# Generating select lists from collections

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/generating-select-lists-from-collections/47648>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [November 12, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/generating-select-lists-from-collections/47648 "2005-11-12T12:49:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jemminger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@jemminger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jemminger)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/generating-select-lists-from-collections/47648/1 "2005-11-12T12:49:51Z")

</div>

working through “four days on rails”  
([http://www.rails4days.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Rails4Days.pdf](http://www.rails4days.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Rails4Days.pdf)  
[http://www.rails4days.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Rails4Days.pdf](http://www.rails4days.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Rails4Days.pdf) ), day three  
has  
me building a select list like so

 \<%= options\_from\_collection\_for\_select @categories, "id", "category", @item.category.id %\>

this smells a little funny to me, as I have to make sure to name the  
field  
in the rails convention myself, whereas using “select” or “select\_tag”  
rails  
will do it for me.

so I tried

\<%= select “item”, “category\_id”, (options\_from\_collection\_for\_select  
@categories, “id”, “category”, @item.category.id) %\>

but since options\_from\_collection\_for\_select escapes html, I get a  
botched  
list of options. is there a better existing way to build a select using  
a  
collection, or do I need to roll my own?

thanks,  
jeff

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jemminger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@jemminger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jemminger)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 5:56am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/generating-select-lists-from-collections/47648/2 "2005-12-28T05:56:23Z")

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jemminger wrote:

> working through “four days on rails”  
> ([http://www.rails4days.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Rails4Days.pdf](http://www.rails4days.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Rails4Days.pdf)  
> [http://www.rails4days.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Rails4Days.pdf](http://www.rails4days.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Rails4Days.pdf) ), day three  
> has  
> me building a select list like so
> 
> \<%= options\_from\_collection\_for\_select @categories, "id", "category", @item.category.id %\>
> 
> this smells a little funny to me, as I have to make sure to name the  
> field  
> in the rails convention myself, whereas using “select” or “select\_tag”  
> rails  
> will do it for me.
> 
> so I tried
> 
> \<%= select “item”, “category\_id”, (options\_from\_collection\_for\_select  
> @categories, “id”, “category”, @item.category.id) %\>
> 
> but since options\_from\_collection\_for\_select escapes html, I get a  
> botched  
> list of options. is there a better existing way to build a select using  
> a  
> collection, or do I need to roll my own?

Did you (or anyone else) ever figure this out? I am mostly concerned  
with the escaping issue. I have an item called “Before & After” that  
shows up like this:

Before & After I'd like it to show up like this: Before & After If that doesn't break things.

Or, is there a routine that renders html entities that I can call in the  
controller? Some method such that:  
“&”.x gives “&”?

Sure, I could write one, but there are a lot of HTML entities out there  
and I don’t want to miss one, or reinvent the wheel.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jemminger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@jemminger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jemminger)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/generating-select-lists-from-collections/47648/3 "2005-12-28T06:15:13Z")

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Dan T. wrote:

> Did you (or anyone else) ever figure this out? I am mostly concerned  
> with the escaping issue. I have an item called “Before & After” that  
> shows up like this:
> 
> Before & After I'd like it to show up like this: Before & After

Actually, I got that backwards,  
I want it to show up as:

Before & After

And I got it to work by changing this line:  
\<%= options\_for\_select n%\>

to this:

\<%= h n %\>

Duh.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jemminger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@jemminger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jemminger)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/generating-select-lists-from-collections/47648/4 "2006-05-17T19:27:39Z")

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jemminger wrote:

> working through “four days on rails”  
> ([http://www.rails4days.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Rails4Days.pdf](http://www.rails4days.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Rails4Days.pdf)  
> [http://www.rails4days.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Rails4Days.pdf](http://www.rails4days.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Rails4Days.pdf) ), day three  
> has  
> me building a select list like so

Mine looks like:

**Category:** \<%= options\_from\_collection\_for\_select @categories, "id", "category", @item.category\_id %\> 

but I get an error:

NoMethodError in Items#create

Showing app/views/items/\_form.rhtml where line #13 raised:

You have a nil object when you didn’t expect it!  
You might have expected an instance of Array.  
The error occured while evaluating nil.inject

Extracted source (around line #13):

10:   
11: **Category:**   
12:   
13: \<%= options\_from\_collection\_for\_select @categories, “id”,  
“category”, @item.category\_id %\>  
14:   
15:   
16:

As far as I can tell it’s correct. I’m pulling out my hair… any help?