# Scaffold uses link\_to for destroy

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffold-uses-link-to-for-destroy/94746>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [January 8, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffold-uses-link-to-for-destroy/94746 "2006-01-08T19:07:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dracos](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@dracos](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dracos)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffold-uses-link-to-for-destroy/94746/1 "2006-01-08T19:07:43Z")

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Hi,

I wonder why scaffolding uses a link\_to tag for the destroy links.  
Seems like these should be POST requests with button\_to. The Rails  
book dedicates pages 335-337 to this very issue.

Peter

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**Author:** ![dracos](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@dracos](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dracos)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffold-uses-link-to-for-destroy/94746/2 "2006-01-08T19:47:55Z")

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Peter M. wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I wonder why scaffolding uses a link\_to tag for the destroy links.  
> Seems like these should be POST requests with button\_to. The Rails  
> book dedicates pages 335-337 to this very issue.
> 
> Peter

The scaffold is intended to be a quick and dirty implementation to get  
things up and running. The intent is for the user to gradually replace  
scaffold operations with their own (and presumably better) code. In  
development mode

That said, I’m certain a signficant chunk of scaffold code will not be  
replaced in some live applications. It would certainly make sense to  
put in minor fixes like that as an example of good coding practices at  
least.

My guess is that the scaffold hasn’t been updated in quite some time and  
that this is a legacy thing.

FYI, you can make ‘link\_to’ generate post requests instead of get  
requests, so you don’t really need to use ‘button\_to’.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dracos](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@dracos](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dracos)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffold-uses-link-to-for-destroy/94746/3 "2006-01-08T20:23:11Z")

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Kevin:

How do you get link\_to to generate a post request? That would seem  
useful in light of this discussion.

bruce

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dracos](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@dracos](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dracos)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffold-uses-link-to-for-destroy/94746/4 "2006-01-08T21:14:38Z")

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> How do you get link\_to to generate a post request? That would seem  
> useful in light of this discussion.

## link\_to “Destroy”, { :action =\> “destroy” }, :post =\> true

David Heinemeier H.  
[http://www.loudthinking.com](http://www.loudthinking.com) – Broadcasting Brain  
[http://www.basecamphq.com](http://www.basecamphq.com) – Online project management  
[http://www.backpackit.com](http://www.backpackit.com) – Personal information manager  
[http://www.rubyonrails.com](http://www.rubyonrails.com) – Web-application framework

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dracos](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@dracos](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dracos)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scaffold-uses-link-to-for-destroy/94746/5 "2006-01-09T23:55:58Z")

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Bruce

```
> How do you get link_to to generate a post request?

```

An alternative is to replace  
link\_to  
by  
button\_to

=\> Rails creates a form and a button to reach the link target.

Alain