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diff --git a/guides/source/form_helpers.md b/guides/source/form_helpers.md index 578cfbe105..90004c611b 100644 --- a/guides/source/form_helpers.md +++ b/guides/source/form_helpers.md @@ -1,23 +1,24 @@ +**DO NOT READ THIS FILE ON GITHUB, GUIDES ARE PUBLISHED ON http://guides.rubyonrails.org.** + Form Helpers ============ -Forms in web applications are an essential interface for user input. However, form markup can quickly become tedious to write and maintain because of form control naming and their numerous attributes. Rails does away with these complexities by providing view helpers for generating form markup. However, since they have different use-cases, developers are required to know all the differences between similar helper methods before putting them to use. +Forms in web applications are an essential interface for user input. However, form markup can quickly become tedious to write and maintain because of the need to handle form control naming and its numerous attributes. Rails does away with this complexity by providing view helpers for generating form markup. However, since these helpers have different use cases, developers need to know the differences between the helper methods before putting them to use. After reading this guide, you will know: * How to create search forms and similar kind of generic forms not representing any specific model in your application. -* How to make model-centric forms for creation and editing of specific database records. +* How to make model-centric forms for creating and editing specific database records. * How to generate select boxes from multiple types of data. -* The date and time helpers Rails provides. +* What date and time helpers Rails provides. * What makes a file upload form different. -* Some cases of building forms to external resources. +* How to post forms to external resources and specify setting an `authenticity_token`. * How to build complex forms. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: This guide is not intended to be a complete documentation of available form helpers and their arguments. Please visit [the Rails API documentation](http://api.rubyonrails.org/) for a complete reference. - Dealing with Basic Forms ------------------------ @@ -32,18 +33,14 @@ The most basic form helper is `form_tag`. When called without arguments like this, it creates a `<form>` tag which, when submitted, will POST to the current page. For instance, assuming the current page is `/home/index`, the generated HTML will look like this (some line breaks added for readability): ```html -<form accept-charset="UTF-8" action="/home/index" method="post"> - <div style="margin:0;padding:0"> - <input name="utf8" type="hidden" value="✓" /> - <input name="authenticity_token" type="hidden" value="f755bb0ed134b76c432144748a6d4b7a7ddf2b71" /> - </div> +<form accept-charset="UTF-8" action="/" method="post"> + <input name="utf8" type="hidden" value="✓" /> + <input name="authenticity_token" type="hidden" value="J7CBxfHalt49OSHp27hblqK20c9PgwJ108nDHX/8Cts=" /> Form contents </form> ``` -Now, you'll notice that the HTML contains something extra: a `div` element with two hidden input elements inside. This div is important, because the form cannot be successfully submitted without it. The first input element with name `utf8` enforces browsers to properly respect your form's character encoding and is generated for all forms whether their actions are "GET" or "POST". The second input element with name `authenticity_token` is a security feature of Rails called **cross-site request forgery protection**, and form helpers generate it for every non-GET form (provided that this security feature is enabled). You can read more about this in the [Security Guide](./security.html#cross-site-request-forgery-csrf). - -NOTE: Throughout this guide, the `div` with the hidden input elements will be excluded from code samples for brevity. +You'll notice that the HTML contains `input` element with type `hidden`. This `input` is important, because the form cannot be successfully submitted without it. The hidden input element has name attribute of `utf8` enforces browsers to properly respect your form's character encoding and is generated for all forms whether their actions are "GET" or "POST". The second input element with name `authenticity_token` is a security feature of Rails called **cross-site request forgery protection**, and form helpers generate it for every non-GET form (provided that this security feature is enabled). You can read more about this in the [Security Guide](security.html#cross-site-request-forgery-csrf). ### A Generic Search Form @@ -68,13 +65,14 @@ This will generate the following HTML: ```html <form accept-charset="UTF-8" action="/search" method="get"> + <input name="utf8" type="hidden" value="✓" /> <label for="q">Search for:</label> <input id="q" name="q" type="text" /> <input name="commit" type="submit" value="Search" /> </form> ``` -TIP: For every form input, an ID attribute is generated from its name ("q" in the example). These IDs can be very useful for CSS styling or manipulation of form controls with JavaScript. +TIP: For every form input, an ID attribute is generated from its name (`"q"` in above example). These IDs can be very useful for CSS styling or manipulation of form controls with JavaScript. Besides `text_field_tag` and `submit_tag`, there is a similar helper for _every_ form control in HTML. @@ -100,7 +98,15 @@ form_tag({controller: "people", action: "search"}, method: "get", class: "nifty_ ### Helpers for Generating Form Elements -Rails provides a