Module ActionView::Helpers::FormHelper

Returns a checkbox tag tailored for accessing a specified attribute (identified by method) on an object assigned to the template (identified by object). This object must be an instance object (@object) and not a local object. It’s intended that method returns an integer and if that integer is above zero, then the checkbox is checked. Additional options on the input tag can be passed as a hash with options. The checked_value defaults to 1 while the default unchecked_value is set to 0 which is convenient for boolean values.

Gotcha

The HTML specification says unchecked check boxes are not successful, and thus web browsers do not send them. Unfortunately this introduces a gotcha: if an Invoice model has a paid flag, and in the form that edits a paid invoice the user unchecks its check box, no paid parameter is sent. So, any mass-assignment idiom like

@invoice.update_attributes(params[:invoice])

wouldn’t update the flag.

To prevent this the helper generates an auxiliary hidden field before the very check box. The hidden field has the same name and its attributes mimic an unchecked check box.

This way, the client either sends only the hidden field (representing the check box is unchecked), or both fields. Since the HTML specification says key/value pairs have to be sent in the same order they appear in the form, and parameters extraction gets the last occurrence of any repeated key in the query string, that works for ordinary forms.

Unfortunately that workaround does not work when the check box goes within an array-like parameter, as in

<%= fields_for "project[invoice_attributes][]", invoice, :index => nil do |form| %>
  <%= form.check_box :paid %>
  ...
<% end %>

because parameter name repetition is precisely what Rails seeks to distinguish the elements of the array. For each item with a checked check box you get an extra ghost item with only that attribute, assigned to “0”.

In that case it is preferable to either use check_box_tag or to use hashes instead of arrays.

Examples

# Let's say that @post.validated? is 1:
check_box("post", "validated")
# => <input name="post[validated]" type="hidden" value="0" />
#    <input type="checkbox" id="post_validated" name="post[validated]" value="1" />

# Let's say that @puppy.gooddog is "no":
check_box("puppy", "gooddog", {}, "yes", "no")
# => <input name="puppy[gooddog]" type="hidden" value="no" />
#    <input type="checkbox" id="puppy_gooddog" name="puppy[gooddog]" value="yes" />

check_box("eula", "accepted", { :class => 'eula_check' }, "yes", "no")
# => <input name="eula[accepted]" type="hidden" value="no" />
#    <input type="checkbox" class="eula_check" id="eula_accepted" name="eula[accepted]" value="yes" />

Converts the given object to an ActiveModel compliant one.

Returns a #text_field of type “email”.

email_field("user", "address")
# => <input id="user_address" size="30" name="user[address]" type="email" />

Creates a scope around a specific model object like #form_for, but doesn’t create the form tags themselves. This makes #fields_for suitable for specifying additional model objects in the same form.

Generic Examples

<%= form_for @person do |person_form| %>
  First name: <%= person_form.text_field :first_name %>
  Last name : <%= person_form.text_field :last_name %>

  <%= fields_for @person.permission do |permission_fields| %>
    Admin?  : <%= permission_fields.check_box :admin %>
  <% end %>

  <%= f.submit %>
<% end %>

…or if you have an object that needs to be represented as a different parameter, like a Client that acts as a Person:

<%= fields_for :person, @client do |permission_fields| %>
  Admin?: <%= permission_fields.check_box :admin %>
<% end %>

…or if you don’t have an object, just a name of the parameter:

<%= fields_for :person do |permission_fields| %>
  Admin?: <%= permission_fields.check_box :admin %>
<% end %>

Note: This also works for the methods in FormOptionHelper and DateHelper that are designed to work with an object as base, like FormOptionHelper#collection_select and ActionView::Helpers::DateHelper#datetime_select.

Nested Attributes Examples

When the object belonging to the current scope has a nested attribute writer for a certain attribute, #fields_for will yield a new scope for that attribute. This allows you to create forms that set or change the attributes of a parent object and its associations in one go.

Nested attribute writers are normal setter methods named after an association. The most common way of defining these writers is either with accepts_nested_attributes_for in a model definition or by defining a method with the proper name. For example: the attribute writer for the association :address is called address_attributes=.

Whether a one-to-one or one-to-many style form builder will be yielded depends on whether the normal reader method returns a single object or an array of objects.

