Multiple Select Dropdown and Array

Rails
1

I was working on this a couple of months back and could not figure out
what I was doing wrong. I came back to it today and wanted to post
again to see if any of you had an idea. Here is the problem.

I have this code:

<%= options_from_collection_for_select(@rflists, "id", "keyword", @selected) %>

The field I am storing is called RepFor in the myrep table. The
options for the dropdown comes from a keyword table that have an id
and name. The options I want have been fed into rflists. This all
works good and displays properly with a multiple select dropdown with
the proper names and values. Here is the html it renders:

Car Insurance Home Insurance Technology Accounting Legal

So if I select Car Insurance, Home Insurance and Technology and submit
it this is what gets written to the DB. Exactly as shown below.

— - “1808” - “1809” - “1810”

When I reopen the form nothing is selected.

Now if I manually set @selected in my code as follows it selects the
items I have forced when I reopen the form:

<% @selected = 1808, 1809, 1810 %>

<%= options_from_collection_for_select(@rflists, “id”, “keyword”,
@selected) %>

My question is what do I need to do to make the select write the data
to the DB the same way I set it in @selected. Is there something that
has to be done in the controller to keep it from being written as
follows:

— - “1808” - “1809” - “1810”

or do I need to do something special when reading it back?

Thanks for your help.

Jim

2

— - “1808” - “1809” - “1810”

what is that ^

a string?
an array?
a hash?

are they going to the db individually or seperatly

hows this after the save in the post code put a missing method in and
post
the controller code as well as the params dump so we have a better idea
what your talking about

3

That is a Var Char in a mysql DB. All the selections sit in one
field, the RepFor field in the table. The code:

<%= options_from_collection_for_select(@rflists, "id", "keyword", @selected) %>

writes that to the RepFor field in the myrep table. There is no
special code in controller. I guess thats my question. What needs to
be in there to write the values seperated by commas so that when I
pull the field back in edit mode the entries are selected on the
form. Alternately what do I need to do to get the multi select as I
have it to work. Its crazy to me that this is not so
straightforward. I must be missing some easy step. Do I need to do
some sort of translation on the controller side? Do I need to store
it in the DB in some other way?

On May 16, 11:29 pm, Keynan P. [email protected]