Having some trouble with loop in a form

Rails
1

Hello,

I’m clearly missing some bit of code, but I can’t figure out what.
There are three models: Invoice, Lineitems and items. I want the user
to search a list of items, and then add them to the lineitems table.
The seach works, an provides a list on this form:

<% form_for :lineitems, :url => {:action => ‘create’, :id=>
@invoice.id} do |f|-%>

<% @items.each do |item| %>

<tr>
  <td><%=item.itemname %></td> <%=

f.hidden_field :item_id, :value=>item.id %>


  <td><%= f.submit 'Add Item' %> </td>
</tr>
  <% end %>

When you click ‘Add Item’, it submits for that last item on the list,
not the corresponding item.

Controller code for create is:
@invoice = Invoice.find(params[:id])

@lineitems = @invoice.lineitems.new(params[:lineitems])

<%= f.text_field :quantity %> <%= f.text_field :price, :value => item.sellprice %>
2

On Sep 6, 6:06 am, maximulus [email protected] wrote:

  <% end %>

When you click ‘Add Item’, it submits for that last item on the list,
not the corresponding item.

Well you’ve only got one form, so when you hit submit all of the
item_id, quantity and price parameters are submitted and in this case
when faced with a repeated parameter rails picks the last one. The
browser doesn’t know that because you’ve hit the submit button for one
row you only want to submit those fields that are close to it.

Fred

3

2009/9/6 maximulus [email protected]:

@invoice.id} do |f|-%>
Â

  <% @items.each do |item| %>

 Â


   <%=
f.hidden_field :item_id, :value=>item.id %>

Probably nothing to do with your problem but I believe that input
fields (hidden or not) are not allowed between td elements. To check,
view the source of the page in the browser and cut and paste the whole
thing into the html validation service at
The W3C Markup Validation Service. It may work ok as you
have it in one browser but not another. I imagine you can put it
inside the cell.

Colin

<%=item.itemname %>
4

Hello,

Thanks for all the replies. I’ve used this format before in .Net using
a datagrid, but I’m tring to apply it to RoR. Fred, if the issue is
repeated parameter in a single form, am I best off attempting to add
‘fields_for’ to the form, or is there a way to make every row iterate
on multiple forms, like placing @item.each do outside the form (I
would assume this would not work.)
Thanks Colin, once I get a functional page, I’ll validate it.

max

5

On Sun, Sep 6, 2009 at 7:50 AM, maximulus[email protected] wrote:

Thanks Colin, once I get a functional page, I’ll validate it.

Creating valid markup, as well as valid code, is how you get to a
“functional page” – it’s not an afterthought.

–
Hassan S. ------------------------ [email protected]
twitter: @hassan

6

On Sun, Sep 6, 2009 at 10:18 AM, Colin L.[email protected]
wrote:

Creating valid markup, as well as valid code, is how you get to a
“functional page” – it’s not an afterthought.

Are you saying you do not check that it is valid afterwards?

“After” what?

Validation, just like running unit tests, needs to be done throughout
development, as part of each iteration/refactoring.

–
Hassan S. ------------------------ [email protected]
twitter: @hassan

7

2009/9/6 Hassan S. [email protected]:

On Sun, Sep 6, 2009 at 7:50 AM, maximulus[email protected] wrote:

Thanks Colin, once I get a functional page, I’ll validate it.

Creating valid markup, as well as valid code, is how you get to a
“functional page” – it’s not an afterthought.

Are you saying you do not check that it is valid afterwards? A page
can appear to be functional even with invalid markup so I always check
mine after it appears to work just in case I have made a mistake.

Colin

8

Again, thanks for the replies.
I never said I don’t do it. But my issue doesn’t work with any browser
at
the moment, and even if I eliminate all the td elements (or the entire
table), the same problem persists. The problem is in the ruby code, not
the
markup html yet, which is why I elect to do it after I have the ruby
working.
if I take out the html for the table and submit the code for the view
like
this:

<% form_for :lineitems, :url => {:action => ‘create’, :id=>
@invoice.id} do
|f|-%>

<% @items.each do |item| %>

<%=item.itemname %> <%= f.hidden_field :item_id, :value=>item.id %>
<%= f.text_field :quantitydelivered %>
<%= f.text_field :price, :value => item.sellprice %>

<%= f.submit 'Add Item' %>
  <% end %>

<% end %>

I still get the same issue as the original inquiry. As for how to get a
button to submit a line data, I’m still waiting for anyone who has an
idea,
direction of where I’ve gone wrong or even source code I could take a
look
at.

9

2009/9/6 Hassan S. [email protected]:

On Sun, Sep 6, 2009 at 10:18 AM, Colin L.[email protected] wrote:

Creating valid markup, as well as valid code, is how you get to a
“functional page” – it’s not an afterthought.

Are you saying you do not check that it is valid afterwards?

“After” what?

After it appears to be functional.

Validation, just like running unit tests, needs to be done throughout
development, as part of each iteration/refactoring.

Obviously, each time it is modified and appears to be functional again
then re-validate. There is no point validating it before it is
functional (unless not sure why it is not functional of course in
which case validating it is useful).

Colin

10

On Sun, Sep 6, 2009 at 10:48 AM, Colin L.[email protected]
wrote:

… There is no point validating it before it is
functional (unless not sure why it is not functional of course in
which case validating it is useful).

Exactly my point. It is totally possible for invalid markup,
particularly
involving forms (as well as JavaScript), to prevent the page from
being “functional”.

Ignoring a failing validation is just like ignoring a failing unit test.
You
should fix it now and move on.

And apologies to the OP for the thread semi-hijack :slight_smile:

–
Hassan S. ------------------------ [email protected]
twitter: @hassan

11

Apology accepted, but ultimately didn’t this become an issue of ‘my
coding process is better than your coding process’?

Anyway, playing around with it, I got it to work, so in the hope that
months from now, someone will come across the same issue, here is the
working answer. It was simple, and for some reason I thought I had
tried it already and clearly hadn’t, but you actually do seperate each
iteration into a seperate form.

<% @items.each do |item| %>
<% form_for :lineitems, :url => {:action => ‘create’, :id=>
@invoice.id} do |f|-%>

<%=item.itemname %> <%= f.hidden_field :item_id, :value=>item.id %>
<%= f.text_field :quantity %>
<%= f.text_field :price, :value => item.sellprice %>

<%= f.submit 'Add Item' %> <br/>
  <% end %>

<% end %>

Does what I need it to do, though if this can be done as one form, I’d
be interested to see the code :slight_smile:

On Sep 6, 1:58 pm, Hassan S. [email protected]

12

I guess you should not use f.submit for “Add item”, instead you should
use a
link and a corresponding action which will add an item and render
lineitem
form again.

Thanks,
Abhinav

अभिनव
http://twitter.com/abhinav

13

2009/9/6 Hassan S. [email protected]:

Ignoring a failing validation is just like ignoring a failing unit test. You
should fix it now and move on.

I never suggested anything else.
I don’t know why we are having this discussion really, I pretty much
agree with everything you have said.

Colin

14

maximulus wrote:

Apology accepted, but ultimately didn’t this become an issue of ‘my
coding process is better than your coding process’?

Perhaps it did. And why not? Some coding processes are better than
others.

Best,

Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
[email protected]

15

Your submit button is within the @items.each loop, hence I see that for
each
row there is an ‘Add Item’ button.There should be only 1 submit button
in
the end (if you want to submit the entire form)

Thanks & Regards,
Dhruva S…

Joan
Crawfordhttp://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/joan_crawford.html

  • “I, Joan Crawford, I believe in the dollar. Everything I earn, I
    spend.”