Taking params[:id] into a .json file with Rails - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'm currently using the Full Calendar gem for Rails, and all is working perfectly. However I would like to dynamically display calendar events based on the :id in the address bar via routes in Ruby on Rails.
Here's my index.json.jbuilder file
json.array!(#appointments.all.where(:user_id => params[:id])) do |appointment|
json.extract! appointment, :id, :user_id, :business_title, :address
json.user appointment.user_id
json.title appointment.business_title
json.start appointment.starts_at
json.className 'boobs'
json.end appointment.starts_at + 30.minutes
json.url appointment_url(appointment, format: :html)
end
This works when the params[:id] is replaced with an existing user id from my database. The url thats generating this is localhost:3000/c/2, so this should display all the events that have been created/or belong to the user with the ID of 2. Here's my Routes:
get 'calendar/:id' => 'users#calendar'

Answer 1

Inside your calendar action, write:
#id = params[:id]
Then in your jbuilder file, write:
json.array!(#appointments.all.where(:user_id => #id)) do |appointment|
I guess that means, you have this in your calendar action:
#appointments = Appointment
...which makes me wonder: why aren't you doing the following in your calendar action:
#appointments = Appointment.all.where(:user_id => params[:id])
...and then in your jbuilder file:
json.array! #appointments do |appointment|
...
...
end
Response to comment:
Suppose you set up your controller like this:
class UsersController < ApplicationController
def calendar
#user_id = params[:user_id] #route: get 'users/calendar/:user_id', to: 'users#calendar'
#By default, render()'s calendar.html.erb
end
def feed
#appointments = Appointment.all.where(user_id: #user_id)
#For the request: http://localhost:3000/users/feed.json, by
#default render()'s /app/views/users/feed.json.jbuilder
end
end
..then you request your calendar() action like this:
http://localhost:3000/users/calendar/2
The problem is: once your rails app is done responding to a request, all the variables inside an action are destroyed, so #user_id, which was assigned the value of params[:user_id], i.e. 2, will be destroyed. As a result, when your calendar sends a request to the feed() action here:
<script>
$(document).ready(function() {
// page is now ready, initialize the calendar...
$('#calendar').fullCalendar({
events: '/users/feed.json' //****HERE****
})
});
</script>
...you won't be able to access #user_id inside the feed() action.
And, because the calendar was never given the user_id, the calendar cannot include it in the url when the calendar sends a request to /users/feed.json.
The stateless nature of the web has been a thorn in the side of developers for a long time, so they have invented ways to make data persist between requests using hidden form fields, cookies, sessions, local storage, databases, etc.
Rail's provides a very simple sessions mechanism, which you can use like this:
#route: get 'users/calendar/:user_id', to: 'users#calendar'
def calendar
session[:user_id] = params[:user_id] #Store the value in the session hash.
end
def feed
#appointments = Appointment.all.where(user_id: session[:user_id]) #Retrieve the value from the session hash.
end
However, you should read about the potential problems when using sessions.
Finally, as far as I can tell your jbuilder page responds with a lot of data that is irrelevant. According to the fullcalendar docs, an Event only requires a :title and the start time :starts_at. But, your jbuilder file provides additional data that is not even used by an Event:
:id
:user_id
:address
And, you actually provide the :user_id data twice, once here:
json.extract! appointment, :id, :user_id, :business_title, :address
and the second time aliased under a different name, user:
json.user appointment.user_id
It looks to me like, the following is all you need:
json.array! #appointments do |appointment|
json.title appointment.business_title
json.start appointment.starts_at
json.className 'boobs'
json.end appointment.starts_at + 30.minutes
json.url appointment_url(appointment, format: :html)
end
...which produces json like this;
[
{"title":"XYZ",
"start":"2014-12-25T12:30:00.000Z",
"className":"boobs",
"end":"2014-12-25T13:00:00.000Z",
"url":"http://localhost:3000/appointments/1.html"},
{"title":"ABC",
"start":"2015-01-25T09:30:00.000Z",
"className":"boobs",
"end":"2015-01-25T10:00:00.000Z",
"url":"http://localhost:3000/appointments/2.html"},
{"title":"TTT",
"start":"2015-01-03T14:30:00.000Z",
"className":"boobs",
"end":"2015-01-03T15:00:00.000Z",
"url":"http://localhost:3000/appointments/3.html"},
]