Ruby on Rails: Insert value into database based on user input? - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have an address column, but I'm not using :address in my form, instead, I have
:street, :state, :city, :zip columns:
<%= form_for #user, :html => {:multipart => true} do |f| %>
<%= f.label :street %>
<%= f.text_field :street %>
<%= f.label :state %>
<%= f.text_field :state %>
<%= f.label :city %>
<%= f.text_field :city %>
<%= f.label :zip %>
<%= f.text_field :zip %>
<%= f.submit %>
<% end %>
Because I don't have a field for :address, but I would like to compile the information in the form and still insert it into my database. For example
(12345 Maple St, Made City CA 90017 or maybe when I get more advanced, I'll use some gem to compile the given information and put into a correct address format.)
How do I do such a thing?
My controller looks something like this:
def create
#user = User.new(params[:user])
if #user.save
redirect_to #user, notice: "Successfully created."
else
render :action => 'edit'
end
end

Answer 1

def create
address = [params[:user].delete(:street), params[:user].delete(:state), params[:user].delete(:city), params[:user].delete(:zip)].join(", ")
#user = User.new(params[:user].merge(:address => address))
if #user.save
redirect_to #user, notice: "Successfully created."
else
render :action => 'edit'
end
end

Answer 2

Another option would be to do it in model
attr_accessor :street, :city, :state, :zip
before_create :concate_address_attrs
Edit:-
I feel before_save is better to use over before_create
before_save :concate_address_attrs
def concat_address_attrs
self.address = [street, city, state, zip].join(", ")
end

Answer 3

Unless processing overhead is a major concern, you're breaking Rails' DRY principles by saving concatenated model attributes as a separate attribute.
The Rails Way of accomplishing this would be to create a model convenience method that concatenates existing attributes into a pseudo-address attribute without requiring any additional attributes be committed to the database:
# my_model.rb
def address
[street, city, state, zip].join(', ')
end
# my_view.html.erb
<%= #user.address %>
Alternatively, if you only need the full address for display in your views, you might consider using a view helper:
# app/helpers/my_model_helper.rb
module MyModelHelper
def formatted_address(address)
[address.street, address.city, address.state, address.zip].join(', ')
end
end
# my_view.html.erb
<%= formatted_address(#address) %>