# Using Array or Hash with Form Select and Elsewhere

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-array-or-hash-with-form-select-and-elsewhere/92726>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [April 23, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-array-or-hash-with-form-select-and-elsewhere/92726 "2007-04-23T15:03:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![asplake](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@asplake](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/asplake)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-array-or-hash-with-form-select-and-elsewhere/92726/1 "2007-04-23T15:03:00Z")

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I’m working on a small project in order to learn Rails. I have a model  
with a status field, which I want to be ‘open’ or ‘closed’ (I may add  
some other options later). I am storing them in the database all  
lowercase (later options might be abbreviated in the DB). To display  
things nicely, I want them to appear as ‘Open’ or ‘Closed’ in the form  
dropdown and tables where the status is displayed. Using an array or  
hash, I can manage to do one or the other, but I’m not sure how to  
accomplish both.

If I use an array:  
STATUSES1=[[‘Open’,‘open’],[‘Closed’,‘closed’]]

That works directly in a form using “select :status,  
Thing::STATUSES1”.

But I don’t know how to lookup the capitalized version in the array  
given the lowercase status value.

If I use a hash:  
STATUSES2={‘open’=\>‘Open’,‘closed’=\>‘Closed’}

It is easy to display the formatted value in pages using:  
\<%= Thing::STATUSES2[thing.status] %\>

I tried to use this hash in the form select, but the value/text is  
backwards: it put ‘Open’ into the value and ‘open’ into the the  
displayed text.

So is it better to use an array or hash for my purposes, and how do I  
manipulate it to accomplish both tasks?

Thanks!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![asplake](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@asplake](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/asplake)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 7:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-array-or-hash-with-form-select-and-elsewhere/92726/2 "2007-04-23T19:34:32Z")

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I came up with a solution. I used the hash and put  
Thing::STATUSES2.invert as the parameter in the form select call. I’m  
still interested to know if I’m doing things the “proper” way.

Thanks,  
Mike.

On Apr 23, 9:01 am, Mike B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: