.attributes = params[:project]

```

Ok, so when updating an existing project, I get the following error:

```
undefined method `update_attributes' for #<Class:0x82efce0>

```

and the relevant stack trace:

```
C:/Software/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.2/lib/active_record/associations.rb:1255:in `main_category='
C:/Software/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.2/lib/active_record/base.rb:2745:in `send'
C:/Software/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.2/lib/active_record/base.rb:2745:in `attributes='
C:/Software/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.2/lib/active_record/base.rb:2741:in `each'
C:/Software/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.2/lib/active_record/base.rb:2741:in `attributes='
C:/Development/craftbits_rails/app/controllers/projects_controller.rb:85:in `manage_project'

```

Is it saying that there is an issue with main\_category and that it is a generic class? But why? The association defines it correctly AFAIK.

Any help appreciated!

Vikram