series of helpers for generating form elements such as checkboxes, text fields, and radio buttons. These basic helpers, with names ending in "_tag" (such as `text_field_tag` and `check_box_tag`), generate just a single `<input>` element. The first parameter to these is always the name of the input. When the form is submitted, the name will be passed along with the form data, and will make its way to the `params` hash in the controller with the value entered by the user for that field. For example, if the form contains `<%= text_field_tag(:query) %>`, then you would be able to get the value of this field in the controller with `params[:query]`. +Rails provides a series of helpers for generating form elements such as +checkboxes, text fields, and radio buttons. These basic helpers, with names +ending in `_tag` (such as `text_field_tag` and `check_box_tag`), generate just a +single `<input>` element. The first parameter to these is always the name of the +input. When the form is submitted, the name will be passed along with the form +data, and will make its way to the `params` hash in the controller with the +value entered by the user for that field. For example, if the form contains `<%= +text_field_tag(:query) %>`, then you would be able to get the value of this +field in the controller with `params[:query]`. When naming inputs, Rails uses certain conventions that make it possible to submit parameters with non-scalar values such as arrays or hashes, which will also be accessible in `params`. You can read more about them in [chapter 7 of this guide](#understanding-parameter-naming-conventions). For details on the precise usage of these helpers, please refer to the [API documentation](http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionView/Helpers/FormTagHelper.html). @@ -146,7 +152,7 @@ Output: <label for="age_adult">I'm over 21</label> ``` -As with `check_box_tag`, the second parameter to `radio_button_tag` is the value of the input. Because these two radio buttons share the same name (age) the user will only be able to select one, and `params[:age]` will contain either "child" or "adult". +As with `check_box_tag`, the second parameter to `radio_button_tag` is the value of the input. Because these two radio buttons share the same name (`age`), the user will only be able to select one of them, and `params[:age]` will contain either `"child"` or `"adult"`. NOTE: Always use labels for checkbox and radio buttons. They associate text with a specific option and, by expanding the clickable region, @@ -154,7 +160,10 @@ make it easier for users to click the inputs. ### Other Helpers of Interest -Other form controls worth mentioning are textareas, password fields, hidden fields, search fields, telephone fields, date fields, time fields, color fields, datetime fields, datetime-local fields, month fields, week fields, URL fields and email fields: +Other form controls worth mentioning are textareas, password fields, +hidden fields, search fields, telephone fields, date fields, time fields, +color fields, datetime fields, datetime-local fields, month fields, week fields, +URL fields, email fields, number fields and range fields: ```erb <%= text_area_tag(:message, "Hi, nice site", size: "24x6") %> @@ -171,6 +180,8 @@ Other form controls worth mentioning are textareas, password fields, hidden fiel <%= email_field(:user, :address) %> <%= color_field(:user, :favorite_color) %> <%= time_field(:task, :started_at) %> +<%= number_field(:product, :price, in: 1.0..20.0, step: 0.5) %> +<%= range_field(:product, :discount, in: 1..100) %> ``` Output: @@ -190,11 +201,20 @@ Output: <input id="user_address" name="user[address]" type="email" /> <input id="user_favorite_color" name="user[favorite_color]" type="color" value="#000000" /> <input id="task_started_at" name="task[started_at]" type="time" /> +<input id="product_price" max="20.0" min="1.0" name="product[price]" step="0.5" type="number" /> +<input id="product_discount" max="100" min="1" name="product[discount]" type="range" /> ``` Hidden inputs are not shown to the user but instead hold data like any textual input. Values inside them can be changed with JavaScript. -IMPORTANT: The search, telephone, date, time, color, datetime, datetime-local, month, week, URL, and email inputs are HTML5 controls. If you require your app to have a consistent experience in older browsers, you will need an HTML5 polyfill (provided by CSS and/or JavaScript). There is definitely [no shortage of solutions for this](https://github.com/Modernizr/Modernizr/wiki/HTML5-Cross-Browser-Polyfills), although a couple of popular tools at the moment are [Modernizr](http://www.modernizr.com/) and [yepnope](http://yepnopejs.com/), which provide a simple way to add functionality based on the presence of detected HTML5 features. +IMPORTANT: The search, telephone, date, time, color, datetime, datetime-local, +month, week, URL, email, number and range inputs are HTML5 controls. +If you require your app to have a consistent experience in older browsers, +you will need an HTML5 polyfill (provided by CSS and/or JavaScript). +There is definitely [no shortage of solutions for this](https://github.com/Modernizr/Modernizr/wiki/HTML5-Cross-Browser-Polyfills), although a couple of popular tools at the moment are +[Modernizr](http://www.modernizr.com/) and [yepnope](http://yepnopejs.com/), +which provide a simple way to add functionality based on the presence of +detected HTML5 features. TIP: If you're using password input fields (for any purpose), you might want to configure your application to prevent those parameters from being logged. You can learn about this