form field returns string instead of int

rubyonrails-talk
1

<%= select( "user" , "type", { "Practice" => 1, "Doctor" => 2, "Hygenist" =>3, "Assistant" => 4 }, {:include_blank => false, :prompt =>true}) %>

produces:

<select id="user_type" name="user[type]"><option value="">Please select</option> <option value="3">Hygenist</option> <option value="4">Assistant</option> <option value="2">Doctor</option> <option value="1">Practice</option></select> </p>

and the form returns a string. how do i get the form to submit an int.. or get AR to convert it? select fields can return an int right?

2

params[:user][:type].to_i

All int’s submitted by fields are actually submitted as strings. Same goes for dates and anything else, it’s always a string.

3

this would be in the controller in create and update then?

4

Indeed

5

forgive me I'm a newbie...

I've tried both

params[:user][:type].to_i params[:user][:type]=params[:user][:type].to_i

neither work..

6

You want to do:

@user.type = params[:user][:type].to_i @user.save!

or something similiar.

7

turns out :type must be used internal to AR.. I changed it was an INT and saved it correctly!!

maybe a standard of prepending internal symbols with the classname would eliminate collitions

8

AR will know what to do with the string. The problem is that you're using the word 'type.' Change it to something else and it will work.

9

Damn it, I should’ve noticed.

Yes type is a reserved field in ActiveRecord. It is used for putting types on Single Table Inheritance tables.