Rails - Dec 2005 - ActionView::Helpers::FormHelper.text_field

Hi,

Is it possible to use the ActionView::Helpers::FormHelper.text_field with an 
instance variable instead of a model. e.g.

In the controller:

def meth
	@value = ''hi there''
end

In view:

<%= text_field ''value'', nil %>


It doesn''t work with what is above (doesn''t like the nil) and
produces very
strange results replacing nil with something like to_s.

An alternative might be to use the 
ActionView::Helpers::FormTagHelper.text_field_tag but then (I assume) that 
you don''t get the error functionality. e.g. highlighting of the field.

Any ideas?

 -- Colin