Rails - Oct 2010 - Passing a form object to a partial within a fields_for using observe_field

I''m a Rails newbie, so please bear with me.  I''m using version
3.0.0.

I have a form to create and update articles which uses a fields_for to
nest a ''collaborator'' resource, of which an article :has_many.
I
would like for users to be able to search for other users to add as
collaborators (co-authors of the article) using a live search field
linked to a select box (or something similar).

Unfortunately, I need to pass the original article form object to the
search results partial on every AJAX request in the live search.  Is
there any simple way to do this, or a better approach entirely?

Here''s my code:

Following the nested model Railscast, my articles form includes this
div:

  <div class="article_form_collaborators">
	<%= f.fields_for :collaborations do |builder| %>
		<%= render ''collaboration_fields'', :f => builder %>
	<% end %>
  </div>
  <p><%= link_to_add_fields "Add another collaborator",
f, :collaborations %></p>


The collaboration_fields partial includes an observe_field (obtrusive
as it may be...) call to handle the live search functionality:

<div class="collaborator_fields">
	Search for collaborator: <input type="text"
id="live_user_search_form" name="search" />
	<span id="live_search_results">
		<%= render :partial => ''live_search'' %>
	</span>
	<img id="spinner" src="/images/spinner.gif"
style="display: none;" /
>
	<%= link_to_remove_fields "Remove collaborator", f %>
</div>
<%= observe_field "live_user_search_form",
		:url => { :controller => ''articles'', :action =>
''live_search'' },
		:frequency => 0.5,
		:update => ''live_search_results'',
		:with => "''search_text='' + escape(value)",
		:loading =>
"document.getElementById(''spinner'').style.display=''inline''",
		:loaded =>
"document.getElementById(''spinner'').style.display=''none''"
%>


And the live_search partial just allows the user to select from the
search results:

<% if @live_search_users && @live_search_users.hits.count > 0
%>
	<%= f.select :collaborator_id,
		@live_search_users.hits.map { |hit| ["#{hit.instance.first_name}
#{hit.instance.last_name} (#{hit.instance.email})",
hit.instance.id] }, { :include_blank => true } %>
<% else %>
	<%= f.select :collaborator_id,
		current_user.friends.map { |hit| ["#{hit.first_name}
#{hit.last_name} (#{hit.email})", hit.id] }, { :include_blank =>
true } %>
<% end %>


The searching is handled through a live_search function in the
articles controller:

def live_search
    if request.xhr?
      if params[''search_text''].strip.length > 0
        terms = params[''search_text''].split.collect do |word|
          "%#{word.downcase}"
        end
        @live_search_users = Sunspot.search( User ) do
          keywords terms
        end
        render :partial => ''/articles/live_search''
      else
        render :partial => ''/articles/live_search''
      end
    end
  end

As you can see the live_search partial requires the article form, f,
for the select function, but obviously that''s not available unless
passed somehow.  I''ve tried passing it around using :locals in every
place I can think of, such as from the observe_field call through the
controller and back to the partial, but nothing seems to work.

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

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