in the [Security Guide](security.html#logging). @@ -203,7 +223,7 @@ Dealing with Model Objects ### Model Object Helpers -A particularly common task for a form is editing or creating a model object. While the `*_tag` helpers can certainly be used for this task they are somewhat verbose as for each tag you would have to ensure the correct parameter name is used and set the default value of the input appropriately. Rails provides helpers tailored to this task. These helpers lack the _tag suffix, for example `text_field`, `text_area`. +A particularly common task for a form is editing or creating a model object. While the `*_tag` helpers can certainly be used for this task they are somewhat verbose as for each tag you would have to ensure the correct parameter name is used and set the default value of the input appropriately. Rails provides helpers tailored to this task. These helpers lack the `_tag` suffix, for example `text_field`, `text_area`. For these helpers the first argument is the name of an instance variable and the second is the name of a method (usually an attribute) to call on that object. Rails will set the value of the input control to the return value of that method for the object and set an appropriate input name. If your controller has defined `@person` and that person's name is Henry then a form containing: @@ -225,7 +245,7 @@ Rails provides helpers for displaying the validation errors associated with a mo ### Binding a Form to an Object -While this is an increase in comfort it is far from perfect. If Person has many attributes to edit then we would be repeating the name of the edited object many times. What we want to do is somehow bind a form to a model object, which is exactly what `form_for` does. +While this is an increase in comfort it is far from perfect. If `Person` has many attributes to edit then we would be repeating the name of the edited object many times. What we want to do is somehow bind a form to a model object, which is exactly what `form_for` does. Assume we have a controller for dealing with articles `app/controllers/articles_controller.rb`: @@ -250,12 +270,12 @@ There are a few things to note here: * `@article` is the actual object being edited. * There is a single hash of options. Routing options are passed in the `:url` hash, HTML options are passed in the `:html` hash. Also you can provide a `:namespace` option for your form to ensure uniqueness of id attributes on form elements. The namespace attribute will be prefixed with underscore on the generated HTML id. * The `form_for` method yields a **form builder** object (the `f` variable). -* Methods to create form controls are called **on** the form builder object `f` +* Methods to create form controls are called **on** the form builder object `f`. The resulting HTML is: ```html -<form accept-charset="UTF-8" action="/articles/create" method="post" class="nifty_form"> +<form accept-charset="UTF-8" action="/articles" method="post" class="nifty_form"> <input id="article_title" name="article[title]" type="text" /> <textarea id="article_body" name="article[body]" cols="60" rows="12"></textarea> <input name="commit" type="submit" value="Create" /> @@ -266,7 +286,7 @@ The name passed to `form_for` controls the key used in `params` to access the fo The helper methods called on the form builder are identical to the model object helpers except that it is not necessary to specify which object is being edited since this is already managed by the form builder. -You can create a similar binding without actually creating `<form>` tags with the `fields_for` helper. This is useful for editing additional model objects with the same form. For example if you had a Person model with an associated ContactDetail model you could create a form for creating both like so: +You can create a similar binding without actually creating `<form>` tags with the `fields_for` helper. This is useful for editing additional model objects with the same form. For example, if you had a `Person` model with an associated `ContactDetail` model, you could create a form for creating both like so: ```erb <%= form_for @person, url: {action: "create"} do |person_form| %> @@ -280,7 +300,7 @@ You can create a similar binding without actually creating `<form>` tags with th which produces the following output: ```html -<form accept-charset="UTF-8" action="/people/create" class="new_person" id="new_person" method="post"> +<form accept-charset="UTF-8" action="/people" class="new_person" id="new_person" method="post"> <input id="person_name" name="person[name]" type="text" /> <input id="contact_detail_phone_number" name="contact_detail[phone_number]" type="text" /> </form> @@ -328,7 +348,7 @@ If you have created namespaced routes, `form_for` has a nifty shorthand for that form_for [:admin, @article] ``` -will create a form that submits to the articles controller inside the admin namespace (submitting to `admin_article_path(@article)` in the case of an update). If you have several levels of namespacing then the syntax is similar: +will create a form that submits to the `ArticlesController` inside the admin namespace (submitting to `admin_article_path(@article)` in the case of an update). If you have several levels of namespacing then the syntax is similar: ```ruby form_for [:admin, :management, @article] @@ -336,7 +356,6 @@ form_for [:admin, :management, @article] For more information on Rails' routing system and the associated conventions, please see the [routing guide](routing.html). - ### How do forms with PATCH, PUT, or DELETE methods work? The Rails framework encourages RESTful design of your applications, which