how to make confirm boxes conditional?

rubyonrails-talk
1

Hi,

I'd like to make the :confirm option in my link_to/button_to erb elements conditional. So, if the page is in some state, no confirmation is requested, but not otherwise, etc.

So far, my only (ugly) approach is to replace the linker html itself depending on changes in state, but I believe there must be an easier way to 'toggle' the confirmation option on/off.

Can anyone recommend an approach?

Thanks,

Lille

2

Write your own Javascript which handles these page state changes and confirmation instead of relying on Rails Javascript helpers. Those helpers were only made for the most basic operations. You wouldn’t use a teaspoon to empty a bath either, even if you could put a bigger handle on the spoon.

Flow:

  • Observe link clicks (you can add a class=“confirmable” or something to them if you want to apply it only to that element)

  • Observe the elements on the page that will trigger a state change

  • If those elements are changed, add the state to window or something

  • When a link is clicked, it should see if window.state_changed == true and display the confirmation, if not, just window.location == link.href

You would be best off implementing this in an event delegated way if there’s a lot of elements that can change the page state, as well as new elements being injected into the page via AJAX.

Best regards

Peter De Berdt

3

Peter,

Actually, the matter is simpler than either of us seemed to anticipate: the :confirm helper option just isn't very helpful. In other words, all :confirm=>'Are you sure?' does is produce the raw html onclick=>"return confirm('Are you sure?')". I had assumed that if it were a helper, I should want to use it, not duplicate it, ergo my post.

So, if anyone ever wants to make conditional the :confirm option of the link_to/button_to erb function, use :onclick=>"if(...) { confirm('whatever text');}" -- involving whatever conditional logic you like in the raw javascript.

Lille

4

Sure, but inline javascript like that is just a horrible thing :slight_smile:

Best regards

Peter De Berdt

5

Lille wrote:

Actually, the matter is simpler than either of us seemed to anticipate: the :confirm helper option just isn't very helpful. In other words, all :confirm=>'Are you sure?' does is produce the raw html onclick=>"return confirm('Are you sure?')". I had assumed that if it were a helper, I should want to use it, not duplicate it, ergo my post.

So, if anyone ever wants to make conditional the :confirm option of the link_to/button_to erb function, use :onclick=>"if(...) { confirm('whatever text');}" -- involving whatever conditional logic you like in the raw javascript.

And what are your plans if the user's browser isn't running Javascript? Because in that case they won't ever see your confirmation. Progressive Enhancement is better than Graceful Degradation.

Bob