Sometimes we need form without model creation - for example search field or email, where should be send some instructions. What is the best way to create this forms? Can i create virtual model or something like this? I'd like to use formtastic, but not form_tag.
Firstly, Formtastic doesn't need a model in all cases, although it certainly works best and requires less code with a model.
Just like Rails' own built-in form_for, you can pass in a symbol instead of an object as the first argument, and Formtastic will build the form and post the params based on the symbol. Eg:
<% semantic_form_for(:session) do |f| %>
...
<% end %>
This will make the form values available to your controller as params[:session].
Secondly, a model doesn't mean an ActiveRecord model. What I mean is, Formtastic will work with any instance of a class that quacks like an ActiveRecord model.
A classic example of this that many people are using Authlogic for authentication with Formtastic. Part of Authlogic is the idea of a UserSession model, which works fine:
Controller:
def index
#user_session = UserSession.new
end
Form:
<% semantic_form_for(#user_session) do |f| %>
<%= f.input :login %>
<%= f.input :password %>
<% end %>
This will make your form data available in your controller as params[:user_session].
It's really not that hard to create a model instance to wrap up the concerns of your model. Just keep implementing the methods Formtastic is expecting until you get it working!
default_language.rb
class DefaultLanguage
attr_accessor :language_id
end
foo_controller.rb
def index
#default_language = params[:default_language] || Language.find_by_name("English")
end
index.erb
<% semantic_form_for #default_language do |form| %>
<% form.inputs :id => 'default_language' do %>
<%= form.input :id,
:as => :select,
:collection => #languages,
:required => false,
:label => "Primary Language:",
:include_blank => false %>
<% end %>
<% end %>
I used AJAX to post the form when the value changed.
Or you simply create a form with form_for and leave the model reference blank.
for example
<% form_for "", :url=>some_url do |f| %>
<%= f.text_field "some_attribute" %>
<%= submit_tag "submit" %>
You can fetch the values by simply saying params[:some_attribute] in your controller.
Related
I have an application that deals with user rotas - and I'm currently adding the ability for admin approvals. If the user updates their own rota the params hash looks something like:
Parameters: {id:1, role_id: 1, team_id:1, rota: [startDate: 01/01/2014, endDate:02/02/2014]}
and these are submitted using a form with:
<%= form_for [#team,#role,#rota] do |f| %>
form code
<% end %>
We need to access the attributes outside the rota: object but currently can't find a way to as:
params.require requires you to pass an object in.
My team members have decided to add hidden fields to submit the attributes within the rota object but that seems redundant seeing as they are quite clearly there, we just can't find a way to access them, and ideas?
I was talking about something like
def user_rota_params
params.require(:user)
.permit(:role_id, :team_id, :rota => [:startDate, :endDate])
end
Then, for your nested attributes you could use fields_for.
Your form, thus, should look something this (omitting labels and keeping it basic):
<%= form_for #user do |f| %>
<%= f.text_field :role_id %>
<%= f.text_field :team_id %>
<%= f.fields_for :rota do |ff| %>
<%= ff.date_field :startDate %>
<%= ff.date_field :endDate %>
<% end %>
<% end %>
I have an existing form which is tied to a model named 'Order', but i want to add new form fields that will capture Credit Card info such as name, cc number, etc to be processed on a 3rd party payment gateway.
But since i don't want to save CC info in our database, there are no corresponding columns of that in my order table. And this gives me an error when submitting the form that those Credit card input fields are not 'part' of the order model.
If I understand your answer correctly, what you want to do is explained in the official wiki page here: Create a fake input that does NOT read attributes. You can use a field not related to any real database column by Edward's suggestion, however you don't need to define an attribute in your model if the form field is nothing to do with the model.
In summary, the trick explained in the page is defining a custom input called 'FakeInput' and use it like this:
<%= simple_form_for #user do |f| %>
<%= f.input :agreement, as: :fake %>
....
Do not forget to restart your rails server after adding/modifying a custom input as Fitter Man commented.
