Using globalize gem to manage translations with autocomplete, there is a situation where a number of hooks need to be properly set. Note: this does not use hstore AFAIK. I have not managed to find a way to do so. The most productive set-up to date has
controller:
autocomplete :nation, :name, :full => true
Nation
translates :name
view
<%= autocomplete_field_tag 'nation_name', '', autocomplete_nation_name_itins_path, size: 35, :id_element => 'nation_id' %>
There is no inherent reference to nation_translations database table created by Globalize as of yet. As this image suggests, there is a problem:
Issue 1: The input remains binded to the base table's attribute value (I have not yet cleared them out as the Globalize gem suggests. Otherwise I'd be getting blanks). can is actually ready all values of canin master table... Typing in other locales, like cyrillic say Канада has naturally no effect as that value is not part of the Nation table.
What is interesting is that the drop-down values are being populated by Rails automatically, extracting the translation values of what is input.
Issue 2: I'd rather pass the parameter 'nation_id' which is naturally part of the nation_translations table with the form data. although I can append , :extra_data => [:nation_id] to the controller it is not being submitted (example in cyrillic where the input is given without any autocomplete)
{"utf8"=>"✓", "nation_name"=>"Канада", "commit"=>"..."}
Rails.logger.info :extra_data returns:
extra_data
Now the second issue can be overcome because a query like
Nation::Translation.where('name = ?', "Канада").pluck('nation_id')
returns a proper result. But that point is moot if the autocomplete is not playing ball with the user's input.
How can this be configured to have user input autocomplete with the current local translations?
this does get solved by creating an entirely new class with attributes nation_id, name, locale and can thus be called symbolically.
The query call is not that straightforward however. As the gem suggests, the method need to be tweaked
def autocomplete_nation_name
term = params[:term].downcase
locale = params[:locale]
nationtranslations = Nationtranslation.where('locale = ? AND name LIKE ?', locale, "%#{term}%").order(:name).all
render :json => nationtranslations.map { |nationtranslation| {:id => nationtranslation.id, :label => nationtranslation.name, :value => nationetranslation.name} }
end
intervening on the action method itself provides all the leeway desired...
Related
I would like to make editing form fields as user-friendly as possible. For example, for numeric values, I would like the field to be displayed with commas (like number_with_precision).
This is easy enough on the display side, but what about editing? Is there a good way to do this?
I am using the Rails FormBuilder. Upon investigation, I found that it uses InstanceTag, which gets the values for fields by using <attribute>_value_before_type_cast which means overriding <attribute> won't get called.
The best I have come up with so far is something like this:
<%= f.text_field :my_attribute, :value => number_with_precision(f.object.my_attribute) %>
Or my_attribute could return the formatted value, like this:
def my_attribute
ApplicationController.helpers.number_with_precision(read_attribute(:my_attribute))
end
But you still have to use :value
<%= f.text_field :my_attribute, :value => f.object.my_attribute %>
This seems like a lot of work.
I prefer your first answer, with the formatting being done in the view. However, if you want to perform the formatting in the model, you can use wrapper methods for the getter and setter, and avoid having to use the :value option entirely.
You'd end up with something like this.
def my_attribute_string
foo_formatter(myattribute)
end
def my_attribute_string=(s)
# Parse "s" or do whatever you need to with it, then set your real attribute.
end
<%= f.text_field :my_attribute_string %>
Railscasts covered this with a Time object in a text_field in episode #32. The really clever part of this is how they handle validation errors. It's worth watching the episode for that alone.
This is an old question, but in case anyone comes across this you could use the number_to_X helpers. They have all of the attributes you could ever want for displaying your edit value:
<%= f.text_field :my_number, :value => number_to_human(f.object.my_number, :separator => '', :unit => '', :delimiter => '', :precision => 0) %>
There are more attributes available too: http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionView/Helpers/NumberHelper.html
If you want a format to be created or maintained during editing, you will need to add Javascript to implement "masks." Here is a demo.
It was the first hit in these results.
You can use the number_format plugin. By specifying a number_format for an existing numeric attribute inside your model, the attribute will now appear as formatted to Rails in all forms and views. It will also be parsed back from that format (when assigned via forms) prior to insertion into the database. (The plugin also creates purely numeric unformatted_<attribute-name> accessors which can continue to be used for arithmetic, or for direct numerical assignment or retrieval by you for seamless integration.)
class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
# this model has the balance attribute, which we
# want to display using formatting in views,
# although it is stored as a numeric in the database
number_format :balance,
:precision => 2,
:delimiter => ',',
:strip_trailing_zeros => false
def increment_balance
unformatted_balance += 10
end
You can also combine the above with a Javascript solution, which can force the user to maintain the decimal point and thousands separators in place while editing, although this is really not necessary.
