Custom form builders and form_tag?

rubyonrails-talk
1

Is it possible to use a custom form builder with form_tag? It would be nice to impose the same look and feel for all my forms, whether or not they are model forms.

2

OK, so it appears that form_tag doesn't support form builders. So how do most Rails applications keep their non-model forms DRY?

3

Why would you have a form and not a model? You don't have to make that model class inherit from ActiveRecord::Base and be associated with the database. Create a class that has the fields (attr_accessor) that you need and use form_for.

(Full disclosure: I haven't done this, but I'd be surprised if it didn't work.)

From http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionView/Helpers/FormHelper.html#M000920 at the bottom of the entry.

Customized form builders You can also build forms using a customized FormBuilder class. Subclass FormBuilder and override or define some more helpers, then use your custom builder. For example, let‘s say you made a helper to automatically add labels to form inputs. <% form_for :person, @person, :url => { :action => "update" }, :builder => LabellingFormBuilder do |f| %> <%= f.text_field :first_name %> <%= f.text_field :last_name %> <%= text_area :person, :biography %> <%= check_box_tag "person[admin]", @person.company.admin? %> <% end %> In many cases you will want to wrap the above in another helper, so you could do something like the following: def labelled_form_for(name, object, options, &proc) form_for(name, object, options.merge(:builder => LabellingFormBuiler), &proc) end If you don‘t need to attach a form to a model instance, then check out FormTagHelper#form_tag.

Does that help you out?

-Rob

Rob Biedenharn http://agileconsultingllc.com Rob@AgileConsultingLLC.com

4

Rob,

I thought about doing something like that, but wondered if there was a better way. But I think it *should* work and I'll give it a try and post back.

Thanks for the suggestion.

5

I get the 'form_for' I get 'partials'

But if I have a partial like

    <%= f.text_field :first_name %>     <%= f.text_field :last_name %>     <%= text_area :person, :biography %>     <%= check_box_tag "person[admin]", @person.company.admin? %>

which I have been wrapping for my 'edit.rhtml' with a

<% form_for(@person) do |f| %>   <%= render :partial => 'form' , :locals=>{:f => f}%>   <%= submit_tag 'Save' %> <% end %>

Can I use that same partial/layout for a view?