One-to-one

Consider a Person class which returns a single Address from the address reader method and responds to the address_attributes= writer method:

class Person
  def address
    @address
  end

  def address_attributes=(attributes)
    # Process the attributes hash
  end
end

This model can now be used with a nested #fields_for, like so:

<%= form_for @person do |person_form| %>
  ...
  <%= person_form.fields_for :address do |address_fields| %>
    Street  : <%= address_fields.text_field :street %>
    Zip code: <%= address_fields.text_field :zip_code %>
  <% end %>
  ...
<% end %>

When address is already an association on a Person you can use accepts_nested_attributes_for to define the writer method for you:

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_one :address
  accepts_nested_attributes_for :address
end

If you want to destroy the associated model through the form, you have to enable it first using the :allow_destroy option for accepts_nested_attributes_for:

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_one :address
  accepts_nested_attributes_for :address, :allow_destroy => true
end

Now, when you use a form element with the _destroy parameter, with a value that evaluates to true, you will destroy the associated model (eg. 1, ‘1’, true, or ‘true’):

<%= form_for @person do |person_form| %>
  ...
  <%= person_form.fields_for :address do |address_fields| %>
    ...
    Delete: <%= address_fields.check_box :_destroy %>
  <% end %>
  ...
<% end %>

One-to-many

Consider a Person class which returns an array of Project instances from the projects reader method and responds to the projects_attributes= writer method:

class Person
  def projects
    [@project1, @project2]
  end

  def projects_attributes=(attributes)
    # Process the attributes hash
  end
end

Note that the projects_attributes= writer method is in fact required for #fields_for to correctly identify :projects as a collection, and the correct indices to be set in the form markup.

When projects is already an association on Person you can use accepts_nested_attributes_for to define the writer method for you:

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :projects
  accepts_nested_attributes_for :projects
end

This model can now be used with a nested fields_for. The block given to the nested #fields_for call will be repeated for each instance in the collection:

<%= form_for @person do |person_form| %>
  ...
  <%= person_form.fields_for :projects do |project_fields| %>
    <% if project_fields.object.active? %>
      Name: <%= project_fields.text_field :name %>
    <% end %>
  <% end %>
  ...
<% end %>

It’s also possible to specify the instance to be used:

<%= form_for @person do |person_form| %>
  ...
  <% @person.projects.each do |project| %>
    <% if project.active? %>
      <%= person_form.fields_for :projects, project do |project_fields| %>
        Name: <%= project_fields.text_field :name %>
      <% end %>
    <% end %>
  <% end %>
  ...
<% end %>

Or a collection to be used:

<%= form_for @person do |person_form| %>
  ...
  <%= person_form.fields_for :projects, @active_projects do |project_fields| %>
    Name: <%= project_fields.text_field :name %>
  <% end %>
  ...
<% end %>

When projects is already an association on Person you can use accepts_nested_attributes_for to define the writer method for you:

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :projects
  accepts_nested_attributes_for :projects
end

If you want to destroy any of the associated models through the form, you have to enable it first using the :allow_destroy option for accepts_nested_attributes_for:

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :projects
  accepts_nested_attributes_for :projects, :allow_destroy => true
end

This will allow you to specify which models to destroy in the attributes hash by adding a form element for the _destroy parameter with a value that evaluates to true (eg. 1, ‘1’, true, or ‘true’):

<%= form_for @person do |person_form| %>
  ...
  <%= person_form.fields_for :projects do |project_fields| %>
    Delete: <%= project_fields.check_box :_destroy %>
  <% end %>
  ...
<% end %>

Returns a file upload input tag tailored for accessing a specified attribute (identified by method) on an object assigned to the template (identified by object). Additional options on the input tag can be passed as a hash with options. These options will be tagged onto the HTML as an HTML element attribute as in the example shown.

Using this method inside a form_for block will set the enclosing form’s encoding to multipart/form-data.

Examples

file_field(:user, :avatar)
# => <input type="file" id="user_avatar" name="user[avatar]" />

file_field(:post, :attached, :accept => 'text/html')
# => <input accept="text/html" type="file" id="post_attached" name="post[attached]" />

file_field(:attachment, :file, :class => 'file_input')
# => <input type="file" id="attachment_file" name="attachment[file]" class="file_input" />

Creates a form and a scope around a specific model object that is used as a base for questioning about values for the fields.

Rails provides succinct resource-oriented form generation with form_for like this:

<%= form_for @offer do |f| %>
  <%= f.label :version, 'Version' %>:
  <%= f.text_field :version %><br />
  <%= f.label :author, 'Author' %>:
  <%= f.text_field :author %><br />
  <%= f.submit %>
<% end %>

There, form_for is able to generate the rest of RESTful form parameters based on introspection on the record, but to understand what it does we need to dig first into the alternative generic usage it is based upon.

Generic #form_for

The generic way to call form_for yields a form builder around a model:

<%= form_for :person do |f| %>
  First name: <%= f.text_field :first_name %><br />
  Last name : <%= f.text_field :last_name %><br />
  Biography : <%= f.text_area :biography %><br />
  Admin?    : <%= f.check_box :admin %><br />
  <%= f.submit %>
<% end %>

There, the argument is a symbol or string with the name of the object the form is about.

