observe_field on select

rubyonrails-talk
1

I have an observe_field on a select box. All works well, EXCEPT....this particular select box is a js masterpiece that allows it to be editable in selection index 0.

My problem thus is if someone selects the 0th item in the select box, types in a value, the observe_field still picks it up in my controller as "" for params['channelnotes'].

Is there a way to amend the observe_field to send back whatever the text is in the select box? (and not just when the user clicks on it to invoke the change, because then, of course, option 0 text is "") I need to somehow just pass the text of the selected item in it whenever the text itself changes. Does anyone know observe_field on select boxes well enough to know how to do this? -Janna B

<SELECT name="channelnotes" id="channelnotes" style="width:350px; onKeyDown="fnKeyDownHandler(this, event);" onKeyUp="fnKeyUpHandler_A (this, event); return false;" onKeyPress = "return fnKeyPressHandler_A (this, event);" onChange="fnChangeHandler_A(this, event);">   <OPTION value="" ></OPTION>   <option>one</option>   <option>two</option>   <option>three</option> </SELECT>

<%= observe_field "channelnotes", :url => {:controller => :channels, :action => 'notesboxchange' }, :with => 'channelnotes' %>

2

My problem thus is if someone selects the 0th item in the select box, types in a value, the observe_field still picks it up in my controller as "" for params['channelnotes'].

observe_field fires, by default, on the change event. There used to be still a valid option though. A little sandbox exercise would tell for sure. The bigger problem will probably be cross-browser support for whatever event you end up needing to trigger on for the edit case. Here's a compatibility list: http://www.quirksmode.org/dom/events/index.html

HTH, Bill