Rails - Jul 2006 - :maxsize => 30 in form not working

Well, I''ve researched the books and the web to no avail (I tried the
search here too but kept getting page not found.I''m doing what the
examples say to do but I cannot get this work. The form allows entry of
characters beyond the maxsize which causes the app to abend giving me the
browser page showing a trace with the following info preceding the trace:
   
  Mysql::Error: #22001Data too long for column ''category'' at
row 1: UPDATE categories SET `category` = ''Furniture -
Bedroom11111111111111111111111111111111111'' WHERE id = 2
   
  The "1"''s are of course for the test.
   
  I have the following code in edit.rhtml:
<%= start_form_tag :action => ''update'', :id =>
@category %>
  <%= render :partial => ''form'' %>
  <%= submit_tag ''Update'' %>
<%= end_form_tag %>
   
  And the following code in _form.rhtml:
Category: </td>
<%= text_field("category", "category", :size => 30,
:maxsize => 30) %>
   
  I''ve tried numerous different combinations such as:
maxlength="30", :maxsize => "30", without the :size =>
and so on. All to no avail.
   
  Surely this doesn''t require code in validation or a before filter or
otherwise does it? Since I can''t allow the app to blow up every time a
user enters more characters than the size in the database, well, I''m at
a loss at this point.
   
  Any help is surely appreciated. Thank you.
   
  Scott
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On Saturday, July 15, 2006, at 5:43 AM, R Scott Helfrich
wrote:
>Well, I''ve researched the books and the web to no avail (I tried
the
>search here too but kept getting page not found.I''m doing what the
>examples say to do but I cannot get this work. The form allows entry
>of characters beyond the maxsize which causes the app to abend
>giving me the browser page showing a trace with the following info
>preceding the trace:
>
>  Mysql::Error: #22001Data too long for column ''category''
at row 1:
>UPDATE categories SET `category` = ''Furniture -
>Bedroom11111111111111111111111111111111111'' WHERE id = 2
>
>  The "1"''s are of course for the test.
>
>  I have the following code in edit.rhtml:
><%= start_form_tag :action => ''update'', :id =>
@category %>
>  <%= render :partial => ''form'' %>
>  <%= submit_tag ''Update'' %>
><%= end_form_tag %>
>
>  And the following code in _form.rhtml:
>Category: </td>
><%= text_field("category", "category", :size =>
30, :maxsize => 30) %>
>
>  I''ve tried numerous different combinations such as:
>maxlength="30", :maxsize => "30", without the :size
=> and so on.
>All to no avail.
>
>  Surely this doesn''t require code in validation or a before filter
>or otherwise does it? Since I can''t allow the app to blow up every
>time a user enters more characters than the size in the database,
>well, I''m at a loss at this point.
>
>  Any help is surely appreciated. Thank you.
>
>  Scott
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Rails mailing list
>Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
>http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
It might help to see how you implemented your test.  The limits on  
browser field forms are enforced by the browser itself, so if you pass a  
long parameter to a controller as part of a test, the browser never sees  
the long data and can''t do anything about it.

You probably should enforce a validation to make sure the length is  
correct because you shouldn''t trust the client browser to do validation
for you.

For what it''s worth, I usually set columns to accept the maximum number
of characters.  It doesn''t really hurt anything and it avoids a lot of
headaches like this one.

_Kevin

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R Scott Helfrich wrote:
> Well, I''ve researched the books and the web to no avail
I''ve found http://www.w3schools.com/ to be an indispensible reference.
> The form allows entry of characters beyond the maxsize
<%= text_field("category", "category", :size => 30,
:maxsize => 30) %>

According to the reference above (the attributes are at 
http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_input.asp ), ''size''
"defines the size of
the input element" and ''maxlength'' "defines the
maximum number of characters
allowed in a text field".  There is no ''maxsize''
attribute listed.

According to the text_field documentation at http://api.rubyonrails.org/ 
Rails is not expecting symbols (it interprets anything with a colon in front 
of it as a symbol).  I''ve been confused by the symbol vs. string thing 
before myself.  In some places Rails with take either.  In some it insists 
on one or the other.  And the particulars are subject to change  ;-)

Anyway... you might try:
<%= text_field("category'', "category",
"size" => 30, "maxlength" => 30) %>

You didn''t show how you''ve declared the category field in your
database but,
personally, I''ve never seen MySQL throw this error.  I use
''varchar(n)''
declarations for text_fields and the problem _I''ve_ encountered is that
MySQL simply chops off anything beyond that.  Kind of the opposite of your 
situation.  If, as Kevin suggested, the problem turns out that the browser 
you''re using doesn''t enforce ''maxlength'' you
might want to take a look at
this option if you''re using something like ''string''.