The form builder acts as a regular form helper that somehow carries the model. Thus, the idea is that

<%= f.text_field :first_name %>

gets expanded to

<%= text_field :person, :first_name %>

The rightmost argument to form_for is an optional hash of options:

• :url - The URL the form is submitted to. It takes the same fields you pass to url_for or link_to. In particular you may pass here a named route directly as well. Defaults to the current action.

• :namespace - A namespace for your form to ensure uniqueness of id attributes on form elements. The namespace attribute will be prefixed with underscore on the generated HTML id.

• :html - Optional HTML attributes for the form tag.

Also note that form_for doesn’t create an exclusive scope. It’s still possible to use both the stand-alone FormHelper methods and methods from FormTagHelper. For example:

<%= form_for @person do |f| %>
  First name: <%= f.text_field :first_name %>
  Last name : <%= f.text_field :last_name %>
  Biography : <%= text_area :person, :biography %>
  Admin?    : <%= check_box_tag "person[admin]", @person.company.admin? %>
  <%= f.submit %>
<% end %>

This also works for the methods in FormOptionHelper and DateHelper that are designed to work with an object as base, like FormOptionHelper#collection_select and ActionView::Helpers::DateHelper#datetime_select.

Resource-oriented style

As we said above, in addition to manually configuring the form_for call, you can rely on automated resource identification, which will use the conventions and named routes of that approach. This is the preferred way to use form_for nowadays.

For example, if @post is an existing record you want to edit

<%= form_for @post do |f| %>
  ...
<% end %>

is equivalent to something like:

<%= form_for @post, :as => :post, :url => post_path(@post), :method => :put, :html => { :class => "edit_post", :id => "edit_post_45" } do |f| %>
  ...
<% end %>

And for new records

<%= form_for(Post.new) do |f| %>
  ...
<% end %>

is equivalent to something like:

<%= form_for @post, :as => :post, :url => posts_path, :html => { :class => "new_post", :id => "new_post" } do |f| %>
  ...
<% end %>

You can also overwrite the individual conventions, like this:

<%= form_for(@post, :url => super_posts_path) do |f| %>
  ...
<% end %>

You can also set the answer format, like this:

<%= form_for(@post, :format => :json) do |f| %>
  ...
<% end %>

If you have an object that needs to be represented as a different parameter, like a Person that acts as a Client:

<%= form_for(@person, :as => :client) do |f| %>
  ...
<% end %>

For namespaced routes, like admin_post_url:

<%= form_for([:admin, @post]) do |f| %>
 ...
<% end %>

If your resource has associations defined, for example, you want to add comments to the document given that the routes are set correctly:

<%= form_for([@document, @comment]) do |f| %>
 ...
<% end %>

Where @document = Document.find(params[:id]) and @comment = Comment.new.

Setting the method

You can force the form to use the full array of HTTP verbs by setting

:method => (:get|:post|:put|:delete)

in the options hash. If the verb is not GET or POST, which are natively supported by HTML forms, the form will be set to POST and a hidden input called _method will carry the intended verb for the server to interpret.

Unobtrusive JavaScript

Specifying:

:remote => true

in the options hash creates a form that will allow the unobtrusive JavaScript drivers to modify its behavior. The expected default behavior is an XMLHttpRequest in the background instead of the regular POST arrangement, but ultimately the behavior is the choice of the JavaScript driver implementor. Even though it’s using JavaScript to serialize the form elements, the form submission will work just like a regular submission as viewed by the receiving side (all elements available in params).

Example:

<%= form_for(@post, :remote => true) do |f| %>
  ...
<% end %>

The HTML generated for this would be:

<form action='http://www.example.com' method='post' data-remote='true'>
  <div style='margin:0;padding:0;display:inline'>
    <input name='_method' type='hidden' value='put' />
  </div>
  ...
</form>

Removing hidden model id’s

The #form_for method automatically includes the model id as a hidden field in the form. This is used to maintain the correlation between the form data and its associated model. Some ORM systems do not use IDs on nested models so in this case you want to be able to disable the hidden id.

In the following example the Post model has many Comments stored within it in a NoSQL database, thus there is no primary key for comments.

Example:

<%= form_for(@post) do |f| %>
  <% f.fields_for(:comments, :include_id => false) do |cf| %>
    ...
  <% end %>
<% end %>

Customized form builders

You can also build forms using a customized FormBuilder class. Subclass FormBuilder and override or define some more helpers, then use your custom builder. For example, let’s say you made a helper to automatically add labels to form inputs.

