Rails - Sep 2005 - Extracting result from collection_select

Hi

I''m a Rails newbie, trying to implement a simple many-to-many  
relationship editor. I''m using a form with collection_select but I  
can''t successfully get the menu selection result out of the form.

I''ve got two tables (locations and people) and a joining table  
(locations_people). My Location model has_and_belongs_to_many people  
and vice versa.

In my person_controller I''ve got a new method:

   def new
     locations = []
     @all_locations = Location.find(:all)
     @person = Person.new
     @new_location = Location.find(1)
   end

and a create method:

   def create
     @person = Person.new(@params[:person])
     @person.locations<< Location.find(@params[:out_location])
     if @person.save
       flash[''notice''] = ''Person was successfully
created.''
       redirect_to :action => ''edit'', :id => @person
     else
       render_action ''new''
     end
   end

and in my form I''ve got:

     <label for="location_start">Start
location</label><br/>
     <% @out_location = @new_location %>
     <%= collection_select(:out_location, :id,  
@all_locations, :id, :name)  %>


I''ve tried several different things to extract the selected  
location_id but can''t figure it out. Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance,

Dion
http://dionandsarah.blogspot.com