I'm generally in favor of this for pretty much the same reason as Hique. One thing, though: If this kind of behavior was merged into core, the fields_for method should also be updated to accept an array as its first parameter to facilitate the use of nested hashes.
Right now, we have to do something like the following: <% form_for :product do |f| %> <p><%= f.text_field :name %></p> <% fields_for "product[price]" do |f| -%> <p><%= f.text_field :quantity %></p> <p><%= f.text_field :price %></p> <% end -%> <% end %> It would be great to have it like this: <% form_for :product do |f| %> <p><%= f.text_field :name %></p> <% fields_for [:product, :price] do |f| -%> <p><%= f.text_field :quantity %></p> <p><%= f.text_field :price %></p> <% end -%> <% end %> Currently, fields_for does accept an array but the implementation is faulty/illogical. I've just posted a ticket that addresses this issue (http://rails.lighthouseapp.com/projects/8994-ruby-on-rails/tickets/ 641-formhelper-fields_for-has-illogical-and-unused-option). It would be great if the above code could produce a nested hash much like form_for builds nested routes from an array. On Jul 17, 2:57 am, Pratik <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Has anyone any strong opinions against this ? I'm very interested in > hearing more thoughts on this and/or if you have any suggestions to > improvise David's approaches. > > Thanks, > Pratik > > On Jul 14, 6:38 pm, David Dollar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Recently the following patch > > >http://github.com/rails/rails/commit/e0750d6a5c7f621e4ca12205137c0b13... > > > was committed to rails trunk. This patch allows for associations to be > > flagged as :accessible => true and then hydrated from nested hashes > > (i.e. nested forms) > > > class Post < ActiveRecord::Base > > belongs_to :author, :accessible => true > > has_many :comments, :accessible => true > > end > > > post = Post.create({ > > :title => 'Accessible Attributes', > > :author => { :name => 'David Dollar' }, > > :comments => [ > > { :body => 'First Post!' }, > > { :body => 'Nested Hashes are great!' } > > ] > > > }) > > > post.comments << { :body => 'Another Comment' } > > > I have done some work on another patch to allow this same mechanism to > > be used for updating existing rows using nested hashes. This completes > > the work as far as dynamically generating forms and being able to > > simply and intuitively push them back into the database. > > >http://github.com/ddollar/rails/commit/14a16844bbb3ba9edb14269ce2d0b6... > > > This allows for the following: > > > # create from a basic hash> p = Post.create(:title => 'Test Post', :author > > => { :name => 'David' }) > > > => #<Post id: 8, author_id: 8, title: "Test Post", created_at: > > "2008-07-14 15:22:53", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:22:53"> > > > # update a singular reference> p.author = { :name => 'Joe' } > > > => {:name=>"Joe"} > > > # it 'updates' the row in sql, notice the id is still the same> p.author > > > => #<Author id: 8, name: "Joe", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:22:53", > > updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:23:03"> > > > # create an author with posts from a hash> a = Author.create(:name => > > 'David', :posts => [ { :title => 'Post 1' }, { :title => 'Post 2' } ]) > > > => #<Author id: 14, name: "David", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18", > > updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18"> > > > # show the posts> a.posts > > > => [#<Post id: 17, author_id: 14, title: "Post 1", created_at: > > "2008-07-14 15:38:18", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18">, #<Post id: > > 18, author_id: 14, title: "Post 2", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18", > > updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18">] > > > # use << to update existing entries (as well as add new ones, > > demonstrated later)> a.posts << { :id => 17, :title => 'Post 1 Updated' } > > > => [#<Post id: 17, author_id: 14, title: "Post 1 Updated", created_at: > > "2008-07-14 15:38:18", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:53">, #<Post id: > > 18, author_id: 14, title: "Post 2", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18", > > updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18">] > > > # show posts to verify the update> a.posts > > > => [#<Post id: 17, author_id: 14, title: "Post 1 Updated", created_at: > > "2008-07-14 15:38:18", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:53">, #<Post id: > > 18, author_id: 14, title: "Post 2", created_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18", > > updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:38:18">] > > > # can't update posts that don't belong to the author> a.posts << { :id => > > 1, :title => 'Not Allowed' } > > > ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound: Couldn't find Post with ID=1 AND > > ("posts".author_id = 14) > > from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/ > > activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb:1393:in `find_one' > > from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/ > > activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb:1376:in `find_from_ids' > > from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/ > > activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb:537:in `find' > > from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/ > > activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb: > > 47:in `find' > > from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/ > > activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb: > > 103:in `<<' > > from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/ > > activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb: > > 99:in `each' > > from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/ > > activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb: > > 99:in `<<' > > from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/ > > activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/ > > database_statements.rb:66:in `transaction' > > from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/ > > activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:79:in `transaction' > > from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/ > > activerecord/lib/active_record/transactions.rb:98:in `transaction' > > from /Users/ddollar/Code/EdgeRailsApp/vendor/rails/ > > activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb: > > 98:in `<<' > > from (irb):12 > > > # use = to outright replace all posts> a.posts = [ { :title => 'Replace > > Posts' } ] > > > => [#<Post id: 19, author_id: 14, title: "Replace Posts", created_at: > > "2008-07-14 15:40:30", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:40:30">] > > > # can even 'replace' using existing posts, the post attributes will be > > updated> a.posts = [ { :id => 19, :title => 'Can Replace This Way Too' } ] > > > => [#<Post id: 19, author_id: 14, title: "Can Replace This Way Too", > > created_at: "2008-07-14 15:40:30", updated_at: "2008-07-14 15:40:49">] > > > # use << also for adding brand new items> a.posts << { :title => 'New Post' > > } > > > => [#<Post id: 19, author_id: 14, title: "Replace Posts", created_at: > > "2008-07-14 > > > The patch can be found at > > >http://rails.lighthouseapp.com/projects/8994-ruby-on-rails/tickets/61... > > > I was asked to submit this patch to the mailing list and solicit any > > comments. Does anyone see any obvious holes or ways this functionality > > should change? > > > Thanks, > > David Dollar --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Core" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