I have done something similar. We format times and lengths using a custom form builder. It makes use of the existing text_field, but wraps it so the value can be customized:
class SuperFormBuilder < ActionView::Helpers::FormBuilder
include ApplicationHelper
include FormHelper
include ActionView::Helpers::TagHelper
include ActionView::Helpers::FormTagHelper
def length_field(label,*args)
scale = 'medium'
args.each do |v|
if v.has_key?(:scale)
scale = v[:scale]
v.delete(:scale)
end
end
value = length_conversion(#object.send(label.to_sym),scale)
options = (args.length > 0) ? args.pop : {}
return has_error(label, text_field_tag(field_name(label),value,*args) + ' ' + length_unit(scale))
end
private
def field_name(label)
return #object_name + "[#{label}]"
end
def has_error(label, output)
return "<div class='fieldWithErrors'>#{output}</div>" if #object.errors[label]
return output
end
And it is used like this:
<%= form_for( #section, {:action => 'save', :id => #section.id}, :builder => SuperFormBuilder) do |sf| %>
<%= sf.length_field :feed_size_min_w, :size => 3, :scale => 'small' %>
<% end %>
The end result is a value in the appropriate unit based off their choice on system (Metric, Imperial) and scale IE small = inches or millimeters.
I basically copied the text_field method from the existing form builder, which uses the text_field_tag itself.
There are two gotchas: 1) Knowing the name of the object field and how to access the object to get the value which you want to format. 2) Getting the name right so when the form is submitted it is part of the correct params hash.
The form builder is given a class variable #object. You can get the value of the field using the .send method. In my case I send the label :feed_size_min_w to the #object and get its length back. I then convert it to my desired format, and give it to the text_field_tag.
The name of the field is key to having it end up in the params hash, in my instance the params[:sections] one. I made a little helper function called field_name that takes care of this.
Finally the has_error wraps the field in an error div if there are errors on that label.
I needed "nicer" format on some specified text fields, resolved it by adding this to my initializers. Seems to work nicely on Rails ~= 5.2 and it should be easy to customize.
class ActionView::Helpers::Tags::TextField
private
def value_before_type_cast # override method in ActionView::Helpers::Tags::Base
v = super
# format as you like, when you like
if #options.delete(:nice_decimal)
v = v.to_s.gsub('.', ',') if v.is_a?(BigDecimal)
end
v
end
end
Usage in form f
<%= f.text_field :foo, nice_decimal: true %>
First the environment:
Rails 2.1.0, Ruby 1.8.7, Mysql 5.1.54, Ubuntu 11.04
I have a boolean field in my table which starts as NULL, but I can not find a good way to set it to NULL. (This field is basically a yes / no / unanswered field, which true / false / null seems about right for. The client specifically said he would like it to be able to remain null (unanswered).)
Here is my migration (specific names replaced):
class AddQuestionToClients < ActiveRecord::Migration
def self.up
add_column :clients, :question, :boolean
end
def self.down
remove_column :clients, :question
end
end
My controller uses a basic
#client = Client.find(params[:id])
#client.update_attributes(params[:client])
My view has a select (I think this is causing the problem, was never great with form helper selects):
<%= f.select :question, [["Yes", true], ["No", false]], { :include_blank => true, :selected => #client.question } %>
When selecting yes, true is passed; no, false is passed; blank, "" is passed.
But "" seems to automatically convert to false when updating the database.
To get around this, I'm doing this:
params[:client][:question] = (params[:client][:question] == "")? nil : params[:client][:question]
But this can't be the right way to do it. What am I missing?
I just ran into the same problem, and I solved it by making the attribute convert blank to null. In your case, I would add a method to your model class.
class Client < ActiveRecord::Base
def question=(value)
value = nil if value == ''
super(value)
end
end
This works for both create and update. (I'm using Rails 2.0.5.)
I think that you can do that only in that way server side, because when a data is posted is always not nil. So your solution is correct.
If you want to avoid that ugly code you can do a little trick client side using javascript. In fact if you use a disabled element instead of a blank value that value won't be posted and you get nil on server side.