means you'll be making a lot of "PATCH" and "DELETE" requests (besides "GET" and "POST"). However, most browsers _don't support_ methods other than "GET" and "POST" when it comes to submitting forms. @@ -351,12 +370,11 @@ output: ```html <form accept-charset="UTF-8" action="/search" method="post"> - <div style="margin:0;padding:0"> - <input name="_method" type="hidden" value="patch" /> - <input name="utf8" type="hidden" value="✓" /> - <input name="authenticity_token" type="hidden" value="f755bb0ed134b76c432144748a6d4b7a7ddf2b71" /> - </div> + <input name="_method" type="hidden" value="patch" /> + <input name="utf8" type="hidden" value="✓" /> + <input name="authenticity_token" type="hidden" value="f755bb0ed134b76c432144748a6d4b7a7ddf2b71" /> ... +</form> ``` When parsing POSTed data, Rails will take into account the special `_method` parameter and acts as if the HTTP method was the one specified inside it ("PATCH" in this example). @@ -421,14 +439,19 @@ output: Whenever Rails sees that the internal value of an option being generated matches this value, it will add the `selected` attribute to that option. -TIP: The second argument to `options_for_select` must be exactly equal to the desired internal value. In particular if the value is the integer 2 you cannot pass "2" to `options_for_select` - you must pass 2. Be aware of values extracted from the `params` hash as they are all strings. +TIP: The second argument to `options_for_select` must be exactly equal to the desired internal value. In particular if the value is the integer `2` you cannot pass `"2"` to `options_for_select` - you must pass `2`. Be aware of values extracted from the `params` hash as they are all strings. WARNING: when `:include_blank` or `:prompt` are not present, `:include_blank` is forced true if the select attribute `required` is true, display `size` is one and `multiple` is not true. You can add arbitrary attributes to the options using hashes: ```html+erb -<%= options_for_select([['Lisbon', 1, {'data-size' => '2.8 million'}], ['Madrid', 2, {'data-size' => '3.2 million'}]], 2) %> +<%= options_for_select( + [ + ['Lisbon', 1, { 'data-size' => '2.8 million' }], + ['Madrid', 2, { 'data-size' => '3.2 million' }] + ], 2 +) %> output: @@ -460,11 +483,21 @@ As with other helpers, if you were to use the `select` helper on a form builder <%= f.select(:city_id, ...) %> ``` -WARNING: If you are using `select` (or similar helpers such as `collection_select`, `select_tag`) to set a `belongs_to` association you must pass the name of the foreign key (in the example above `city_id`), not the name of association itself. If you specify `city` instead of `city_id` Active Record will raise an error along the lines of ` ActiveRecord::AssociationTypeMismatch: City(#17815740) expected, got String(#1138750) ` when you pass the `params` hash to `Person.new` or `update`. Another way of looking at this is that form helpers only edit attributes. You should also be aware of the potential security ramifications of allowing users to edit foreign keys directly. +You can also pass a block to `select` helper: + +```erb +<%= f.select(:city_id) do %> + <% [['Lisbon', 1], ['Madrid', 2]].each do |c| -%> + <%= content_tag(:option, c.first, value: c.last) %> + <% end %> +<% end %> +``` + +WARNING: If you are using `select` (or similar helpers such as `collection_select`, `select_tag`) to set a `belongs_to` association you must pass the name of the foreign key (in the example above `city_id`), not the name of association itself. If you specify `city` instead of `city_id` Active Record will raise an error along the lines of `ActiveRecord::AssociationTypeMismatch: City(#17815740) expected, got String(#1138750)` when you pass the `params` hash to `Person.new` or `update`. Another way of looking at this is that form helpers only edit attributes. You should also be aware of the potential security ramifications of allowing users to edit foreign keys directly. ### Option Tags from a Collection of Arbitrary Objects -Generating options tags with `options_for_select` requires that you create an array containing the text and value for each option. But what if you had a City model (perhaps an Active Record one) and you wanted to generate option tags from a collection of those objects? One solution would be to make a nested array by iterating over them: +Generating options tags with `options_for_select` requires that you create an array containing the text and value for each option. But what if you had a `City` model (perhaps an Active Record one) and you wanted to generate option tags from a collection of those objects? One solution would be to make a nested array by iterating over them: ```erb <% cities_array = City.all.map { |city| [city.name, city.id] } %> @@ -483,6 +516,12 @@ As the name implies, this only generates option tags. To generate a working sele <%= collection_select(:person, :city_id, City.all, :id, :name) %> ``` +As with other helpers, if you were to use the `collection_select` helper on a form builder scoped to the `@person` object, the syntax would be: + +```erb +<%= f.collection_select(:city_id, City.all, :id, :name) %> +``` + To recap, `options_from_collection_for_select` is to `collection_select` what `options_for_select` is to `select`. NOTE: Pairs passed to `options_for_select` should have the name first and the id second, however with `options_from_collection_for_select` the first argument is the value method and the second the text method. @@ -511,7 +550,7 @@ Both of these families of helpers will create a series of select boxes for the d ### Barebones Helpers -The `select_*` family of helpers take as their