Simple Api where create function send me 400 "Bad Request" but I can't figure out why

Hello,
I’m struggling to figure out why my api is sending me a 400 error on create route. Show and index route are working fine.
I tried different playload, I double check there was no error in json playload and

Here is my controller (auto generated with phoenix generator):

defmodule ColdDataApiWeb.ProjectController do
  use ColdDataApiWeb, :controller

  alias ColdDataApi.Record
  alias ColdDataApi.Record.Project

  action_fallback ColdDataApiWeb.FallbackController

  def index(conn, _params) do
    projects = Record.list_projects()
    render(conn, "index.json", projects: projects)
  end

  def create(conn, %{"project" => project_params}) do
    with {:ok, %Project{} = project} <- Record.create_project(project_params) do
      conn
      |> put_status(:created)
      |> put_resp_header("location", project_path(conn, :show, project))
      |> render("show.json", project: project)
    end
  end

  def show(conn, %{"id" => id}) do
    project = Record.get_project!(id)
    render(conn, "show.json", project: project)
  end

  def update(conn, %{"id" => id, "project" => project_params}) do
    project = Record.get_project!(id)

    with {:ok, %Project{} = project} <- Record.update_project(project, project_params) do
      render(conn, "show.json", project: project)
    end
  end

  def delete(conn, %{"id" => id}) do
    project = Record.get_project!(id)
    with {:ok, %Project{}} <- Record.delete_project(project) do
      send_resp(conn, :no_content, "")
    end
  end
end

My schema:

defmodule ColdDataApi.Record.Project do
  use Ecto.Schema
  import Ecto.Changeset

  schema "projects" do
    field :name, :string
    field :short_description, :string
    field :description, :string
    field :human_name, :string

  end

  @allowed_fields [:name, :short_description, :description, :human_name]
  @required_fields [:name, :short_description, :human_name]

  @doc false
  def changeset(project, attrs) do
    project
    |> cast(attrs, @allowed_fields)
    |> validate_required(@required_fields)
    |> validate_length(:name, max: 40, count: :codepoints)
    |> validate_length(:short_description, max: 600, count: :codepoints)
    |> validate_length(:human_name, max: 40, count: :codepoints)
    |> validate_length(:description, max: 65_535, count: :codepoints)
    |> unique_constraint(:name)
  end
end

My FallbackController:

defmodule ColdDataApiWeb.FallbackController do
  @moduledoc """
  Translates controller action results into valid `Plug.Conn` responses.

  See `Phoenix.Controller.action_fallback/1` for more details.
  """
  use ColdDataApiWeb, :controller

  def call(conn, {:error, %Ecto.Changeset{} = changeset}) do
    conn
    |> put_status(:unprocessable_entity)
    |> render(ColdDataApiWeb.ChangesetView, "error.json", changeset: changeset)
  end

  def call(conn, {:error, :not_found}) do
    conn
    |> put_status(:not_found)
    |> render(ColdDataApiWeb.ErrorView, :"404")
  end
end

I add the routes like this:

  # Other scopes may use custom stacks.
  scope "/api/v1", ColdDataApiWeb do
    pipe_through :api

    resources "/projects", ProjectController, except: [:new, :edit]
  end

I tested in iex console, Record.create_project works. I suppose the error come from the controller.
Does anyone could give me an hint on this error ?

Ps: english is not my mother tongue, so do not hesitate to ask me question if something is unclear.

Can you provide the output of mix phx.routes?

And how do you send the request?

Try putting a few IO.inspect/1 calls into the create action:

  def create(conn, %{"project" => project_params}) do
    IO.inspect(project_params, label: "project_params")
    with {:ok, %Project{} = project} <- Record.create_project(project_params) do
      IO.inspect(project, label: "project")
      conn
      |> put_status(:created)
      |> put_resp_header("location", project_path(conn, :show, project))
      |> render("show.json", project: project)
      |> IO.inspect(label: "conn")
    end
  end

and making the request again. These inspect calls might help reveal the problem.

