Rails - checkbox form from array - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have a admin controller to create "Locations", inside of which is a form. In the form you can create a new "Location" and give it a name, description, and "exits".
<%= form_for #location do |f| %>
<p>
<%= f.label :name %><br>
<%= f.text_field :name %>
</p>
<p>
<%= f.label :description %><br>
<%= f.text_area :description %>
</p>
<p>
Exits:
<br/>
<% #locations.each do |e| %>
<%= f.label :locations %>
<%= f.check_box :locations %>
<% end %>
</p>
<p>
<%= f.submit %>
</p>
<% end %>
#locations is all of the available locations to set up as an "exit". I'm trying to create an array of locations inside of the new location using checkboxes to check whether or not they should be set as "exits", but not really sure how to proceed since i'm just teaching myself and it's day one.
I'm also wondering how to set up the "exits" in the Location model. Right now i have:
class Location < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :locations
validates :name, presence: true, length: { minimum: 1 }
validates :description, presence: true
end
created with:
class CreateLocations < ActiveRecord::Migration
def change
create_table :locations do |t|
t.string :name
t.text :description
t.references :location, index: true, foreign_key: true
t.timestamps null: false
end
end
end
But i would like to have them referenced as "exits" not "locations" (ie Location.exits instead of Location.locations).
UPDATE
I've updated the form to use the collection_check_boxes helper
<%= f.collection_check_boxes(:exit_ids, #locations, :id, :name) do |cb| %>
<%= cb.label %> <%= cb.check_box %> <br/>
<% end %>
So I have this in the create action now
def create
#location = Location.new(location_params)
if #location.save
params[:location][:exit_ids].each do |e|
if e.to_i > 0
tempLocation = Location.find(e.to_i)
#location.allowExitTo(tempLocation)
end
end
redirect_to #location
else
render 'new'
end
end
Which goes allows exits through:
def allowExitTo(other_location)
exit_locations.create(to_id: other_location.id)
end
creating an exit relationship with:
class Exit < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :from, class_name: 'Location'
belongs_to :to, class_name: 'Location'
validates :from_id, presence: true
validates :to_id, presence: true
end
Hope I'm on the right track. It seems to work so I guess so.

Answer 1

Edit: Sorry, I must have had a brain-fart or something. You're not doing a simple has-many and belongs-to relationship, you want a has-many-and-belongs-to-many relationship. That's more complicated than I know how to explain. But this answer explained it very well: Many-to-many relationship with the same model in rails?
You can get Location#exits instead of Location#locations by changing the name of the has_many relation like this:
class Location < ActiveRecord::Base
# has_many :locations Instead of this...
has_many :exits, :class_name => 'Location' # ...Do this
validates :name, presence: true, length: { minimum: 1 }
validates :description, presence: true
end
This is called a self-join. You're associating a model with itself.
Keep in mind that this will make Location#locations unavailable.
Then in your form you would do something like:
<% #locations.each do |e| %>
<%= f.label :exit %>
<%= f.check_box :exit %>
<% end %>
The Ruby on Rails site has a nice guide about associations, includeing self-joins like what you're asking about: http://guides.rubyonrails.org/association_basics.html#self-joins
If you like RailsCasts: http://railscasts.com/episodes/163-self-referential-association