first argument an instance of Date, Time or DateTime that is used as the currently selected value. You may omit this parameter, in which case the current date is used. For example +The `select_*` family of helpers take as their first argument an instance of `Date`, `Time` or `DateTime` that is used as the currently selected value. You may omit this parameter, in which case the current date is used. For example: ```erb <%= select_date Date.today, prefix: :start_date %> @@ -525,7 +564,7 @@ outputs (with actual option values omitted for brevity) <select id="start_date_day" name="start_date[day]"> ... </select> ``` -The above inputs would result in `params[:start_date]` being a hash with keys `:year`, `:month`, `:day`. To get an actual Time or Date object you would have to extract these values and pass them to the appropriate constructor, for example +The above inputs would result in `params[:start_date]` being a hash with keys `:year`, `:month`, `:day`. To get an actual `Date`, `Time` or `DateTime` object you would have to extract these values and pass them to the appropriate constructor, for example: ```ruby Date.civil(params[:start_date][:year].to_i, params[:start_date][:month].to_i, params[:start_date][:day].to_i) @@ -568,9 +607,9 @@ NOTE: In many cases the built-in date pickers are clumsy as they do not aid the ### Individual Components -Occasionally you need to display just a single date component such as a year or a month. Rails provides a series of helpers for this, one for each component `select_year`, `select_month`, `select_day`, `select_hour`, `select_minute`, `select_second`. These helpers are fairly straightforward. By default they will generate an input field named after the time component (for example "year" for `select_year`, "month" for `select_month` etc.) although this can be overridden with the `:field_name` option. The `:prefix` option works in the same way that it does for `select_date` and `select_time` and has the same default value. +Occasionally you need to display just a single date component such as a year or a month. Rails provides a series of helpers for this, one for each component `select_year`, `select_month`, `select_day`, `select_hour`, `select_minute`, `select_second`. These helpers are fairly straightforward. By default they will generate an input field named after the time component (for example, "year" for `select_year`, "month" for `select_month` etc.) although this can be overridden with the `:field_name` option. The `:prefix` option works in the same way that it does for `select_date` and `select_time` and has the same default value. -The first parameter specifies which value should be selected and can either be an instance of a Date, Time or DateTime, in which case the relevant component will be extracted, or a numerical value. For example +The first parameter specifies which value should be selected and can either be an instance of a `Date`, `Time` or `DateTime`, in which case the relevant component will be extracted, or a numerical value. For example: ```erb <%= select_year(2009) %> @@ -600,7 +639,7 @@ Rails provides the usual pair of helpers: the barebones `file_field_tag` and the ### What Gets Uploaded -The object in the `params` hash is an instance of a subclass of IO. Depending on the size of the uploaded file it may in fact be a StringIO or an instance of File backed by a temporary file. In both cases the object will have an `original_filename` attribute containing the name the file had on the user's computer and a `content_type` attribute containing the MIME type of the uploaded file. The following snippet saves the uploaded content in `#{Rails.root}/public/uploads` under the same name as the original file (assuming the form was the one in the previous example). +The object in the `params` hash is an instance of a subclass of `IO`. Depending on the size of the uploaded file it may in fact be a `StringIO` or an instance of `File` backed by a temporary file. In both cases the object will have an `original_filename` attribute containing the name the file had on the user's computer and a `content_type` attribute containing the MIME type of the uploaded file. The following snippet saves the uploaded content in `#{Rails.root}/public/uploads` under the same name as the original file (assuming the form was the one in the previous example). ```ruby def upload @@ -611,7 +650,7 @@ def upload end ``` -Once a file has been uploaded, there are a multitude of potential tasks, ranging from where to store the files (on disk, Amazon S3, etc) and associating them with models to resizing image files and generating thumbnails. The intricacies of this are beyond the scope of this guide, but there are several libraries designed to assist with these. Two of the better known ones are [CarrierWave](https://github.com/jnicklas/carrierwave) and [Paperclip](http://www.thoughtbot.com/projects/paperclip). +Once a file has been uploaded, there are a multitude of potential tasks, ranging from where to store the files (on disk, Amazon S3, etc) and associating them with models to resizing image files and generating thumbnails. The intricacies of this are beyond the scope of this guide, but there are several libraries designed to assist with these. Two of the better known ones are [CarrierWave](https://github.com/jnicklas/carrierwave) and [Paperclip](https://github.com/thoughtbot/paperclip). NOTE: If the user has not selected a file the corresponding parameter will be an empty string. @@ -622,7 +661,7 @@ Unlike other forms making an asynchronous file upload form is not as simple as p Customizing Form Builders ------------------------- -As