UPDATE: Please note that the official wiki page has updated and the sample code on the wiki page is not working for those which use older versions of SimpleForm. Use code below instead if you encounter an error like undefined method merge_wrapper_options for.... I'm using 3.0.1 and this code works well.
class FakeInput < SimpleForm::Inputs::StringInput
# This method only create a basic input without reading any value from object
def input
template.text_field_tag(attribute_name, input_options.delete(:value), input_html_options)
end
end
You can use attr_accessor
class Order < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessor :card_number
end
Now you can do Order.first.card_number = '54421542122' or use it in your form or whatever else you need to do.
See here for ruby docs http://www.ruby-doc.org/core-1.9.3/Module.html#method-i-attr_accessor
and here for a useful stackoverflow question What is attr_accessor in Ruby?
Don't get it mixed up with attr_accessible! Difference between attr_accessor and attr_accessible
The best way to handle this is to use simple_fields_for like so:
<%= simple_form_for #user do |f| %>
<%= f.input :first_name %>
<%= f.input :last_name %>
<%= f.input :email %>
<%= simple_fields_for :other do |o| %>
<%= o.input :change_password, as: :boolean, label: 'I want to change my password' %>
<% end %>
<% end %>
In this example, I have added a new field called change_password which is not part of the underlying user model.
The reason this is a good approach, is that it lets you use any of the simple form inputs / wrappers as fields. I don't care for the answer by #baxang, because it doesn't allow you to use different types of inputs. This seems more flexible.
Notice though for this to work, I had to pass :other to simple_fields_for. You can pass any string/symbol as long as there is not a model with that same name.
I.e. unfortunately I can't pass :user, as simple_form would try to instantiate a User model, and we'd get the same error message again...
Also if you're just trying to add something and get it into the params, but leaving it out of the model's hash, you could just do FormTagHelpers. http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionView/Helpers/FormTagHelper.html
Example:
<%= simple_form_for resource, :as => resource_name, :url => invitation_path(resource_name), :html => {:method => :post} do |f| %>
<%= devise_error_messages! %>
<% resource.class.invite_key_fields.each do |field| -%>
<%= f.input field %>
<%= hidden_field_tag :object_name, #object.class.name %>
<%= hidden_field_tag :object_id, #object.id %>
<% end -%>
I found a very simple (and somewhat strange) workaround.
Just add the input_html option with any value key inside. E.g:
= simple_form_for #user do |f|
= f.input :whatever, input_html: {value: ''}
Tested simple_from versions: 3.2.1, 3.5.1
I have a normal form using simpleform. Now I'd like to add an input that does not have any corresponding field in the model, it will be processed by the controller. I tried
<%= simple_form_for #obj do |f| %>
<%= f.input :name %>
<%= f.input :attr, as: :string %> <-- should just send "attr" as post data
<% end %>
but this gives a Method not found: attr_not_in_obj error. I could obviously use the standard rails helpers, but then I will miss all of the simpleform HTML around the input, and copying doesn't quite seem right.
In short:
I'm looking for something like simpleform version of rails tag helpers, without any connection to a model. How do I add inputs that do not correspond to model attributes?
Why don't you add:
attr_accessor :attr
to your model's class definition? This way your code:
<%= f.input :attr %>
should work.
OR
If this solution isn't suitable, you can always pass some value to your input method directly:
<%= f.input :attr, input_html: {value: 'something'} %>
Say you wanted to use a rails form helper but still wrap it in SimpleForm goodness? You can, by calling input with a block like so:
<%= simple_form_for #obj do |f| %>
<%= f.input :name %>
<%= f.input :attr do %>
<%= text_field_tag 'attr' %>
<% end %>
<% end %>
Yes, below are quote from simple_form wiki
String Input
app/inputs/fake_input.rb:
class FakeInput < SimpleForm::Inputs::StringInput
# This method only create a basic input without reading any value from object
def input(wrapper_options = nil)
merged_input_options = merge_wrapper_options(input_html_options, wrapper_options)
template.text_field_tag(attribute_name, nil, merged_input_options)
end
end
Then you can do <%= f.input :thing, as: :fake %>
What is the difference between form_for and form_tag? Is anything different for form_remote_for and form_remote_tag?
