Using Array or Hash with Form Select and Elsewhere

rubyonrails-talk
1

I'm working on a small project in order to learn Rails. I have a model with a status field, which I want to be 'open' or 'closed' (I may add some other options later). I am storing them in the database all lowercase (later options might be abbreviated in the DB). To display things nicely, I want them to appear as 'Open' or 'Closed' in the form dropdown and tables where the status is displayed. Using an array or hash, I can manage to do one or the other, but I'm not sure how to accomplish both.

If I use an array: STATUSES1=[['Open','open'],['Closed','closed']]

That works directly in a form using "select :status, Thing::STATUSES1".

But I don't know how to lookup the capitalized version in the array given the lowercase status value.

If I use a hash: STATUSES2={'open'=>'Open','closed'=>'Closed'}

It is easy to display the formatted value in pages using: <%= Thing::STATUSES2[thing.status] %>

I tried to use this hash in the form select, but the value/text is backwards: it put 'Open' into the value and 'open' into the the displayed text.

So is it better to use an array or hash for my purposes, and how do I manipulate it to accomplish both tasks?

Thanks!

2

I came up with a solution. I used the hash and put Thing::STATUSES2.invert as the parameter in the form select call. I'm still interested to know if I'm doing things the "proper" way.

Thanks, Mike.