Rails - Apr 2006 - Quick question about <% link_to something, :action => ...

Hi,
I have a basic question. when i use

<% link_to show_city,
:action => ''my defined action''
:id     => ''something'' %>

//what is ID here? is this the parameter in my mysql db?

basically

how can i put a parameter into the link that when it hits my function,
it can tell my function what to use as a condition to search. for
example i have a table of cities that i want to all list as links. when
the user clicks the link of a city, i want to generate a new page with
all information related to the city link the person pressed.

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bbqInKoloa wrote:
> Hi,
> I have a basic question. when i use
> 
> <% link_to show_city,
> :action => ''my defined action''
> :id     => ''something'' %>
> 
> //what is ID here? is this the parameter in my mysql db?
It''s a parameter that will be sent to the linked page, and can be 
accesed with: params[:id] in ''my defined action.''

You can make up your own, for example:

<% link_to ''Show'', :action => ''show'',
:id => ''something'', :type =>
''city'' %>

and you could access the string ''city'' with params[:type].
> basically
> 
> how can i put a parameter into the link that when it hits my function,
> it can tell my function what to use as a condition to search. for
> example i have a table of cities that i want to all list as links. when
> the user clicks the link of a city, i want to generate a new page with
> all information related to the city link the person pressed.
Assuming your table looks something like this:

<table>
<% for city in Cities.find_all %>
   <td><% link_to city.name, :action =>
''show_city'', :id => city %></td>
<% end %>

This will create a table of links, which will be named according to 
their city, and will link to the action "show_city" in your
controller.
In your controller code you''ll put a line something like this:

def show_city
   @city = Cities.find(params[:id])
   ...
end

and in your file "show_city.rhtml", you''ll put stuff like:

<td>@city.name</td>
<td>@city.state</td>

Hope that helps.

-Adam

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

Oh, I should mention that if it does in fact say:

id => ''something''

the string ''something'' is what will be accessed by

params[:id]

In my cases, id will be an item from your database.

-Adam

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

hey adam, thanks so much for the response! appreciate the help.


Adam Bloom wrote:
> Oh, I should mention that if it does in fact say:
> 
> id => ''something''
> 
> the string ''something'' is what will be accessed by
> 
> params[:id]
> 
> In my cases, id will be an item from your database.
> 
> -Adam

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