Pass multiple selected parameters to a submission link - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have a setup attempting to automate submission to a backend. There are 3 different dropdown boxes with user-selectable parameters. I set up my website like this (all 'scaffolds'):
class Xsearch < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :xentry
has_many :spectrafile
has_many :parameter
end
Each entry/file/parameter has the belongs_to :xsearch in their model.
The index.html.erb of the xsearch has the following:
<h1>Spectra Submitter</h1>
<h2>Select a database to search</h2>
<%= collection_select("xpost", :id, Xentry.all(), :title, :name ) %>
<h2>Select a parameter file to use</h2>
<%= collection_select(:ppost, :id, Parameter.all(), :name, :name ) %>
<h2>Select a Spectra file (or folder) to search</h2>
<%= collection_select(:spost, :id, Spectrafile.all(), :name, :name ) %>
<%= link_to "Search", :controller => "xsearches", :action => "search" %>
I've tried using submit_tag as well. I have no idea how to trigger a method in my controller (if it should be in the controller? Since it's from the browser I assumed to put it here) that has the selected values from each collection_select.
So in short: How can I take the selected values for each collection_select and pass them to a function? Where should that function be placed (in the controller or in the .html.erb file)?
Thanks, this has been driving me crazy.

Answer 1

I ended up solving the issue by moving to a form_new method. Here's my code for anyone else who is searching. The purpose of this script was to allow other users to submit a search to a cluster through an authorized user.
<%= form_for(#xsearch) do |f| %>
<% if #xsearch.errors.any? %>
<div id="error_explanation">
<h2><%= pluralize(#xsearch.errors.count, "error") %> prohibited this xsearch from being saved:</h2>
<ul>
<% #xsearch.errors.full_messages.each do |msg| %>
<li><%= msg %></li>
<% end %>
</ul>
</div>
<% end %>
<div class="field">
<h2>Pick A Database To Search</h2>
<%= collection_select(:db, :id, #all_entries, :id, :name) %>
<h2>Pick A Parameter File To Use</h2>
<%= collection_select(:para, :id, #all_parameters, :id, :name) %>
<h2>Pick a File or Folder To Search</h2>
<%= collection_select(:sfile, :id, #all_spectrafiles, :id, :name) %>
</div>
<div class="actions">
<%= f.submit %>
</div>
<% end %>
And the relevant bit in the controller's create: method
def create
#database = Xentry.find(params[:db][:id])
#paramfile = Parameter.find(params[:para][:id])
#spectrafile = Spectrafile.find(params[:sfile][:id])
#recurse = params[:recurse]
#email = params[:emailtag]
if #email.empty?
#email = "None"
end
if (#recurse == 'Yes')
#recurse = 1
else
#recurse = 0
end
#recurse = 0#disabled until kill methods are implemented
#hostname = hostname
#username = username
Net::SSH.start(#hostname, #username) do |session|
session.exec('source .bashrc')
session.exec('sh rscript.sh %s %s %s %s %d' % [#database['name'], #spectrafile['name'], #paramfile['name'], #email, #recurse])
#xsearch = Xsearch.new(:database => #database['name'], :parameters => #paramfile['name'], :spectra => #spectrafile['name'])
respond_to do |format|
if #xsearch.save
format.html { redirect_to #xsearch, notice: 'Search was successfully created.' }
format.json { render json: #xsearch, status: :created, location: #xsearch }
else
format.html { render action: "new" }
format.json { render json: #xsearch.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
end