Working with an array of search parameters

rubyonrails-talk
1

Hi!

I have a search form where user may search by one or a combo of these items: Last Name First Name Alias Last Name Alias First Name Case Number

First of all, how do I set up the fields in _form to return an array to the controller?

Secondly, how do I access the array in the controller and generate an appropriate "find" statement based on what array elements were passed in?

As it stands now, I'm setting each parameter to a variable and then in a giant "if" statement constructing the "find" statement. This worked ok with just name and case number to search for. Now that I've added alias to the mix, this is turning into some majorly UGLY code. Too many possible combinations!

Any thoughts/suggestions/ideas are welcomed and appreciated.

Thank you!! ~Ali

2

you can use the criteria_query plugin to make life a little easier: http://agilewebdevelopment.com/plugins/criteria_query

I tried using it myself, but ended up falling back on multiple if statements and building the conditions string and params array by hand, since in pretty much every case, I need paginate my result set, which criteria query won't let you do.

Here's some example code from my search action in one of my controllers, to show you my approach:

http://pastie.caboo.se/84234

I stored each search parameter into an ivar so when the page is redisplayed, the search terms will still be filled out in my search form..

Adam