recipient checklist with text_area form - ruby-on-rails

Question

I am working on implementing a form where a user can compose a message and choose multiple recipients from a checklist in the same form.
I have already built and tested the messaging system which is working but now I want to create the proper form for my desired functionality.
When I use a multipart select form it works fine and looks like this.
<%= form_for #message do |f| %>
<div class="modal-body">
<%= f.text_area :body, class: "form-control"%>
</div>
<!-- displays the current users frinds their following -->
<%= f.select :user_tokens, #user.collect {|x| [x.name, x.id]}, {}, :multiple => true, class: "form-control" %>
<br>
<div class="modal-footer">
<%= f.button :submit, class: "btn btn-primary" %>
</div>
<% end %>
But I want to instead display the users in a checklist, this is what I have so far which displays everything with no errors, but dosent send messages.
<div class="results">
<%= form_tag new_message_path, method: 'get' do %>
<div class="modal-body">
<%= text_area :body, class: "form-control"%>
</div>
<table class="table-bordered">
<thead>
<tr>
<td class="col-md-1">Select</td>
<td class="col-md-1">User</td>
</tr>
</thead>
<% #user.each do |user| %>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><%= radio_button_tag :user_tokens, user.id %></td>
<td><%= user.name %></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
<% end %>
</table>
<%= submit_tag "Send Message", :name => nil, class: "btn btn-primary" %>
</div>
<% end %>
</div>
Here is my controller
class MessagesController < ApplicationController
before_action :authenticate_user!
def new
#message = Message.new
#user = current_user.following
#users = User.all
end
def create
#message = current_user.messages.build(message_params)
if #message.save
flash[:success] = "Message Sent!"
redirect_to messages_path
else
flash[:notice] = "Oops!"
render 'new'
end
end
def index
#user = User.find(current_user)
#messages = Recipient.where(:user_id => #user).order("created_at DESC")
end
private
def message_params
params.require(:message).permit(:body, :sender_id, user_tokens: [])
end
end
My question is what is the best way to get this functionality?
Let me know if you need to see any other info, thanks.

Answer 1

I ended up figuring it out Thanks to this previous post I found, rails 3 has_many :through Form with checkboxes.
<%= form_for #message do |f| %>
<%= f.text_field :body %>
<p>
<% #user.each do |user| %>
<div>
<%= check_box_tag "message[user_tokens][]", user.id, #message.users.include?(user) %>
<%= user.name %>
</div>
<% end %>
</p>
<p><%= f.submit %></p>
<% end %>