Rails - Jul 2006 - Does text_field go directly to attributes hash in AR object?

All,

I''m having a hell of a time figuring out what is going on here.

I''m trying to override one of my getters so that I can format it a 
certain way in my form.  But I can''t seem to get text_field to call the
appropriate method on my object.

So here''s my getter:

  public
  def FAX
    fax = read_attribute(:FAX)
    puts fax
    sprintf("(%d)%d-%d", fax[0,3], fax[3,3], fax[6,4])
    "crap"
  end

Here''s a snippet of my template:

<TD><%= @current_job.FAX %><%= text_field(:current_job,
''FAX'') %></TD>

Fax: 	crap[text field with numbers in it - the value of the call to 
read_attribute]

So my question is:

QUESTION: Does text_field(:object, :method) call 
object.read_attribute(method) or object.method

If it calls read_attribute, how can I get my facade method to be called 
from the template?

Thanks,
Wes

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This is because the helpers use value_before_type_cast to generate the 
tags, right?

Man, that''s so irritating.  Why is it like this?

So, to verify, in general, any time that I want to override the display 
of one of my attributes, I have to:

1) Choose a new, unique name for another attribute (hereafter called the 
"display attribute") to represent the modified value

2) Create my getter to do what I want

3) Use attr_writer (or attr_accessor) to generate my setter

4) In the setter of the real attribute, access the value of my "display 
attribute" to actually get at what was submitted.

Is that right?

Thanks,
Wes

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

On Jul 13, 2006, at 3:46 PM, Wes Gamble wrote:
> This is because the helpers use value_before_type_cast to generate the
> tags, right?
>
> Man, that''s so irritating.  Why is it like this?
>
> So, to verify, in general, any time that I want to override the  
> display
> of one of my attributes, I have to:
>
> 1) Choose a new, unique name for another attribute (hereafter  
> called the
> "display attribute") to represent the modified value
>
> 2) Create my getter to do what I want
>
> 3) Use attr_writer (or attr_accessor) to generate my setter
>
> 4) In the setter of the real attribute, access the value of my  
> "display
> attribute" to actually get at what was submitted.
>
> Is that right?
>
> Thanks,
> Wes

Wes-

	You could also just use text_field_tag for this. Its a little  
annoying to not get the automated form fills with text_field but you  
can get around it with text_field_tag.

-Ezra

Ezra Zygmuntowicz wrote:
> On Jul 13, 2006, at 3:46 PM, Wes Gamble wrote:
> 
>> called the
>> Is that right?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Wes
> 
> 
> Wes-
> 
> 	You could also just use text_field_tag for this. Its a little
> annoying to not get the automated form fills with text_field but you
> can get around it with text_field_tag.
> 
> -Ezra
Thanks, I see that now.

You can:

1) specify :value => @object.method on the text_field tag
2) use text_field_tag
3) Implement custom display getter/setter pair to front the real 
getter/setter pair.

Do you understand the reasoning behind this - I think it''s so that if a
user types something into a form that is invalid, then when the form 
refreshes (with their errors), they still see what they typed, not some 
modified version of it.

Is that right?  Is this a consequence of setting the attributes on the 
object _before_ validation occurs?  If the value isn''t valid, then it 
probably shouldn''t be set on the object _at all_.

I''m not saying we need JavaBeans/form beans here, I''m just
sayin'' :).

Am I on the right track?

Thanks,
WG

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

Wes Gamble wrote:
> Ezra Zygmuntowicz wrote:
>> On Jul 13, 2006, at 3:46 PM, Wes Gamble wrote:
>> 
>>> called the
>>> Is that right?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Wes
>> 
>> 
>> Wes-
>> 
>> 	You could also just use text_field_tag for this. Its a little
>> annoying to not get the automated form fills with text_field but you
>> can get around it with text_field_tag.
>> 
>> -Ezra
> 
> Thanks, I see that now.
> 
> You can:
> 
> 1) specify :value => @object.method on the text_field tag
> 2) use text_field_tag
> 3) Implement custom display getter/setter pair to front the real 
> getter/setter pair.
> 
> Do you understand the reasoning behind this - I think it''s so that
if a
> user types something into a form that is invalid, then when the form 
> refreshes (with their errors), they still see what they typed, not some 
> modified version of it.
> 
> Is that right?  Is this a consequence of setting the attributes on the 
> object _before_ validation occurs?  If the value isn''t valid, then
it
> probably shouldn''t be set on the object _at all_.
> 
> I''m not saying we need JavaBeans/form beans here, I''m
just sayin'' :).
> 
> Am I on the right track?
> 
> Thanks,
> WG
You know what - this totally sucks.

I have 4 form fields that are actually two database fields that are 
split into two fields each.

So I wrote my 4 getters to split apart the 2 fields so that I could 
display them, but because they aren''t _REAL_ attributes on the AR 
object, they get cleared out on the redisplay.

The validation runs for them, but then they get cleared out.

That is BS.  The validation runs on the view facade methods, but the 
helpers go to the underlying data?  WTF?

What am I not getting?

WG

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