most probably you want to use the collection_select helper in your view
first, in your controller action, grab the contents of the table you want to use to populate the combo
e.g.
class TestController < ApplicationController
def index @categories = Category.find(:all) end
end
Then in your view, add the following code to insert a form and combo <select> box
<% form_for :articles do |f| %> <%= f.collection_select(:category_id, @categories, :id, :name) %> <% end %>
This is assuming you have a table in your db named categories which has an 'id' and 'name' column, and you want to save the id into the column 'category_id' in the table 'articles'
Just substitute out these names if yours are different.
I find this is the best place to read up on the myriad helpers and methods available in rails: http://www.gotapi.com/rubyrails