mentioned previously the object yielded by `form_for` and `fields_for` is an instance of FormBuilder (or a subclass thereof). Form builders encapsulate the notion of displaying form elements for a single object. While you can of course write helpers for your forms in the usual way, you can also subclass FormBuilder and add the helpers there. For example +As mentioned previously the object yielded by `form_for` and `fields_for` is an instance of `FormBuilder` (or a subclass thereof). Form builders encapsulate the notion of displaying form elements for a single object. While you can of course write helpers for your forms in the usual way, you can also subclass `FormBuilder` and add the helpers there. For example: ```erb <%= form_for @person do |f| %> @@ -638,7 +677,7 @@ can be replaced with <% end %> ``` -by defining a LabellingFormBuilder class similar to the following: +by defining a `LabellingFormBuilder` class similar to the following: ```ruby class LabellingFormBuilder < ActionView::Helpers::FormBuilder @@ -648,7 +687,14 @@ class LabellingFormBuilder < ActionView::Helpers::FormBuilder end ``` -If you reuse this frequently you could define a `labeled_form_for` helper that automatically applies the `builder: LabellingFormBuilder` option. +If you reuse this frequently you could define a `labeled_form_for` helper that automatically applies the `builder: LabellingFormBuilder` option: + +```ruby +def labeled_form_for(record, options = {}, &block) + options.merge! builder: LabellingFormBuilder + form_for record, options, &block +end +``` The form builder used also determines what happens when you do @@ -656,17 +702,17 @@ The form builder used also determines what happens when you do <%= render partial: f %> ``` -If `f` is an instance of FormBuilder then this will render the `form` partial, setting the partial's object to the form builder. If the form builder is of class LabellingFormBuilder then the `labelling_form` partial would be rendered instead. +If `f` is an instance of `FormBuilder` then this will render the `form` partial, setting the partial's object to the form builder. If the form builder is of class `LabellingFormBuilder` then the `labelling_form` partial would be rendered instead. Understanding Parameter Naming Conventions ------------------------------------------ -As you've seen in the previous sections, values from forms can be at the top level of the `params` hash or nested in another hash. For example in a standard `create` +As you've seen in the previous sections, values from forms can be at the top level of the `params` hash or nested in another hash. For example, in a standard `create` action for a Person model, `params[:person]` would usually be a hash of all the attributes for the person to create. The `params` hash can also contain arrays, arrays of hashes and so on. Fundamentally HTML forms don't know about any sort of structured data, all they generate is name-value pairs, where pairs are just plain strings. The arrays and hashes you see in your application are the result of some parameter naming conventions that Rails uses. -TIP: You may find you can try out examples in this section faster by using the console to directly invoke Racks' parameter parser. For example, +TIP: You may find you can try out examples in this section faster by using the console to directly invoke Rack's parameter parser. For example, ```ruby Rack::Utils.parse_query "name=fred&phone=0123456789" @@ -675,7 +721,7 @@ Rack::Utils.parse_query "name=fred&phone=0123456789" ### Basic Structures -The two basic structures are arrays and hashes. Hashes mirror the syntax used for accessing the value in `params`. For example if a form contains +The two basic structures are arrays and hashes. Hashes mirror the syntax used for accessing the value in `params`. For example, if a form contains: ```html <input id="person_name" name="person[name]" type="text" value="Henry"/> @@ -689,7 +735,7 @@ the `params` hash will contain and `params[:person][:name]` will retrieve the submitted value in the controller. -Hashes can be nested as many levels as required, for example +Hashes can be nested as many levels as required, for example: ```html <input id="person_address_city" name="person[address][city]" type="text" value="New York"/> @@ -701,7 +747,7 @@ will result in the `params` hash being {'person' => {'address' => {'city' => 'New York'}}} ``` -Normally Rails ignores duplicate parameter names. If the parameter name contains an empty set of square brackets [] then they will be accumulated in an array. If you wanted people to be able to input multiple phone numbers, you could place this in the form: +Normally Rails ignores duplicate parameter names. If the parameter name contains an empty set of square brackets `[]` then they will be accumulated in an array. If you wanted users to be able to input multiple phone numbers, you could place this in the form: ```html <input name="person[phone_number][]" type="text"/> @@ -709,11 +755,11 @@ Normally Rails ignores duplicate parameter names. If the parameter name contains <input name="person[phone_number][]" type="text"/> ``` -This would result in `params[:person][:phone_number]` being an array. +This would result in `params[:person][:phone_number]` being an array containing the inputted phone numbers. ### Combining Them -We can mix and match these two concepts. For example, one element of a hash might be an array as in the previous example, or you can have an array of hashes. For example a form might let you create any number of addresses by repeating the following form fragment +We can mix and match these two concepts. One element