# Displaying form errors and keeping a simple URL **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [April 2, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/displaying-form-errors-and-keeping-a-simple-url/164597 "2009-04-02T23:31:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bigdaddy71)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/displaying-form-errors-and-keeping-a-simple-url/164597/1 "2009-04-02T23:31:07Z")
Hi - I’m using Authlogic for user authentication, and I’m trying to set up the login screen (I’m having the same problem with the registration and other forms, though, but logging in is a nice simple example). My problem is that the login screen can be accessed through [example.com/login](http://example.com/login) just as I’d like it to be, but when there’s a problem with the form input, the url changes to [example.com/user\_session](http://example.com/user_session), which I really don’t like. If I change the “render :new” in the controller to “redirect\_to login\_path” then I’m sent to the correct url, but the rails-generated errors don’t appear, and the information that had been entered is wiped out, so I don’t want to do that. I’m using a named url for the login screen: map.login ‘/login’, :controller =\> ‘user\_sessions’, :action =\> ‘new’ map.resource :user\_session My controller looks like: def new @user\_session = UserSession.new end def create @user\_session = UserSession.new(params[:user\_session]) if @user\_session.save flash[:notice] = “You are now logged in” redirect\_back\_or\_default account\_path else render :new end end And a simple view, for now: \<% form\_for @user\_session, :url =\> user\_session\_path do |f| %\> \<%= f.error\_messages %\> \<%= f.label :email %\> \<%= f.text\_field :email %\> \<%= f.label :password %\> - \<%= link\_to “Forgot Your Password?”, password\_reset\_path %\> \<%= f.password\_field :password %\> \<%= f.check\_box :remember\_me %\>\<%= f.label :remember\_me %\> \<%= f.submit “Login” %\> \<% end %\> There must be a simple solution to this - I’m just learning rails, but even so I feel like I’m missing something totally obvious. Can anyone make a suggestion? ---
**Author:** ![bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bigdaddy71)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 7:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/displaying-form-errors-and-keeping-a-simple-url/164597/2 "2009-04-04T07:51:23Z")
Nothing? Really? Please? ---
**Author:** ![bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bigdaddy71)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/displaying-form-errors-and-keeping-a-simple-url/164597/3 "2009-04-04T20:13:40Z")
Hi Chris, On Thu, 2009-04-02 at 23:31 +0200, Chris H. wrote: > Hi - > > My problem is that the login screen can be accessed through > [example.com/login](http://example.com/login) just as I’d like it to be, but when there’s a problem > with the form input, the url changes to [example.com/user\_session](http://example.com/user_session), which > I really don’t like. If I change the “render :new” in the controller to > “redirect\_to login\_path” then I’m sent to the correct url, but the > rails-generated errors don’t appear, and the information that had been > entered is wiped out, so I don’t want to do that. I’m not sure about the latest versions of RESTful routing but it used to be easy enough to pass the params hash along to the redirected\_to method. redirect\_to :action =\> ‘redirected\_to\_method’, :form\_data =\> params[:form\_data] As a first cut I’d try: redirect\_to login\_path, :form\_data =\> params[:form\_data] Not sure about the error messages. HTH, Bill ---
**Author:** ![bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bigdaddy71)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 8:44am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/displaying-form-errors-and-keeping-a-simple-url/164597/4 "2009-04-05T08:44:37Z")
Thanks, Bill. I actually stumbled across another technique, which I adapted from some code I found in Lovd By Less ([http://lovdbyless.com](http://lovdbyless.com)) Here’s how it works for the new user form: Routes: map.connect ‘/join’, :controller =\> ‘users’, :action =\> ‘new’ Form tag: \<% form\_for @user, :url =\> ‘/join’, :method =\> :post do |f| %\> Controller def new @user = User.new(params[:user]) return unless request.post? if @user.save flash[:notice] = “Account registered!” redirect\_back\_or\_default account\_url else render :action =\> :new end end I’ve only played with it a little bit so far, but it seems to do everything I need, in less code than the scaffolding I was working with, and I haven’t found a downside yet. I kind of like it. bill walton wrote: > Hi Chris, > > On Thu, 2009-04-02 at 23:31 +0200, Chris H. wrote: > > > Hi - > > > > My problem is that the login screen can be accessed through > > [example.com/login](http://example.com/login) just as I’d like it to be, but when there’s a problem > > with the form input, the url changes to [example.com/user\_session](http://example.com/user_session), which > > I really don’t like. If I change the “render :new” in the controller to > > “redirect\_to login\_path” then I’m sent to the correct url, but the > > rails-generated errors don’t appear, and the information that had been > > entered is wiped out, so I don’t want to do that. > > I’m not sure about the latest versions of RESTful routing but it used to > be easy enough to pass the params hash along to the redirected\_to > method. > > redirect\_to :action =\> ‘redirected\_to\_method’, :form\_data =\> > params[:form\_data] > > As a first cut I’d try: > redirect\_to login\_path, :form\_data =\> params[:form\_data] > > Not sure about the error messages. > > HTH, > Bill