Rails - Aug 2005 - Save and delete buttons: POST vs. proximity dilemma

I''m in a dilemma: In order to keep GET requests from deleting objects, 
I''d like to use the button_to helper to get "something" that
generates
a POST request. Unfortunately, that something is a form and forms can''t
be nested.

I''d also like to place buttons related to the same form close to each 
other. At the top are some navigational buttons (links), then comes the 
delete button somewhere in the middle, at the bottom is the save 
button. Achieving this without having all of these buttons in the same 
form doesn''t appear to be possible.

Has anyone managed to solve this?

The best idea I have right now is to use submit buttons in the same 
single form, but differentiate them by name. Then, in a before_filter, 
I could redirect the delete to the actual delete action. I can''t say 
that this feels good.

Michael

-- 
Michael Schuerig                         Those people who smile a lot
mailto:michael-q5aiKMLteq4b1SvskN2V4Q@public.gmane.org                          
Watch the eyes
http://www.schuerig.de/michael/    --Ani DiFranco, Outta Me, Onto You

Michael,

On 28.8.2005, at 22.20, Michael Schuerig wrote:
>
> I''m in a dilemma: In order to keep GET requests from deleting
objects,
> I''d like to use the button_to helper to get "something"
that generates
> a POST request. Unfortunately, that something is a form and forms  
> can''t
> be nested.
>
> I''d also like to place buttons related to the same form close to
each
> other. At the top are some navigational buttons (links), then comes  
> the
> delete button somewhere in the middle, at the bottom is the save
> button. Achieving this without having all of these buttons in the same
> form doesn''t appear to be possible.
>
> Has anyone managed to solve this?

I just wrote an article [1] about how you can use the AJAX helpers in  
Rails to solve the exact problem you''re describing.

Cheers,
//jarkko

[1] http://jlaine.net/blog/73/using-rails-ajax-helpers-to-create-safe- 
state-changing-links

--
Jarkko Laine
http://jlaine.net
http://odesign.fi




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On Sunday 28 August 2005 21:20, Michael Schuerig wrote:
> I''m in a dilemma: In order to keep GET requests from deleting
> objects, I''d like to use the button_to helper to get
"something" that
> generates a POST request. Unfortunately, that something is a form and
> forms can''t be nested.
>
> I''d also like to place buttons related to the same form close to
each
> other. At the top are some navigational buttons (links), then comes
> the delete button somewhere in the middle, at the bottom is the save
> button. Achieving this without having all of these buttons in the
> same form doesn''t appear to be possible.
>
> Has anyone managed to solve this?
A third option that requires the use of JavaScript

  prompt = ''Really delete?''
  delete_url = url_for(:action => ''destroy'', :id =>
object)
  link_to_function(''Delete'',
    "if (confirm(''#{prompt}'')) {
location.replace(''#{delete_url}''); }")

This is what I currently use for lack of a better idea.

Michael

-- 
Michael Schuerig                 Not only does lightning not strike
mailto:michael-q5aiKMLteq4b1SvskN2V4Q@public.gmane.org       twice, it usually
doesn''t strike once.
http://www.schuerig.de/michael/  --Salman Rushdie, Fury

Michael Schuerig wrote:
>I''m in a dilemma: In order to keep GET requests from deleting
objects,
>I''d like to use the button_to helper to get "something"
that generates
>a POST request. Unfortunately, that something is a form and forms
can''t
>be nested.
>
>I''d also like to place buttons related to the same form close to
each
>other. At the top are some navigational buttons (links), then comes the 
>delete button somewhere in the middle, at the bottom is the save 
>button. Achieving this without having all of these buttons in the same 
>form doesn''t appear to be possible.
>
>Has anyone managed to solve this?
>
>The best idea I have right now is to use submit buttons in the same 
>single form, but differentiate them by name. Then, in a before_filter, 
>I could redirect the delete to the actual delete action. I can''t
say
>that this feels good.
>
>Michael
>
>  
>
this link shows using AJAX to turn the link into a POST:
http://weblog.rubyonrails.com/archives/2005/08/26/using-ajax-to-route-dangerous-methods-through-post

Hello Michael,

Michael Schuerig said the following on 2005-08-28 15:20:
> Has anyone managed to solve this?
> 
> The best idea I have right now is to use submit buttons in the same 
> single form, but differentiate them by name. Then, in a before_filter, 
> I could redirect the delete to the actual delete action. I can''t
say
> that this feels good.
I use this exact technique, except all my actions are aware of the 
navigational issues.  In fact, my different buttons are next, previous, 
jump to step X, etc. in a wizard-like flow.