You would use form_for for a specific model,
<% form_for #person do |f| %> # you can use f here
First name: <%= f.text_field :first_name %>
Last name : <%= f.text_field :last_name %>
<% end %>
Form_tag create basic form,
<%= form_tag '/person' do -%>
<%= text_field_tag "person", "first_name" %>
<% end -%>
form_for prefers, as its first arg, an activerecord object; it allows to easily make a create or edit form (to use it in a "new" view you should create an empty instance in controller, like:
def new
#foo = Foo.new
end
It also passes a form variable to the block, so that you don't have to repeat the model name within the form itself. it's the preferred way to write a model related form.
form_tag just creates a form tag (and of course silently prepare an antiforgery hidden field, like form_for); it's best used for non-model forms (I actually only use it for simple search forms or the like).
Similarly, form_remote_for and form_remote_tag are suited for model related forms and not model related forms respectively but, instead of ending in a standard http method (GET, POST...), they call an ajax method.
All this and far more are available for you to enjoy in the FormHelper and PrototypeHelper reference pages.
EDIT 2012-07-13
Prototype has been removed from rails long ago, and remote forms have completely changed. Please refer to the first link, with reguard to the :remote option of both form_for and form_tag.
These should be similar:
<% form_for #person do |f| %>
<%= f.text_field :name %>
<% end %>
and:
<%= form_tag '/person' do %>
<%= text_field_tag "person[name]" %>
<% end %>
If you want to submit the same params to the controller, you would have to define this explicitly.
One of the things I'm doing includes several links on the show view. For instance, I have a link (or button) for "Accepting", and another one for "Rejecting". Click on Accept, and the model updates the is_accepted field as true, click on Reject, and the is_accepted field is false.
Now, how best do I handle this? In ASP.NET, I would have simply created a LinkButton and written a handler, but Rails doesn't work that way, so I'm trying to figure out how to essentially replicate what a LinkButton would do.
Right now, I'm coding two forms on the same view, nearly identical, that look like this:
<%= form_for #thing do |f| %>
<%= hidden_field_tag 'thing[is_accepted]', '1' %>
<%= f.submit "Accept" %>
<% end %>
<%= form_for #thing do |f| %>
<%= hidden_field_tag 'thing[is_accepted]', '0' %>
<%= f.submit "Reject" %>
<% end %>
This feels weird to me, but I can't seem to find anything that says this is the wrong way to do it.
I could, I assume, dry things up by using a partial and/or a helper method, but I wanted to make sure I'm on the right track and not doing something totally wrongly.
You can give your submit tag a name.. ie
<%= form_for #thing do |f| %>
<%= hidden_field_tag 'thing[is_accepted]' %>
<%= f.submit "Accept", :name => 'accept' %>
<%= f.submit "Reject", :name => 'reject' %>
<% end %>
Then you can detect the name in params[] and skip the '1'/'0' value.
I think you're going about it the right way. One way to clean up your forms is by using the model form helpers all the way through, so you'd end up with something like
<%= form_for #thing do |f| %>
<%= f.hidden_field :accepted, :value => true %>
<%= f.submit "Accept" %>
<% end %>
<%= form_for #thing do |f| %>
<%= f.hidden_field :accepted, :value => false %>
<%= f.submit "Reject" %>
<% end %>
But other than that, it looks like the right way to go about it. I would suggest against creating new methods to do this, because you're not doing anything outside of normal web requests (updating a model in this instance).
Using the submit tag as the switch and detecting it in params[] is also a good way, but I usually prefer to keep my controllers as vanilla as possible. In the end, both of these ways would end up with the same amount of 'stuff' in the UI, so whichever style you'd rather use should be fine.
Depending on how you want your UI to work you might consider link_to_remote (part of the prototype helper) - you can specify an action, params etc, and have it return some JS that gets run.
If you're using map.resources in your routes.rb you should be able to do something like this:
map.resources :things, :member => {:accept => :get, :reject => :get}
Then in your controller:
def accept
#thing = Thing.find(params[:id])
#thing.is_accepted = true
#thing.save
end
def reject
#thing = Thing.find(params[:id])
#thing.is_accepted = false
#thing.save
end
And finally in your view:
<%= link_to 'Accept', accept_thing_url(#thing) %>
<%= link_to 'Reject', reject_thing_url(#thing) %>
Or if you are using Ajax:
<%= link_to_remote 'Accept', :url => accept_thing_url(#thing) %>
<%= link_to_remote 'Reject', :url => reject_thing_url(#thing) %>