Passing HTML from serverside to datatables - ruby-on-rails

Question

I am changing my Datatables to load content from my Rails app. In one of the cells I have a big chunk of HTML, and since when using the server-side approach the cells are printed with Javascript, I would need to pass the HTML from Rails.
So, here is how it looks one of the cells with datatables WITHOUT server side fetching:
<td>
<div class='order-actions-container'>
<div class='order-action'>
<%= link_to 'Show pages', admin_order_pages_path(order.id), :class => 'btn btn-primary' %>
</div>
<% if order.status.name == 'reviewed' %>
<div class='order-action'>
<%= form_tag(admin_order_set_completed_status_path(order), :method => 'patch' ) do %>
<%= submit_tag 'Complete order', class: 'btn btn-success', data: { confirm: 'Are you sure you want to complete this order?' } %>
<% end %>
</div>
<% end %>
<% if order.status.name == 'queued' %>
<div class='order-action'>
<%= form_tag(admin_order_process_order_path(order), :method => 'post' ) do %>
<%= submit_tag 'Process order', class: 'btn btn-success', data: { confirm: 'Are you sure you want to process this order?' } %>
<% end %>
</div>
<% end %>
<% if order.status.name != 'processing' %>
<div class='order-action'>
<%= form_tag(admin_order_path(order), :method => 'delete' ) do %>
<%= submit_tag 'Delete order', class: 'btn btn-danger', data: { confirm: 'Are you sure you want to delete this order?' } %>
<% end %>
</div>
<% end %>
</div>
</td>
Now, since all the data will come back from Rails, I would need to pass that HTML via a JSON. Isn't that breaking the MVC? How do you deal in these situations?

Answer 1

If you are wanting to use json with ajax for datatables you can use JBuilder or rabl to create a json document that can be easily reused.
Also there is not a need to write out form_tags wrapped around submit_tags to call different methods, with rails you can use link_to and specify the :method to accomplish the same thing.
<td>
<div class='order-actions-container'>
<div class='order-action'>
<%= link_to 'Show pages', admin_order_pages_path(order), :class => 'btn btn-primary' %>
</div>
<% if order.status.name == 'reviewed' %>
<div class='order-action'>
<%= link_to "Complete order", admin_order_set_completed_status_path(order), method: :patch, class: 'btn btn-success', data: { confirm: 'Are you sure you want to complete this order?' }%>
</div>
<% end %>
<% if order.status.name == 'queued' %>
<div class='order-action'>
<%= link_to "Process order", admin_order_process_order_path(order), method: :post, class: 'btn btn-success', data: { confirm: 'Are you sure you want to process this order?' }%>
</div>
<% end %>
<% if order.status.name != 'processing' %>
<div class='order-action'>
<%= link_to "Delete order", admin_order_path(order), method: :delete, class: 'btn btn-danger', data: { confirm: 'Are you sure you want to delete this order?' }%>
</div>
<% end %>
</div>
</td>