I am at an absolute loss as to what I am doing wrong with the following code. I am trying to implement a messaging system within my application, but want it to be handle different types of messages. In this case, I want to create a "request" message of ':message_type => 1'.

Instead of using forms as I usually have, I want to make this instance the moment the link is clicked. Here is how I have it set up in the show erb file for "user":

<%=link_to "Send friend request", :action=>"request", :controller => "messages", :id => @user.id %>

and in the controller:

  def request
    @message = Message.new(:sender_id => current_user.id,:user_id => params[:id],:message_type => 1)
    if @message.save
        flash[:notice] = 'Message was successfully created.'
        redirect_to message_path(@message)
      else
        redirect_to message_path(@message)
      end
  end

This results in the following error message: undefined method `rewrite' for nil:NilClass with the trace looking like

 c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.5/lib/active_support/whiny_nil.rb:52:in `method_missing'
    c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.3.5/lib/action_controller/base.rb:634:in `url_for'
    (eval):16:in `message_path'
    app/controllers/messages_controller.rb:11:in `request'

I have used map.resources :messages in the routes.rb file, and done the appropriate :has_many and :belongs_to associations in the models of user and message.