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**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [October 11, 2008, 6:43am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/conditionally-assigning-html-id-to-link-to-tabbed-interface/150673 "2008-10-11T06:43:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1
**Author:**  [@vinay](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/vinay)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 6:43am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/conditionally-assigning-html-id-to-link-to-tabbed-interface/150673/1 "2008-10-11T06:43:39Z")
Hi all,
I am looking to implement a tabbed interface. The tabs are mere
link\_to links in the template. All i need to do is, check if a
particular tab has been selected and if it has been selected, set
the :id attribute to ‘current’. The css code will take care of the
rest. I know the css works because when i explicitly set the :id =\>
'current without any conditions, it shows in the browser.
I have however tried many variations and all are throwing me syntax
errors. Hope someone can give me the right syntax for this or at least
show a better way of implementing this.
\<%= link\_to ‘Companies’, companies\_path(), :id=\>“current” unless
controller.controller\_name != ‘Companies’ %\>
\<%= link\_to ‘Companies’, companies\_path(), if
controller.controller\_name == ‘Companies’ :id=\>“current” end%\>
\<%= link\_to ‘Companies’, companies\_path(), if
controller.controller\_name != ‘Companies’ :id=\>“current” %\>
\<%= link\_to ‘Companies’, companies\_path(), if current\_page?
(:controller=\> ‘Companies’) :id=\>“current” end%\>
I have seen the rails widget s plugin for tabbed interface and it just
seems as too much code for something so simple.
---
**Author:**  [@vinay](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/vinay)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 7:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/conditionally-assigning-html-id-to-link-to-tabbed-interface/150673/2 "2008-10-11T07:21:40Z")
Vinay wrote:
> seems as too much code for something so simple.
> Creating your own tab link helper ought to ease things up:
def tab\_link\_to(name, options = {}, html\_options = {})
html\_options.merge!({ :id =\> ‘current’ }) if current\_page?(options)
link\_to name, options, html\_options
end
Which you could then use in your view:
\<% tab\_link\_to ‘Companies’, companies\_path %\>
---
**Author:**  [@vinay](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/vinay)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 11:05am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/conditionally-assigning-html-id-to-link-to-tabbed-interface/150673/3 "2008-10-11T11:05:39Z")
@Erol,
Thank you so much! I have been letting this bug me for a couple of
days now and to see your simple solution working is an amazing pick-me-
up! 🙂
I think its the simplest tabbed interface code one could hope for.
---
**Author:**  [@vinay](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/vinay)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/conditionally-assigning-html-id-to-link-to-tabbed-interface/150673/4 "2008-10-11T16:42:20Z")
You might also want to look at link\_to\_unless\_current (and perhaps its
source code) to see how you might change your helper (or abandon it
altogether in some cases).
-Rob
---
**Author:**  [@vinay](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/vinay)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/conditionally-assigning-html-id-to-link-to-tabbed-interface/150673/5 "2008-10-12T00:44:15Z")
check this out:
[http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/Tabnav](http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/Tabnav)
---
**Author:**  [@vinay](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/vinay)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 6:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/conditionally-assigning-html-id-to-link-to-tabbed-interface/150673/6 "2008-10-11T18:49:24Z")
Thank you Rob.
I actually DID come across these helpers when i was searching around
for solutions. These though provide the link conditionally. If the
condition is not satisfied, the link itself does not exist, it only
renders text. But i need all the links to exist. And only the CSS id
to change conditionally. For which the code above worked like a charm.
Thanks again for your input!
On Oct 11, 7:41 pm, Rob B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)