of a hash might be an array as in the previous example, or you can have an array of hashes. For example, a form might let you create any number of addresses by repeating the following form fragment ```html <input name="addresses[][line1]" type="text"/> @@ -723,7 +769,7 @@ We can mix and match these two concepts. For example, one element of a hash migh This would result in `params[:addresses]` being an array of hashes with keys `line1`, `line2` and `city`. Rails decides to start accumulating values in a new hash whenever it encounters an input name that already exists in the current hash. -There's a restriction, however, while hashes can be nested arbitrarily, only one level of "arrayness" is allowed. Arrays can be usually replaced by hashes, for example instead of having an array of model objects one can have a hash of model objects keyed by their id, an array index or some other parameter. +There's a restriction, however, while hashes can be nested arbitrarily, only one level of "arrayness" is allowed. Arrays can usually be replaced by hashes; for example, instead of having an array of model objects, one can have a hash of model objects keyed by their id, an array index or some other parameter. WARNING: Array parameters do not play well with the `check_box` helper. According to the HTML specification unchecked checkboxes submit no value. However it is often convenient for a checkbox to always submit a value. The `check_box` helper fakes this by creating an auxiliary hidden input with the same name. If the checkbox is unchecked only the hidden input is submitted and if it is checked then both are submitted but the value submitted by the checkbox takes precedence. When working with array parameters this duplicate submission will confuse Rails since duplicate input names are how it decides when to start a new array element. It is preferable to either use `check_box_tag` or to use hashes instead of arrays. @@ -737,7 +783,7 @@ You might want to render a form with a set of edit fields for each of a person's <%= form_for @person do |person_form| %> <%= person_form.text_field :name %> <% @person.addresses.each do |address| %> - <%= person_form.fields_for address, index: address do |address_form|%> + <%= person_form.fields_for address, index: address.id do |address_form|%> <%= address_form.text_field :city %> <% end %> <% end %> @@ -760,9 +806,16 @@ This will result in a `params` hash that looks like {'person' => {'name' => 'Bob', 'address' => {'23' => {'city' => 'Paris'}, '45' => {'city' => 'London'}}}} ``` -Rails knows that all these inputs should be part of the person hash because you called `fields_for` on the first form builder. By specifying an `:index` option you're telling Rails that instead of naming the inputs `person[address][city]` it should insert that index surrounded by [] between the address and the city. If you pass an Active Record object as we did then Rails will call `to_param` on it, which by default returns the database id. This is often useful as it is then easy to locate which Address record should be modified. You can pass numbers with some other significance, strings or even `nil` (which will result in an array parameter being created). +Rails knows that all these inputs should be part of the person hash because you +called `fields_for` on the first form builder. By specifying an `:index` option +you're telling Rails that instead of naming the inputs `person[address][city]` +it should insert that index surrounded by [] between the address and the city. +This is often useful as it is then easy to locate which Address record +should be modified. You can pass numbers with some other significance, +strings or even `nil` (which will result in an array parameter being created). -To create more intricate nestings, you can specify the first part of the input name (`person[address]` in the previous example) explicitly, for example +To create more intricate nestings, you can specify the first part of the input +name (`person[address]` in the previous example) explicitly: ```erb <%= fields_for 'person[address][primary]', address, index: address do |address_form| %> @@ -788,21 +841,21 @@ As a shortcut you can append [] to the name and omit the `:index` option. This i produces exactly the same output as the previous example. -Forms to external resources +Forms to External Resources --------------------------- -If you need to post some data to an external resource it is still great to build your form using rails form helpers. But sometimes you need to set an `authenticity_token` for this resource. You can do it by passing an `authenticity_token: 'your_external_token'` parameter to the `form_tag` options: +Rails' form helpers can also be used to build a form for posting data to an external resource. However, at times it can be necessary to set an `authenticity_token` for the resource; this can be done by passing an `authenticity_token: 'your_external_token'` parameter to the `form_tag` options: ```erb -<%= form_tag 'http://farfar.away/form', authenticity_token: 'external_token') do %> +<%= form_tag 'http://farfar.away/form', authenticity_token: 'external_token' do %> Form contents <% end %> ``` -Sometimes when you submit data to an external resource, like payment gateway, fields you can use in your form are limited by an external API. So you may want not to generate an `authenticity_token` hidden field at all. For doing this just pass `false` to the `:authenticity_token` option: +Sometimes when submitting data to an external resource, like a payment gateway, the fields that can be used in the form are limited by an external API and it may be