I am doing the recipe/category example, but with a has_many_and_belongs_to relationship. To select categories for a recipe, I have a select control. When editing, I want the proper categories selected. In order to get it to work, I put this in my _form.rhtml: <select id="recipe_categories" name="recipe[category_ids][]" size="4" multiple> <%= options_from_collection_for_select( @categories, ''id'', ''name'', @recipe.categories.map{|t| t.id}) %> </select> Is this the best way to do this? ~S