Rails - Jun 2006 - Soliciting suggestions - Form within a Form

Greetings!

I could use some suggestions on how to proceed from where I am to where I want
to go.

I''m working on an app that collects info from the visitor and saves it
to a file.  The file can later be read in for update.  To collect the info, the
app presents a form with a set of checkboxes.  The state of the checkboxes at
initial presentation is controlled by a summary record that is created /
populated when the file is read in for updating.  The record contains fields for
each of the checkboxes with the value = ''y'' or
''n''.  In addition to a set of ''standard''
selections, the form also has a checkbox labeled ''Other''.

Currently, when the form is submitted, individual records are created for each
checked checkbox for the standard selections.  If the ''Other''
checkbox is checked, after records are created for the
''standard'' items, I render a second page with a form that
allows them to enter one or more other items.  Individual records for those
items are created via RJS as the items are entered.

I''d like to allow the addition of the ''Other'' items
on the same page as the standard checkbox selections.  If the visitor checks the
''Other'' checkbox, I want to replace the checkbox with the
partial that''s currently being rendered on the second page.  I can do
that by putting the ''Other'' checkbox in a <div> and
doing an RJS ''replace_html''.

Unfortunately RoR doesn''t support forms within forms.  Clicking the
''Submit'' button on the sub-form submits the entire form.  So
that doesn''t work for me.

I''m considering eliminating the top level form and just using a
''button_to'' to pass the entered info from the view back to the
controller.
Pro: The ''Other'' form processing works fine
Con: Since they''re not contained within a form anymore, the checkboxes
aren''t serialized and passed to the controller via the params hash.

I believe I can use ''checkbox_tag'' instead of
''checkbox'' to get the values back to the controller, but that
leaves me with the chore of initializing them for presentation from the values
in the summary record.  Overall, this path feels non-Railish.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
http://wrath.rubyonrails.org/pipermail/rails/attachments/20060620/121e680c/attachment.html

Bill Walton wrote:
> I''m considering eliminating the top level form and just using a 
> ''button_to'' to pass the entered info from the view back
to the controller.
> Pro: The ''Other'' form processing works fine
> Con: Since they''re not contained within a form anymore, the
checkboxes
> aren''t serialized and passed to the controller via the params
hash.
The Rails AJAX helpers have a :submit options that will serialize
all named inputs within a specified block tag.  No form tags required.

-- 
We develop, watch us RoR, in numbers too big to ignore.