HTML table visual effect

Rails
1

Hello,

I have an HTML table with several rows. I want to change the row color
when the user clicks it. This is quite simple to do with plain
javascript, but I want to use rails. Is there any helper or something
that performs this task for me?

Thanks for your time.

2

On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 6:26 AM, Eduardo B.
[email protected] wrote:

I have an HTML table with several rows. I want to change the row color
when the user clicks it. This is quite simple to do with plain
javascript, but I want to use rails.

You realize this is a client-side interaction, which means Javascript
no matter how it’s packaged? :slight_smile:

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

3

Hassan S. wrote:

On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 6:26 AM, Eduardo B.
[email protected] wrote:

You realize this is a client-side interaction, which means Javascript
no matter how it’s packaged? :slight_smile:

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

Yes, but like server-side code, javascript must be propper coded, and
explicit onclick event declaration is wrong.

4

On Oct 19, 5:26 am, Eduardo B. [email protected]
wrote:

I have an HTMLtablewith several rows. I want to change therowcolor
when the user clicks it. This is quite simple to do with plain
javascript, but I want to use rails. Is there any helper or something
that performs this task for me?

You might try leveraging the scriptaculous visual effects library for
this:

http://wiki.github.com/madrobby/scriptaculous/effects

5

On 20 Oct 2009, at 13:09, Eduardo B. wrote:

You realize this is a client-side interaction, which means Javascript
no matter how it’s packaged? :slight_smile:

Yes, but like server-side code, javascript must be propper coded, and
explicit onclick event declaration is wrong.

It’s not wrong, it just looks ugly and can be very verbose if you put
it on every single row, so a more generic approach is preferrable to
say the least.

You have a couple of options:

  • Either go completely event delegated, mixing in a library
    specifically designed for this like NWEvents can greatly benefit your
    application, we use it for everything in our apps and has greatly
    improved performance, works seamlessly even when replacing or adding
    new parts to the page that have to exhibit similar behavior and
    reduced code clutter. It’s a bit like jQuery’s live function, and it
    supports non bubbling events too, like focus and blur on form elements
    and form submission
  • Or you can put the click event observer on the table itself. If you
    add new tables that need highlighting via ajax, you’ll have to attach
    a new observer to that one too, as well as clean up observers before
    destroying elements on the page.

In both cases, inspect the event.target (what element was actually
clicked), then go .up(‘tr’) and put the highlight class on the row. If
that needs to be saved in the model, just fire an Ajax.Request from
your javascript highlight method.

The simple fact of the matter is that you’ll have to write custom
javascript and not rely on Rails’ built-in helpers to get a performant
and clean solution.

Best regards

Peter De Berdt