Hi Pete,
This is a total newbie question, so my apologies!
No need. Welcome aboard!
I am learning Ruby from the book Ruby for rails - the only issue is the examples seem to have been written in a earlier version of Ruby.
Very common issue.
I appreciate that the end_form_tag has been depreciated, I tried replacing it with <% end %>
Which then gives
compile error /Users/pmoran/rails/r4music1/app/views/customer/_login.html.erb:9: syntax error, unexpected kENSURE, expecting $end
<% end %> is correct.
I believe your problem is that if you're going to use the :controller/:action syntax, you need to enclose them in {}. e.g.,
<%= form_tag {:controller => "customer", :action => "login"} %>
You'll want to learn to use Google as your first lines of defense I recommend that whenever you get an error, you enter it into your Google search bar preceded by the word 'rails'.
using the above as an example... Google
rails syntax error, unexpected kENSURE, expecting $end
You'll also want to learn to read the rails documentation.
api.rubyonrails.org
Focus first on the methods which are in the lower pane on the left.
I can't see any examples on the documentation which also specify the controller, as I say I am a total Ruby newbie so please go easy on me here!
The easiest way to get a handle on some of this basic stuff is to use the scaffold feature. You'll get the full stack. I recommend generating a rails app named 'sandbox'. Keep it around for working out issues / problems later.
rails sandbox
rake db:create:all
ruby script/scaffold test_model field1:string field2:text field3:integer
The files generated will give you the basics of the current syntax.
HTH, Bill