To do that you can add a submit callback that checks whether the question field is blank and if so disable it before posting data. In that way it will work without any server side code.
To disable an element using jQuery you can see this link. So assuming your form has the #form id you can use this code
$(function() {
$('#form').submit(function () {
if ($('question-selector').val() == "") {
$('question-selector').attr('disabled', true);
}
})
});
I had the same problem, i needed null value by default for boolean to represent "not answered"
With Rails 3.2, when i pass "" for a boolean value (blank option) is sets the column to NULL in db.
So problem solved with newer version of rails :)
<%= f.select :question, options_for_select([["Yes", true], ["No", false]], :question) %>
#vdaubry I would only add that it is not really solved ..it is masked because you are using 'select' in your UI. If you are foolish enough to use checkboxes, like me (after all, they are booleans, right?) then your nice default nil value in the db, which we mean to represent 'unknown' is converted to 'false' when rendered in the view, and converted to false in the db, even when it is not updated in the view, same as was described above. In other words, it's a bit brittle to continue to rely on a 3rd value for 'boolean' being consistent.
Furthermore, if ever reporting on this attribute, your reporting code cannot easily deduce the values in the db, if "unknown" is a valid meaning and is obscured.
So I chose to refactor all my booleans making them strings ('yes', 'no', 'unknown') and use radio buttons in the views. Note this only matters for things like data collection UIs, where a user has not got round to finding out the truth, so statistically it matters a lot if it's "unknown".
This isn't mentioned in previous posts, but in Rails 5 this should work if you want to name the nil option
<%= f.select :question, [["Yes", true], ["No", false]], { :include_blank => 'Name this whatever you want, it will be nil when submitted', :selected => #client.question } %>
Tested this on my own project
I am using simple_form and have a following sample tag:
<%= f.input :medical_conditions, :label=>false, :collection => medical_conditons, :as => :check_boxes%>
The collection holds about 100 checkboxes. However, when user only selects 1 or 2, everything is still getting saved to the database like this:
---
- ""
- ""
- ""
medical_conditions is a simple array in my application_helper
def medical_conditons
t = [
"Allergies/Hay Fever",
"Diabetes",
"Heart Surgery"]
return t
end
the medical_conditions field is a :string field.
What do I need to do so that only values that are selected are saved in comma separated manner.
It is not simple_form behavior. It is from Rails. See this: http://d.pr/6O2S
Try something like this in your controller (guessing at how you wrote your create/update methods)...
params[:medical_conditions].delete('') #this will remove the empty strings
#instance.update_attribute(:medical_conditions, params[:medical_conditions].join(','))
#or however you want to save the input, but the key is the .join(',') which will
#create a comma-separated string of only the selected values, which is exactly
#what you're looking for me thinks :-)
If that does the trick for you, I'd consider making a private helper method that formats the params for you so that you can use it in #create, #update, or wherever else you need it. This should keep things a little cleaner and more "rails way-ish" in your crud actions.
I'm attempting to build a custom control for Formtastic that takes a latitude and a longitude, however, I'm not sure how to go about passing the method names through. Ideally I'd have the following in the semantic_form_for block:
f.input :latitude, :longitude, :as => :location
I've also tried passing with an array:
f.input [:latitude, :longitude], :as => :location
But in both cases, this fails - the first on the number of parameters, the second on the first parameter not being a symbol.
Is there any way of passing two methods into #input that I'm missing?
OK, I've sorted this out by writing a plugin for Formtastic.
I've added a multi_input function that can take any number of parameters and an (optional) options hash. I've also added a map_input type that outputs the map control and JS (framework agnostic).
More details at the above link.
You can't pass multiple methods to a single input. What you could do is have an accessor on your model called, uh, lat_long or similar, which could return a string or array or whatever in a format which your location_input recognises and knows how handle.
I would like to make editing form fields as user-friendly as possible. For example, for numeric values, I would like the field to be displayed with commas (like number_with_precision).
This is easy enough on the display side, but what about editing? Is there a good way to do this?
I am using the Rails FormBuilder. Upon investigation, I found that it uses InstanceTag, which gets the values for fields by using <attribute>_value_before_type_cast which means overriding <attribute> won't get called.
The best I have come up with so far is something like this:
<%= f.text_field :my_attribute, :value => number_with_precision(f.object.my_attribute) %>
Or my_attribute could return the formatted value, like this:
def my_attribute
ApplicationController.helpers.number_with_precision(read_attribute(:my_attribute))
end
But you still have to use :value
<%= f.text_field :my_attribute, :value => f.object.my_attribute %>
This seems like a lot of work.
