Check box loop

11175 · January 30, 2008, 10:21pm

I have some trouble solving a problem.

I'm trying to make a musician community, where you'll be able to find other musicians. The users will have to choose which kind of music style they prefer, and which instruments they play. They should be able to choose more than one style and instrument, so i think ill use check boxes, but theres my problem how? I've tries check_box and check_box_tag, but i dont really know how to use them. I have values for the check boxes in VALID_STYLES, and would like to use some kind of loop, so i dont have to repeat code. another problem is that I can get one checkbox to work but not 2 or more, when i select multible checkboxes only the value of the first gets stored in the DB

Model: [code=]class Spec < ActiveRecord::Base belongs_to :user

VALID_GENDERS = ["Mand", "Kvinde"]

VALID_AREAS = ["","København", "Storkøbenhavn", "Århus", "Aalborg", "Odense", "Nordsjælland", "Vestsjælland", "Sydsjælland", "Midtsjælland", "Lolland/Falster", "Fyn", "Nordjylland", "Østjylland", "Vestjylland", "Midtjylland", "Sønderjylland", "Bornholm", "Andet" ]

VALID_STYLES = ["Rock", "Pop", "Elektronisk", "Hip-Hop", "R&B og Soul", "Metal", "Blues", "Jazz", "Verdensmusik", "Country", "Folkemusik", "Klassisk"]

START_YEAR = 1900 VALID_DATES = DateTime.new(START_YEAR)..DateTime.now ZIP_CODE_LENGTH = 4

validates_inclusion_of :gender, :in => VALID_GENDERS, :allow_nil => true, :message => "skal være mand eller kvinde"

validates_inclusion_of :birthdate, :in => VALID_DATES, :allow_nil => true, :message => "er ugyldig"

validates_inclusion_of :area, :in => VALID_AREAS, :allow_nil => true, :message => "skal ikke være opdigtet"

validates_format_of :zip_code, :with => /(^$|^[0-9]{#{ZIP_CODE_LENGTH}}$)/, :message => "skal være på 4 tegn"

end[/code] Controller: [code=]def edit @title = "Opdater info" @user = User.find(session[:user_id]) @user.spec ||= Spec.new @spec = @user.spec if param_posted?(:spec) if @user.spec.update_attributes(params[:spec]) flash[:notice] = "Ændringer gemt" redirect_to :controller => "user", :action => "index" end end

end[/code] View: [code=]<% form_for :spec do |form| %> <fieldset> <legend><%= @title %></legend>

<%= error_messages_for 'spec' %>

<div class="form_row"> <label for="gender">Gender:</label> <%= radio_button :spec, :gender, "Mand" %> mand <%= radio_button :spec, :gender, "Kvinde" %> kvinde </div> <div class="form_row"> <label for="birthdate">Birthdate:</label> <%= date_select :spec, :birthdate, :start_year => Spec::START_YEAR, :end_year => Time.now.year, :include_blank => true, :order => [:day, :month, :year] %> </div>

<div class="form_row"> <label for="music_style">Musik style:</label> <%= check_box(:spec, :music_style, {}, "Rock", nil) %> Rock

</div>

<%= text_field_for form, "zip_code", Spec::ZIP_CODE_LENGTH %>

<%= submit_tag "Update", :class => "submit" %> </fieldset> <% end %>[/code] Migrate: [code=]class CreateSpecs < ActiveRecord::Migration def self.up create_table :specs do |t|

t.column :user_id, :integer, :null => false t.column :gender, :string t.column :birthdate, :date t.column :area, :string, :default => "" t.column :zip_code, :string, :default => "" t.column :music_style, :mediumtext, :default => "" # t.column :music_instruments, :mediumtext, :default => "" # t.column :looking_for, :mediumtext, :default => ""

end end

def self.down drop_table :specs end end[/code] Please help a noob

Regards Benjamin

Serge_Chevarie-Pelle · January 31, 2008, 12:07am

That's because check_box is a boolean entry (or value) control. You would probably need to use check_box_tag.

Here, you need to loop in the view. Notice that only the checked styles will be sent to the controller.

<% Spec::VALID_STYLES.each do |style| %>

<%= check_box_style 'valid_style', style %>

<% end %>

Then in the update, or create, you will have a parameter style array with "style"=>["Pop", "Elektronisk", "Hip-Hop", "R&B og Soul"]

You can then set the style from this array by converting it to string. ie style = params[:style] style.select {|s| spec.music_style += s }

or something similar

hope this helps.

Serge Chevarie-Pelletier

Benjamin Jørgensen wrote:

11175 · February 1, 2008, 2:03pm

I got the view now now i just need to get the controller i'm not sure what you mean.

What do you suggest I do? when a user saves his specs the checked checkboxes do get stored, but when he wants to update the checkboxes status aren't stored anymore so if he clicks update, all the info in the checkboxes are deleted

Thanks for the answer.

my view looks like this

<div class="form_row"> <label for="music_style">Music style:</label> <% Spec::VALID_STYLES.each do |music_style| %> <%= check_box_tag "spec[music_style]", music_style %> <%= music_style %> <br /> <% end %> </div>

And my contoller looks like this

def edit @title = "Opdater info" @user = User.find(session[:user_id]) @user.spec ||= Spec.new @spec = @user.spec if param_posted?(:spec) if @user.spec.update_attributes(params[:spec]) flash[:notice] = "Ændringer gemt" redirect_to :controller => "user", :action => "index" end end end