Rails - Aug 2006 - Select Box Question

Hi,

Yet another newbie here... I''m writing an appliction in Rails, and
I''ve
Ajaxified my select boxes so they update dynamically.  I used the 
"observe_field" method to monitor changes to my select box.  I find
that
it''s kind of erratic... it updates constantly and makes the selection 
for me, based on where my mouse happens to be hovering when it does its 
observation.  Not very user friendly.  I''d much rather the onChange 
event, but I''m not sure exactly how to write the syntax for using the 
event.

Here''s my code as it is now:

  <select id="product[proddesc_pk]"
name="product[proddesc_pk]">
    <%= options_from_collection_for_select(
        Product.find_all, "proddesc_pk", "prod_name"
        ) %>
  </select></p>
  <%= observe_field("product[proddesc_pk]",
      :frequency =>0.25,
      :update => "component_id_list",
      :url => { :action => :fill_component_box},
      :with => "''id=''+value")
  %>

How would I go about changing that code so that it updates based on an 
onChange event, rather than the observation?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
~ Shanan

-- 
Shanan Suding | shanan.suding@sun.com | (602) 357-4327 (x51609)
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On Aug 7, 2006, at 11:12 AM, Shanan Suding wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Yet another newbie here... I''m writing an appliction in Rails, and
> I''ve Ajaxified my select boxes so they update dynamically.  I used
> the "observe_field" method to monitor changes to my select box. 
I
> find that it''s kind of erratic... it updates constantly and makes
> the selection for me, based on where my mouse happens to be  
> hovering when it does its observation.  Not very user friendly.   
> I''d much rather the onChange event, but I''m not sure
exactly how to
> write the syntax for using the event.
>
> Here''s my code as it is now:
>
>  <select id="product[proddesc_pk]"
name="product[proddesc_pk]">
>    <%= options_from_collection_for_select(
>        Product.find_all, "proddesc_pk", "prod_name"
>        ) %>
>  </select></p>
>  <%= observe_field("product[proddesc_pk]",
>      :frequency =>0.25,
>      :update => "component_id_list",
>      :url => { :action => :fill_component_box},
>      :with => "''id=''+value")
>  %>
>
> How would I go about changing that code so that it updates based on  
> an onChange event, rather than the observation?
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated!
>
> Thanks,
> ~ Shanan
>
>

Here is how you can use the onchange event which is much nicer to  
work with:

				  <%= select_tag( ''product[proddesc_pk]'',
				                    options_from_collection_for_select(
                                                        
Product.find_all, "proddesc_pk", "prod_name") ,
				                   :onchange => remote_function(:with =>
				                   "''proddesc_pk =''+value",
					           :loading =>
"Element.show(''loading-indicator1'')",
			                           :url => { :action => :  
fill_component_box } ) %>


Doing it that way will put the value in params[: proddesc_pk] for  
you . You can then respond with rjs to fill whatever you need to fill.

Cheers-
-EZra

Shanan Suding wrote:
>  <select id="product[proddesc_pk]"
name="product[proddesc_pk]">
>    <%= options_from_collection_for_select(
>        Product.find_all, "proddesc_pk", "prod_name"
>        ) %>
>  </select></p>
>  <%= observe_field("product[proddesc_pk]",
>      :frequency =>0.25,
>      :update => "component_id_list",
>      :url => { :action => :fill_component_box},
>      :with => "''id=''+value")
>  %>
> 
> How would I go about changing that code so that it updates based on an 
> onChange event, rather than the observation?
Just get rid of the :frequency parameter.

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