I prefer your first answer, with the formatting being done in the view. However, if you want to perform the formatting in the model, you can use wrapper methods for the getter and setter, and avoid having to use the :value option entirely.
You'd end up with something like this.
def my_attribute_string
foo_formatter(myattribute)
end
def my_attribute_string=(s)
# Parse "s" or do whatever you need to with it, then set your real attribute.
end
<%= f.text_field :my_attribute_string %>
Railscasts covered this with a Time object in a text_field in episode #32. The really clever part of this is how they handle validation errors. It's worth watching the episode for that alone.
This is an old question, but in case anyone comes across this you could use the number_to_X helpers. They have all of the attributes you could ever want for displaying your edit value:
<%= f.text_field :my_number, :value => number_to_human(f.object.my_number, :separator => '', :unit => '', :delimiter => '', :precision => 0) %>
There are more attributes available too: http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionView/Helpers/NumberHelper.html
If you want a format to be created or maintained during editing, you will need to add Javascript to implement "masks." Here is a demo.
It was the first hit in these results.
You can use the number_format plugin. By specifying a number_format for an existing numeric attribute inside your model, the attribute will now appear as formatted to Rails in all forms and views. It will also be parsed back from that format (when assigned via forms) prior to insertion into the database. (The plugin also creates purely numeric unformatted_<attribute-name> accessors which can continue to be used for arithmetic, or for direct numerical assignment or retrieval by you for seamless integration.)
class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
# this model has the balance attribute, which we
# want to display using formatting in views,
# although it is stored as a numeric in the database
number_format :balance,
:precision => 2,
:delimiter => ',',
:strip_trailing_zeros => false
def increment_balance
unformatted_balance += 10
end
You can also combine the above with a Javascript solution, which can force the user to maintain the decimal point and thousands separators in place while editing, although this is really not necessary.
I have done something similar. We format times and lengths using a custom form builder. It makes use of the existing text_field, but wraps it so the value can be customized:
class SuperFormBuilder < ActionView::Helpers::FormBuilder
include ApplicationHelper
include FormHelper
include ActionView::Helpers::TagHelper
include ActionView::Helpers::FormTagHelper
def length_field(label,*args)
scale = 'medium'
args.each do |v|
if v.has_key?(:scale)
scale = v[:scale]
v.delete(:scale)
end
end
value = length_conversion(#object.send(label.to_sym),scale)
options = (args.length > 0) ? args.pop : {}
return has_error(label, text_field_tag(field_name(label),value,*args) + ' ' + length_unit(scale))
end
private
def field_name(label)
return #object_name + "[#{label}]"
end
def has_error(label, output)
return "<div class='fieldWithErrors'>#{output}</div>" if #object.errors[label]
return output
end
And it is used like this:
<%= form_for( #section, {:action => 'save', :id => #section.id}, :builder => SuperFormBuilder) do |sf| %>
<%= sf.length_field :feed_size_min_w, :size => 3, :scale => 'small' %>
<% end %>
The end result is a value in the appropriate unit based off their choice on system (Metric, Imperial) and scale IE small = inches or millimeters.
I basically copied the text_field method from the existing form builder, which uses the text_field_tag itself.
There are two gotchas: 1) Knowing the name of the object field and how to access the object to get the value which you want to format. 2) Getting the name right so when the form is submitted it is part of the correct params hash.
The form builder is given a class variable #object. You can get the value of the field using the .send method. In my case I send the label :feed_size_min_w to the #object and get its length back. I then convert it to my desired format, and give it to the text_field_tag.
The name of the field is key to having it end up in the params hash, in my instance the params[:sections] one. I made a little helper function called field_name that takes care of this.
Finally the has_error wraps the field in an error div if there are errors on that label.
I needed "nicer" format on some specified text fields, resolved it by adding this to my initializers. Seems to work nicely on Rails ~= 5.2 and it should be easy to customize.
class ActionView::Helpers::Tags::TextField
private
def value_before_type_cast # override method in ActionView::Helpers::Tags::Base
v = super
# format as you like, when you like
if #options.delete(:nice_decimal)
v = v.to_s.gsub('.', ',') if v.is_a?(BigDecimal)
end
v
end
end
Usage in form f
<%= f.text_field :foo, nice_decimal: true %>