The output of mix phx.routes is:

project_path  GET     /api/v1/projects      ColdDataApiWeb.ProjectController :index
project_path  GET     /api/v1/projects/:id  ColdDataApiWeb.ProjectController :show
project_path  POST    /api/v1/projects      ColdDataApiWeb.ProjectController :create
project_path  PATCH   /api/v1/projects/:id  ColdDataApiWeb.ProjectController :update
              PUT     /api/v1/projects/:id  ColdDataApiWeb.ProjectController :update
project_path  DELETE  /api/v1/projects/:id  ColdDataApiWeb.ProjectController :delete

To send the request is tried both postman and curl with the same payload:

> curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST http://localhost:4000/api/v1/projects -d '{"name": "name ", "human_name":"h name", "short_description":"sd", "description":"des"}'

About putting the IO.inspect, I did it but I’m running the api into a docker container, and I don’t get outputs yet for this command (I get other logs through). So, once I figure out how to get thos output I’ll show you the results

There is no "project" key in your body. Thats the first thing I do see with your snippet.

Perhaps try a catch-all header for now (def create(conn, params) do...) and as the very first line do Logger..debug(params).

So I added the "project" key in the request body:

> curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST http://localhost:4000/api/v1/projects -d '{"project":{"short_description":"sd","name":"name","human_name":"h name","description":"des"}}'

{"errors":{"detail":"Internal Server Error"}}%

And With the logger I get the following error:

web    | Request: POST /api/v1/projects
web    | ** (exit) an exception was raised:
web    |     ** (Protocol.UndefinedError) protocol String.Chars not implemented for %{"description" => "technicals specifications of the project...", "human_name" => "project name", "name" => "TEST", "short_description" => "yolo"}. This protocol is implemented for: Atom, BitString, Date, DateTime, Decimal, Ecto.Date, Ecto.DateTime, Ecto.Time, Float, Integer, List, Mariaex.Query, NaiveDateTime, Time, URI, Version, Version.Requirement
web    |         (elixir) /usr/local/src/elixir/lib/elixir/lib/string/chars.ex:3: String.Chars.impl_for!/1
web    |         (elixir) /usr/local/src/elixir/lib/elixir/lib/string/chars.ex:22: String.Chars.to_string/1
web    |         (logger) lib/logger.ex:776: Logger.truncate/2
web    |         (logger) lib/logger.ex:626: Logger.bare_log/3
web    |         (cold_data_api) lib/cold_data_api_web/controllers/project_controller.ex:16: ColdDataApiWeb.ProjectController.create/2
web    |         (cold_data_api) lib/cold_data_api_web/controllers/project_controller.ex:1: ColdDataApiWeb.ProjectController.action/2
web    |         (cold_data_api) lib/cold_data_api_web/controllers/project_controller.ex:1: ColdDataApiWeb.ProjectController.phoenix_controller_pipeline/2
web    |         (cold_data_api) lib/cold_data_api_web/endpoint.ex:1: ColdDataApiWeb.Endpoint.instrument/4
web    |         (phoenix) lib/phoenix/router.ex:278: Phoenix.Router.__call__/1
web    |         (cold_data_api) lib/cold_data_api_web/endpoint.ex:1: ColdDataApiWeb.Endpoint.plug_builder_call/2
web    |         (cold_data_api) lib/cold_data_api_web/endpoint.ex:1: ColdDataApiWeb.Endpoint.call/2
web    |         (plug) lib/plug/adapters/cowboy/handler.ex:16: Plug.Adapters.Cowboy.Handler.upgrade/4
web    |         (cowboy) /cold_data_api/deps/cowboy/src/cowboy_protocol.erl:442: :cowboy_protocol.execute/4

Now you used a "project" key in the body and you obviously didn’t use a catch all clause. Just remove the log-call and you should be good to go.

Thanks a lot ! It’s working.