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lib | ||
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Gemfile | ||
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README.markdown | ||
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cocoon.gemspec |
README.markdown
formtastic-cocoon
Formtastic-cocoon is a Rails3 gem, extending formtastic, to allow easier handling of nested forms.
Nested forms are forms that handle nested models and attributes in one form. For example a project with its tasks, an invoice with its ordered items.
Prerequisites
As this gem extends formtastic and uses jQuery, it is only useful to use this gem in a rails3 project where you are already using formtastic and jQuery.
I have a sample project where I demonstrate both.
Installation
Inside your Gemfile
add the following:
gem "formtastic_cocoon"
Run the installation task:
rails g formtastic_cocoon:install
This will install the needed javascript file.
Inside your application.html.haml
you will need to add below the default javascripts:
= javascript_include_tag :formtastic_cocoon
or using erb, you write
<%= javascript_include_tag :formtastic_cocoon %>
That is all you need to do to start using it!
Usage
Suppose you have a model Project
:
rails g scaffold Project name:string description:string
and a project has many tasks
:
rails g model Task description:string done:boolean project_id:integer
Edit the models to code the relation:
class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :tasks
accepts_nested_attributes_for :tasks
end
class Task < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :project
end
What we want to achieve is to get a form where we can add and remove the tasks dynamically.
What we need for this, is that the fields for a new/existing task
are defined in a partial
view called _task_fields.html
.
Inside our projects/_form
partial we then write:
- f.inputs do
= f.input :name
= f.input :description
%h3 Tasks
#tasks
= f.semantic_fields_for :tasks do |task|
= render 'task_fields', :f => task
.links
= link_to_add_association 'add task', f, :tasks
-f.buttons do
= f.submit 'Save'
and inside the _task_fields
partial we write:
.nested-fields
= f.inputs do
= f.input :description
= f.input :done, :as => :boolean
= link_to_remove_association "remove task", f
That is all there is to it!
There is an example project on github implementing it called formtastic-cocoon-demo.
How it works
I define two helper functions:
link_to_add_association
This function will add a link to your markup that will, when clicked, dynamically add a new partial form for the given association.
This should be placed below the semantic_fields_for
.
It takes three parameters:
- name: the text to show in the link
- f: referring to the containing formtastic form-object
- association: the name of the association (plural) of which a new instance needs to be added (symbol or string).
link_to_remove_association
This function will add a link to your markup that will, when clicked, dynamically remove the surrounding partial form.
This should be placed inside the partial _<association-object-singular>_fields
.
Partial
The partial should be named _<association-object_singular>_fields
, and should start with a div of class .nested-fields
.
There is no limit to the amount of nesting, though.
Note on Patches/Pull Requests
- Fork the project.
- Make your feature addition or bug fix.
- Add tests for it. This is important so I don't break it in a future version unintentionally.
- Commit, do not mess with rakefile, version, or history. (if you want to have your own version, that is fine but bump version in a commit by itself I can ignore when I pull)
- Send me a pull request. Bonus points for topic branches.
Copyright
Copyright (c) 2010 nathanvda. See LICENSE for details.