One more note...
If you''re using Firefox and the Firebug extension, you can see exactly
what
attributes / options are set on your DOM elements.  This could help you 
figure out whether the problem lies with Rails not generating the right 
stuff and your browser not handling it correctly.  If you''re not using
them,
I definitely recommend you download them.  Even if they''re not your
default
choice, I''ve found that they''re invaluable debugging tools.

hth,
Bill

Scott Helfrich wrote:
> Well, I''ve researched the books and the web to no avail (I tried
the
> search here too but kept getting page not found.I''m doing what the
> examples say to do but I cannot get this work. The form allows entry of 
> characters beyond the maxsize which causes the app to abend giving me 
> the browser page showing a trace with the following info preceding the 
> trace:
> 
>   Mysql::Error: #22001Data too long for column ''category''
at row 1:
> UPDATE categories SET `category` = ''Furniture - 
> Bedroom11111111111111111111111111111111111'' WHERE id = 2
> 
> Snip SNip 
>
> <%= text_field("category", "category", :size =>
30, :maxsize => 30) %>
> 
>   I''ve tried numerous different combinations such as:
maxlength="30",
> :maxsize => "30", without the :size => and so on. All to no
avail.
> 
>   Surely this doesn''t require code in validation or a before
filter or
> otherwise does it? Since I can''t allow the app to blow up every
time a
> user enters more characters than the size in the database, well,
I''m at
> a loss at this point.
> 
>   Any help is surely appreciated. Thank you.
> 
>   Scott
Hi Scott

I would suggest you use validations, they will assure your app won''t 
blow up, but if you really want to use the maxlength attribute, you can. 
Rails expects html options to be in a hash,

<%= text_field("category", "category", :size => 30,
{:maxlength => 30})
%>

That should work. Good luck!

Chris

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Kevin Olbrich wrote:
> On Saturday, July 15, 2006, at 5:43 AM, R Scott Helfrich wrote:
>>
>><%= text_field("category", "category", :size
=> 30, :maxsize => 30) %>
>>  Any help is surely appreciated. Thank you.
>>
>>  Scott
>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Rails mailing list
>>Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
>>http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>>
> 
> It might help to see how you implemented your test.  The limits on
> browser field forms are enforced by the browser itself, so if you pass a
> long parameter to a controller as part of a test, the browser never sees
> the long data and can''t do anything about it.
> 
> You probably should enforce a validation to make sure the length is
> correct because you shouldn''t trust the client browser to do
validation
> for you.
> 
> For what it''s worth, I usually set columns to accept the maximum
number
> of characters.  It doesn''t really hurt anything and it avoids a
lot of
> headaches like this one.
> 
> _Kevin
Thank you for your response Kevin. If I understand your question, my
test was simply to edit an existig record in the form itself and hold
downt eh ''1'' key!

I''m not following you though on the ''setting
columns''.

Scott

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Here''s what works:

<%= text_field("category", "category", "size"
=> 30, "maxlength" => 30)
%>

I''d tried maxlength at one point, but I am pretty certain the combo was
something like maxlength="30".

The AWDwR book on page 357 shows :maxsize => "nn", so I tried that
too.
I lost track of every combo I tried to be honest.

I knew the browser wasn''t the problem as I''ve enforced this
constraint
in JSPs before using Struts html tag lib.

I''m still trying to get a handle on symbols, instance variables and
when
to use one or the other as well. To be honest, I have not been able to 
determine any pattern yet. In the above, I really would have 
thought/expected it to be a :symbol because of the =>. But no!

Anyway, thank you Kevin, Bill and Chris. Your help and time is much 
appreciated and once again has led to the resolution of my problem.

Scott

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Hi Scott,

By using ''maxlength'', you''re enforcing that
user''s can''t type too
many characters into the field when they''re using a browser (well,  
browsers that respect ''maxlength'', anyway!).  That''s
good.

But you''ll also want to validate this on the model side.

In your model, you should add a line like:

    validates_length_of :category, :maximum => 30

That way you''ll be sure that you can''t save a model that has
more
than 30 characters in the ''category'' field.

For more documentation on validation, see http://wiki.rubyonrails.com/ 
rails/pages/HowToValidate

Make sense?

-Seth

On Jul 15, 2006, at 10:05 AM, Scott Helfrich wrote:
> Here''s what works:
>
> <%= text_field("category", "category",
"size" => 30, "maxlength" =>
> 30)
> %>
>
> I''d tried maxlength at one point, but I am pretty certain the
combo
> was
> something like maxlength="30".
>
> The AWDwR book on page 357 shows :maxsize => "nn", so I tried
that
> too.
> I lost track of every combo I tried to be honest.
>
> I knew the browser wasn''t the problem as I''ve enforced
this constraint
> in JSPs before using Struts html tag lib.
>
> I''m still trying to get a handle on symbols, instance variables
and
> when
> to use one or the other as well. To be honest, I have not been able to
> determine any pattern yet. In the above, I really would have
> thought/expected it to be a :symbol because of the =>. But no!
>
> Anyway, thank you Kevin, Bill and Chris. Your help and time is much
> appreciated and once again has led to the resolution of my problem.
>
> Scott
>
> -- 
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
>

Seth Morabito wrote:
> Hi Scott,
> 
> By using ''maxlength'', you''re enforcing that
user''s can''t type too
> many characters into the field when they''re using a browser (well,
> browsers that respect ''maxlength'', anyway!). 
That''s good.
> 
> But you''ll also want to validate this on the model side.
> 
> In your model, you should add a line like:
> 
>     validates_length_of :category, :maximum => 30
> 
> That way you''ll be sure that you can''t save a model that
has more
> than 30 characters in the ''category'' field.
> 
> For more documentation on validation, see http://wiki.rubyonrails.com/
> rails/pages/HowToValidate
> 
> Make sense?
> 
> -Seth
Yes. I wil do that too. It does make sense. If the browser doesn''t 
support it, you are still covered. :) Thank you Seth.

A number of tidbits of good advice in the responses in this thread! I 
especially appreciate these kinds of responses as they address more than 
the immediate problem but address the understanding of it as well. 
Always more mileage in that.

Scott

-- 
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