Is there a serialization Example for Rails 3.0?

Hi all,

I am new to ruby and rails coming from a perl background.

I was hoping someone could help point me to some sample code to serialize data from a form. My plan is to write a tiny app to generate Cisco switch configuration files based on a template.

Below is what I have found so far based on what I could find.

Unfortunately the form does not automagically re-insert the values after they are saved. I noticed other people commenting about the same feature. Is there a better way of doing this?

How would I create an array of vlans under the variable configuration using the form? I am planning on adding an "add vlan" button which reloads the same form, but I am not sure of the syntax.

Any pointers would be helpful.

Thanks in advance,

Regards

Andrew

Hi all,

I am new to ruby and rails coming from a perl background.

I was hoping someone could help point me to some sample code to serialize data from a form. My plan is to write a tiny app to generate Cisco switch configuration files based on a template.

Below is what I have found so far based on what I could find.

Unfortunately the form does not automagically re-insert the values after they are saved. I noticed other people commenting about the same feature. Is there a better way of doing this?

You might try passing @switch.configuration, :configuration to fields_for. Why use serialize though, rather than make those things attributes of the switches table?

How would I create an array of vlans under the variable configuration using the form? I am planning on adding an "add vlan" button which reloads the same form, but I am not sure of the syntax.

If vlans are a separate table (with an association with switches) then accepts_nested_attributed makes this sort of thing pretty easy. I believe there's a railcard that covers one way of handling the client side portion of adding new form thingies on the fly

Fred

Hi Fred,

Unfortunately the form does not automagically re-insert the values after they are saved. I noticed other people commenting about the same feature. Is there a better way of doing this?

You might try passing @switch.configuration, :configuration to fields_for. Why use serialize though, rather than make those things attributes of the switches table?

I do not want to use attributes as there are not only 2 but about 20, and additional ones may come at a later stage. I am not quite sure what you mean by the above statement....

Changing     <%= f.fields_for :configuration do |c| %> to     <%= f.fields_for @switch.configuration, :configuration do |c| %> gives   undefined method `model_name' for NilClass:Class

Unfortunately I am currently trying to work out how the rails framework fits together while learning ruby syntax at the same time..

How would I create an array of vlans under the variable configuration using the form? I am planning on adding an "add vlan" button which reloads the same form, but I am not sure of the syntax.

If vlans are a separate table (with an association with switches) then accepts_nested_attributed makes this sort of thing pretty easy. I believe there's a railcard that covers one way of handling the client side portion of adding new form thingies on the fly

I don't actually want to do anything with this data other than running it through a template. That is why I was looking at the following type structure:

name = mySwitch configuration =   {snmpCommunity = public},   {ipAddress = 10.0.0.1},   {value1 = x}   {vlan = [ { id = 1, name = Vlan1 }, { id = 2, name = Vlan2 }]}

etc etc...

I don't really want to bother normalising the data as this structure may change quite often....

I am trying to do this in Rails so that I get a chance to learn a little about the framework...

Thanks for any comments.

Regards

Andrew