Rails - Jul 2006 - Displaying HTML pulled directly from a database

How can I get RoR to display html pulled directly from a database, 
without converting the tags.  (e.g. if "<h1>Hello</h1>" is
stored (as
text) in a database, how can I get RoR NOT to corvert it to 
"&lt;h1&gt;Hello</h1>", but instead to just pass the
tags along so that
"Hello" displays in bold.

I''m sure it''s just a simple method call, but I''ve
been poking around and
I can''t find anything.

Thanks,

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

As far as I know, there shouldn''t be any problem doing this; Rails 
should do it by default.  Unless you are calling h(text) before saving 
to the database or in your view, characters like < or > should not be 
converted to HTML entities.

The question is, where did this HTML in your database come from?  A text 
area in one of the forms in your app, or somewhere else?  If it was 
saved directly from a text area, you shouldn''t be having a problem...

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

So far I''ve been manually entering the html (for testing purposes) 
through the text areas on the scaffold-generated forms.   So, I take it 
this shouldn''t be a problem.

But you raise a good point.  It hadn''t occured to me that actual data
in
the db might have the html entities instead of the desired
''<''
characters.  Is there  an  easy way for me to check what''s actually in 
the db?

Eleo wrote:
> As far as I know, there shouldn''t be any problem doing this; Rails
> should do it by default.  Unless you are calling h(text) before saving 
> to the database or in your view, characters like < or > should not be
> converted to HTML entities.
> 
> The question is, where did this HTML in your database come from?  A text 
> area in one of the forms in your app, or somewhere else?  If it was 
> saved directly from a text area, you shouldn''t be having a
problem...

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

On 7/18/06, Alex Auritt <alexauritt@gmail.com>
wrote:
> So far I''ve been manually entering the html (for testing purposes)
> through the text areas on the scaffold-generated forms.   So, I take it
> this shouldn''t be a problem.
>
> But you raise a good point.  It hadn''t occured to me that actual
data in
> the db might have the html entities instead of the desired
''<''
> characters.  Is there  an  easy way for me to check what''s
actually in
> the db?
Most every database has a client program, or there are dozens of
different thrid-party options available.  Check your database
documentation.

I check the data in the db (using the data browser on MySQL-front) and 
it looks fine -- no html entities.

But still, the data is being converted: the final html file generated 
from the db, through the views, etc., contains the entities and not the 
plain html that I want to display.

???


Alex Auritt wrote:
> So far I''ve been manually entering the html (for testing purposes)
> through the text areas on the scaffold-generated forms.   So, I take it 
> this shouldn''t be a problem.
> 
> But you raise a good point.  It hadn''t occured to me that actual
data in
> the db might have the html entities instead of the desired
''<''
> characters.  Is there  an  easy way for me to check what''s
actually in
> the db?
> 
> Eleo wrote:
>> As far as I know, there shouldn''t be any problem doing this;
Rails
>> should do it by default.  Unless you are calling h(text) before saving 
>> to the database or in your view, characters like < or > should
not be
>> converted to HTML entities.
>> 
>> The question is, where did this HTML in your database come from?  A
text
>> area in one of the forms in your app, or somewhere else?  If it was 
>> saved directly from a text area, you shouldn''t be having a
problem...

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

How exactly are you rendering it?

On 7/18/06, Alex Auritt <alexauritt@gmail.com>
wrote:
> I check the data in the db (using the data browser on MySQL-front) and
> it looks fine -- no html entities.
>
> But still, the data is being converted: the final html file generated
> from the db, through the views, etc., contains the entities and not the
> plain html that I want to display.
We''re probably going to need to see some code .

The data looks solid: no html entities.
???

James Ludlow wrote:
> On 7/18/06, Alex Auritt <alexauritt@gmail.com> wrote:
>> So far I''ve been manually entering the html (for testing
purposes)
>> through the text areas on the scaffold-generated forms.   So, I take it
>> this shouldn''t be a problem.
>>
>> But you raise a good point.  It hadn''t occured to me that
actual data in
>> the db might have the html entities instead of the desired
''<''
>> characters.  Is there  an  easy way for me to check what''s
actually in
>> the db?
> 
> Most every database has a client program, or there are dozens of
> different thrid-party options available.  Check your database
> documentation.

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

Uh-oh.  I don''t know that I''m rendering at all.  For these
tests, I''ve
just been using the scaffold-generated code.  I''ve made two small 
modifications, which I can''t imagine would effect this.

1) I''ve tried to set the MIME-type as application/xhtml+xml
(in application.rb, I''ve added:

  after_filter :set_charset

  def set_charset
    @headers["Content-Type"] ||= "application/xhtml+xml; 
charset=iso-8859-1"
  end

)

2) I''ve added some extra junk to the layout view, including some
MathML,
which displays fine.

--

Anyway, the (predictable) code,

controller:
class ProblemsController < ApplicationController
  def index
    list
    render :action => ''list''
  end

view:
<% for problem in @problems %>
  <tr>
  <% for column in Problem.content_columns %>
    <td><%=h problem.send(column.name) %></td>
  <% end %>
    <td><%= link_to ''Show'', :action =>
''show'', :id => problem %></td>
    <td><%= link_to ''Edit'', :action =>
''edit'', :id => problem %></td>
    <td><%= link_to ''Destroy'', { :action =>
''destroy'', :id => problem },
:confirm => ''Are you sure?'', :post => true
%></td>
  </tr>
<% end %>

--

James Ludlow wrote:
> On 7/18/06, Alex Auritt <alexauritt@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I check the data in the db (using the data browser on MySQL-front) and
>> it looks fine -- no html entities.
>>
>> But still, the data is being converted: the final html file generated
>> from the db, through the views, etc., contains the entities and not the
>> plain html that I want to display.
> 
> We''re probably going to need to see some code .

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

On 7/18/06, Alex Auritt <alexauritt@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Uh-oh.  I don''t know that I''m rendering at all.  For
these tests, I''ve
> just been using the scaffold-generated code.  I''ve made two small
> modifications, which I can''t imagine would effect this.
Eleo already predicted this in his first reply to your question.
You''re calling h(), which is doing exactly what you''re seeing
to your
HTML.
>     <td><%=h problem.send(column.name) %></td>
^^^^


-- James