undesirable to generate an `authenticity_token`. To not send a token, simply pass `false` to the `:authenticity_token` option: ```erb -<%= form_tag 'http://farfar.away/form', authenticity_token: false) do %> +<%= form_tag 'http://farfar.away/form', authenticity_token: false do %> Form contents <% end %> ``` @@ -826,7 +879,7 @@ Or if you don't want to render an `authenticity_token` field: Building Complex Forms ---------------------- -Many apps grow beyond simple forms editing a single object. For example when creating a Person you might want to allow the user to (on the same form) create multiple address records (home, work, etc.). When later editing that person the user should be able to add, remove or amend addresses as necessary. +Many apps grow beyond simple forms editing a single object. For example, when creating a `Person` you might want to allow the user to (on the same form) create multiple address records (home, work, etc.). When later editing that person the user should be able to add, remove or amend addresses as necessary. ### Configuring the Model @@ -845,7 +898,7 @@ end This creates an `addresses_attributes=` method on `Person` that allows you to create, update and (optionally) destroy addresses. -### Building the Form +### Nested Forms The following form allows a user to create a `Person` and its associated addresses. @@ -868,16 +921,18 @@ The following form allows a user to create a `Person` and its associated address ``` -When an association accepts nested attributes `fields_for` renders its block once for every element of the association. In particular, if a person has no addresses it renders nothing. A common pattern is for the controller to build one or more empty children so that at least one set of fields is shown to the user. The example below would result in 3 sets of address fields being rendered on the new person form. +When an association accepts nested attributes `fields_for` renders its block once for every element of the association. In particular, if a person has no addresses it renders nothing. A common pattern is for the controller to build one or more empty children so that at least one set of fields is shown to the user. The example below would result in 2 sets of address fields being rendered on the new person form. ```ruby def new @person = Person.new - 3.times { @person.addresses.build} + 2.times { @person.addresses.build} end ``` -`fields_for` yields a form builder that names parameters in the format expected the accessor generated by `accepts_nested_attributes_for`. For example when creating a user with 2 addresses, the submitted parameters would look like +The `fields_for` yields a form builder. The parameters' name will be what +`accepts_nested_attributes_for` expects. For example, when creating a user with +2 addresses, the submitted parameters would look like: ```ruby { @@ -899,7 +954,7 @@ end The keys of the `:addresses_attributes` hash are unimportant, they need merely be different for each address. -If the associated object is already saved, `fields_for` autogenerates a hidden input with the `id` of the saved record. You can disable this by passing `include_id: false` to `fields_for`. You may wish to do this if the autogenerated input is placed in a location where an input tag is not valid HTML or when using an ORM where children do not have an id. +If the associated object is already saved, `fields_for` autogenerates a hidden input with the `id` of the saved record. You can disable this by passing `include_id: false` to `fields_for`. You may wish to do this if the autogenerated input is placed in a location where an input tag is not valid HTML or when using an ORM where children do not have an `id`. ### The Controller @@ -914,9 +969,9 @@ def create end private -def person_params - params.require(:person).permit(:name, addresses_attributes: [:id, :kind, :street]) -end + def person_params + params.require(:person).permit(:name, addresses_attributes: [:id, :kind, :street]) + end ``` ### Removing Objects @@ -930,7 +985,9 @@ class Person < ActiveRecord::Base end ``` -If the hash of attributes for an object contains the key `_destroy` with a value of '1' or 'true' then the object will be destroyed. This form allows users to remove addresses: +If the hash of attributes for an object contains the key `_destroy` with a value +of `1` or `true` then the object will be destroyed. This form allows users to +remove addresses: ```erb <%= form_for @person do |f| %> @@ -938,7 +995,7 @@ If the hash of attributes for an object contains the key `_destroy` with a value <ul> <%= f.fields_for :addresses do |addresses_form| %> <li> - <%= check_box :_destroy%> + <%= addresses_form.check_box :_destroy%> <%= addresses_form.label :kind %> <%= addresses_form.text_field :kind %> ... @@ -973,4 +1030,4 @@ As a convenience you can instead pass the symbol `:all_blank` which will create ### Adding Fields on the Fly -Rather than rendering multiple sets of fields ahead of time you may wish to add them only when a user clicks on an 'Add new child' button. Rails does not provide any builtin support for this. When generating new sets of fields you must ensure the key of the associated array is unique - the current javascript date (milliseconds after the epoch) is a common choice. +Rather than rendering multiple sets of fields ahead of time you may wish to add them only when a user clicks on an 'Add new address' button. Rails does not provide any built-in support for this. When generating new sets of fields you must ensure the key of the associated array is unique - the current JavaScript date (milliseconds after the epoch) is a common choice. |