Rails - Mar 2006 - Single form w/ relationships: how do I integrate it?

OK - I know this has been asked before, but I cannot find it in the
archives.  Forgive me if I''m creating more noise than I should.

I want to know the easiest way to deal with this scenario:

I have articles.  I have categories for the articles.

On the form where you write an article, there needs to be a free-form
field to entire the category.

The create() method will build the article, find_or_create_by_name the
category, and assign it to the article.  After that, the article is
saved.

I need to display an error if the category isn''t included, and I need
it to act like a normal form error: add its message to the list of
errors, and highlight the field.

Does anyone know an easy way to do this?  I know it''s right here in
front of me...

Thanks in advance,

Michael

Hello Michael,

2006/3/13, Michael Gorsuch
<michael.gorsuch@gmail.com>:
> I have articles.  I have categories for the articles.
See an older blog entry of mine:

http://blog.teksol.info/articles/2006/01/03/belongs_to-user-interface-take-ii

Hope that helps !
--
Fran?ois Beausoleil
http://blog.teksol.info/

That''s a great article, and I have used that technique before.

My question is this: how do I do the same, but with a
''text_field''?  I
need to allow the user to enter in whatever he or she likes, but it
must be something.

Any ideas how to accomplish this?

On 3/13/06, Francois Beausoleil <francois.beausoleil@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hello Michael,
>
> 2006/3/13, Michael Gorsuch <michael.gorsuch@gmail.com>:
> > I have articles.  I have categories for the articles.
>
> See an older blog entry of mine:
>
>
http://blog.teksol.info/articles/2006/01/03/belongs_to-user-interface-take-ii
>
> Hope that helps !
> --
> Fran?ois Beausoleil
> http://blog.teksol.info/
>
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
>
>

2006/3/13, Michael Gorsuch
<michael.gorsuch@gmail.com>:
> That''s a great article, and I have used that technique before.
>
> My question is this: how do I do the same, but with a
''text_field''?  I
> need to allow the user to enter in whatever he or she likes, but it
> must be something.
>
> Any ideas how to accomplish this?
Oh, sorry.  I hadn''t read your message properly.

You probably want to use a text_field_with_auto_complete:

http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/ActionView/Helpers/JavaScriptMacrosHelper.html#M000377

Hope that helps !
--
Fran?ois Beausoleil
http://blog.teksol.info/

I''d go one further - I''d like the user to autocomplete, but to
also be
allowed to invent a new entry for ''color'' at the same time as
entering a
new product ...

How would that work?

-jim
On Mon, Mar 13, 2006 at 09:42:04PM -0500, Francois Beausoleil
wrote:
> 2006/3/13, Michael Gorsuch <michael.gorsuch@gmail.com>:
> > That''s a great article, and I have used that technique
before.
> >
> > My question is this: how do I do the same, but with a
''text_field''?  I
> > need to allow the user to enter in whatever he or she likes, but it
> > must be something.
> >
> > Any ideas how to accomplish this?
> 
> Oh, sorry.  I hadn''t read your message properly.
> 
> You probably want to use a text_field_with_auto_complete:
> 
>
http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/ActionView/Helpers/JavaScriptMacrosHelper.html#M000377

I''m in the same spot, Jim.

I''m thinking that using the
''text_field_with_autocomplete'' coupled
with a ''find_or_create_by_name'' combination would work.

Haven''t tried it yet, though.

On 3/13/06, Jim Cheetham <jim@gonzul.net> wrote:
> I''d go one further - I''d like the user to autocomplete,
but to also be
> allowed to invent a new entry for ''color'' at the same
time as entering a
> new product ...
>
> How would that work?
>
> -jim
> On Mon, Mar 13, 2006 at 09:42:04PM -0500, Francois Beausoleil wrote:
> > 2006/3/13, Michael Gorsuch <michael.gorsuch@gmail.com>:
> > > That''s a great article, and I have used that technique
before.
> > >
> > > My question is this: how do I do the same, but with a
''text_field''?  I
> > > need to allow the user to enter in whatever he or she likes, but
it
> > > must be something.
> > >
> > > Any ideas how to accomplish this?
> >
> > Oh, sorry.  I hadn''t read your message properly.
> >
> > You probably want to use a text_field_with_auto_complete:
> >
> >
http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/ActionView/Helpers/JavaScriptMacrosHelper.html#M000377
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>

I''ve done something I think is similar so I''ll take a stab. I
haven''t
used find_or_create_by so there might be a better way if I knew what
it returns in the case of errors. Seems like the way i used
find_or_create_by below makes the whole thing bulky. Anyway this might
spark an idea.

The line below

 if @category.name.errors.on(:name)

is very weak maybe you can write

 if @category.name.errors.length

or something better


> I need to display an error if the category isn''t included, and I
need
> it to act like a normal form error: add its message to the list of
> errors, and highlight the field.
In the models

class Category < ActiveRecord::Base
  validates_presence_of :name
  has_many :articles
end

class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
  validates_presence_of :the_article_text
  belongs_to :category
end


In the controller action

def new_article

  if params[:submit]
    @category=Category.find_or_create_by_name(params[:category])
    @article=Article.new(params[:article])
    if @category.name.errors.on(:name)
      render
      return
    else
       @article.category_id = @category.id
       unless @article.save
             render
             return
       end

       redirect_to :action=>"somewhere"
       return
    end
  end

  @category = Category.new
  @article = Article.new
end

In new new_article.rhtml view

<%= form_tag %>
<%= text_field :category, :name %>
<%= text_area :article, :the_article_text %>
<%= submit_tag %>
<%= end_form_tag %>

Thanks, Peter.

I''ll give this a shot today.

On 3/14/06, Peter Michaux <petermichaux@gmail.com>
wrote:
> I''ve done something I think is similar so I''ll take a
stab. I haven''t
> used find_or_create_by so there might be a better way if I knew what
> it returns in the case of errors. Seems like the way i used
> find_or_create_by below makes the whole thing bulky. Anyway this might
> spark an idea.
>
> The line below
>
>  if @category.name.errors.on(:name)
>
> is very weak maybe you can write
>
>  if @category.name.errors.length
>
> or something better
>
>
>
> > I need to display an error if the category isn''t included,
and I need
> > it to act like a normal form error: add its message to the list of
> > errors, and highlight the field.
>
> In the models
>
> class Category < ActiveRecord::Base
>   validates_presence_of :name
>   has_many :articles
> end
>
> class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
>   validates_presence_of :the_article_text
>   belongs_to :category
> end
>
>
> In the controller action
>
> def new_article
>
>   if params[:submit]
>     @category=Category.find_or_create_by_name(params[:category])
>     @article=Article.new(params[:article])
>     if @category.name.errors.on(:name)
>       render
>       return
>     else
>        @article.category_id = @category.id
>        unless @article.save
>              render
>              return
>        end
>
>        redirect_to :action=>"somewhere"
>        return
>     end
>   end
>
>   @category = Category.new
>   @article = Article.new
> end
>
> In new new_article.rhtml view
>
> <%= form_tag %>
> <%= text_field :category, :name %>
> <%= text_area :article, :the_article_text %>
> <%= submit_tag %>
> <%= end_form_tag %>
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>