I made myself a helper method in my controller which knows about all 
buttons and redirects to the appropriate spot.

Hope that helps,
François

Have you considered using CSS (or even AJAX) to put them where you want
them?

On Sun, 2005-08-28 at 13:20, Michael Schuerig wrote:
> I''m in a dilemma: In order to keep GET requests from deleting
objects,
> I''d like to use the button_to helper to get "something"
that generates
> a POST request. Unfortunately, that something is a form and forms
can''t
> be nested.
> 
> I''d also like to place buttons related to the same form close to
each
> other. At the top are some navigational buttons (links), then comes the 
> delete button somewhere in the middle, at the bottom is the save 
> button. Achieving this without having all of these buttons in the same 
> form doesn''t appear to be possible.
> 
> Has anyone managed to solve this?
> 
> The best idea I have right now is to use submit buttons in the same 
> single form, but differentiate them by name. Then, in a before_filter, 
> I could redirect the delete to the actual delete action. I can''t
say
> that this feels good.
> 
> Michael

On 8/28/05, Michael Schuerig
<michael-q5aiKMLteq4b1SvskN2V4Q@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> The best idea I have right now is to use submit buttons in the same
> single form, but differentiate them by name. Then, in a before_filter,
> I could redirect the delete to the actual delete action. I can''t
say
> that this feels good.
This is how I''ve always done it, and even after having the code there
for the longest time, I haven''t found any reason to change it.
> Michael
Sincerely,

Tom Reinhart
tom-V0YqjHVuocLQT0dZR+AlfA@public.gmane.org
http://AllTom.com/

Michael Schuerig wrote:
> I''m in a dilemma: In order to keep GET requests from deleting
objects,
> I''d like to use the button_to helper to get "something"
that generates
> a POST request. Unfortunately, that something is a form and forms
can''t
> be nested.
button_to was a strange addition to Rails - it goes against the grain of 
HTML. A form defines the scope of content being submitted, and a submit 
control (button) represents a way of submitting it. Unless you use 
client-side script you are stuck with the single action URL associated 
with the form.

http://ppewww.ph.gla.ac.uk/~flavell/www/trysub.html

discusses the use of multiple submit buttons, with working examples.
> I''d also like to place buttons related to the same form close to
each
> other. At the top are some navigational buttons (links), then comes the 
> delete button somewhere in the middle, at the bottom is the save 
> button. Achieving this without having all of these buttons in the same 
> form doesn''t appear to be possible.
> 
> Has anyone managed to solve this?
> 
> The best idea I have right now is to use submit buttons in the same 
> single form, but differentiate them by name. Then, in a before_filter, 
> I could redirect the delete to the actual delete action. I can''t
say
> that this feels good.
Why redirect?

In Struts, you would use a DispatchAction or a LookupDispatch action to 
route to a particular method of the action class based on the value of a 
parameter in the HTTP request. LookupDispatchAction does this 
indirectly, doing a reverse lookup on the message resources used to 
define the names for the submit controls - so it it will work properly 
with a multilingual application.

Could Rails'' routing handle this?

regards

   Justin

On Tuesday 30 August 2005 00:32, Markus wrote:
> Have you considered using CSS (or even AJAX) to put them where you
> want them?
Using CSS for this would require some considerable magic to calculate 
the exactly where the delete button should go between the other, 
automatically positioned ones.

But as I wrote, some plain client-side JavaScript does the trick. No 
AJAX required:

  prompt = ''Really delete?''
  delete_url = url_for(:action => ''destroy'', :id =>
object)
  link_to_function(''Delete'',
    "if (confirm(''#{prompt}'')) {
location.replace(''#{delete_url}''); }")

Michael

-- 
Michael Schuerig                          Thinking is trying to make up
mailto:michael-q5aiKMLteq4b1SvskN2V4Q@public.gmane.org                for a gap
in one''s education.
http://www.schuerig.de/michael/                          --Gilbert Ryle