<%= form_for @person, :url => { :action => "create" }, :builder => LabellingFormBuilder do |f| %>
  <%= f.text_field :first_name %>
  <%= f.text_field :last_name %>
  <%= f.text_area :biography %>
  <%= f.check_box :admin %>
  <%= f.submit %>
<% end %>

In this case, if you use this:

<%= render f %>

The rendered template is people/_labelling_form and the local variable referencing the form builder is called labelling_form.

The custom FormBuilder class is automatically merged with the options of a nested #fields_for call, unless it’s explicitly set.

In many cases you will want to wrap the above in another helper, so you could do something like the following:

def labelled_form_for(record_or_name_or_array, *args, &proc)
  options = args.extract_options!
  form_for(record_or_name_or_array, *(args << options.merge(:builder => LabellingFormBuilder)), &proc)
end

If you don’t need to attach a form to a model instance, then check out ActionView::Helpers::FormTagHelper#form_tag.

Form to external resources

When you build forms to external resources sometimes you need to set an authenticity token or just render a form without it, for example when you submit data to a payment gateway number and types of fields could be limited.

To set an authenticity token you need to pass an :authenticity_token parameter

<%= form_for @invoice, :url => external_url, :authenticity_token => 'external_token' do |f|
  ...
<% end %>

If you don’t want to an authenticity token field be rendered at all just pass false:

<%= form_for @invoice, :url => external_url, :authenticity_token => false do |f|
  ...
<% end %>

Returns a hidden input tag tailored for accessing a specified attribute (identified by method) on an object assigned to the template (identified by object). Additional options on the input tag can be passed as a hash with options. These options will be tagged onto the HTML as an HTML element attribute as in the example shown.

Examples

hidden_field(:signup, :pass_confirm)
# => <input type="hidden" id="signup_pass_confirm" name="signup[pass_confirm]" value="#{@signup.pass_confirm}" />

hidden_field(:post, :tag_list)
# => <input type="hidden" id="post_tag_list" name="post[tag_list]" value="#{@post.tag_list}" />

hidden_field(:user, :token)
# => <input type="hidden" id="user_token" name="user[token]" value="#{@user.token}" />

Returns a label tag tailored for labelling an input field for a specified attribute (identified by method) on an object assigned to the template (identified by object). The text of label will default to the attribute name unless a translation is found in the current I18n locale (through helpers.label.<modelname>.<attribute>) or you specify it explicitly. Additional options on the label tag can be passed as a hash with options. These options will be tagged onto the HTML as an HTML element attribute as in the example shown, except for the :value option, which is designed to target labels for #radio_button tags (where the value is used in the ID of the input tag).

Examples

label(:post, :title)
# => <label for="post_title">Title</label>

You can localize your labels based on model and attribute names.
For example you can define the following in your locale (e.g. en.yml)

helpers:
  label:
    post:
      body: "Write your entire text here"

Which then will result in

label(:post, :body)
# => <label for="post_body">Write your entire text here</label>

Localization can also be based purely on the translation of the attribute-name (if you are using ActiveRecord):

activerecord:
  attributes:
    post:
      cost: "Total cost"

label(:post, :cost)
# => <label for="post_cost">Total cost</label>

label(:post, :title, "A short title")
# => <label for="post_title">A short title</label>

label(:post, :title, "A short title", :class => "title_label")
# => <label for="post_title" class="title_label">A short title</label>

label(:post, :privacy, "Public Post", :value => "public")
# => <label for="post_privacy_public">Public Post</label>

label(:post, :terms) do
  'Accept <a href="/terms">Terms</a>.'.html_safe
end

Returns an input tag of type “number”.

Options

• Accepts same options as number_field_tag

Returns an input tag of the “password” type tailored for accessing a specified attribute (identified by method) on an object assigned to the template (identified by object). Additional options on the input tag can be passed as a hash with options. These options will be tagged onto the HTML as an HTML element attribute as in the example shown.

Examples

password_field(:login, :pass, :size => 20)
# => <input type="password" id="login_pass" name="login[pass]" size="20" />

password_field(:account, :secret, :class => "form_input", :value => @account.secret)
# => <input type="password" id="account_secret" name="account[secret]" value="#{@account.secret}" class="form_input" />

password_field(:user, :password, :onchange => "if $('user[password]').length > 30 { alert('Your password needs to be shorter!'); }")
# => <input type="password" id="user_password" name="user[password]" onchange = "if $('user[password]').length > 30 { alert('Your password needs to be shorter!'); }"/>

password_field(:account, :pin, :size => 20, :class => 'form_input')
# => <input type="password" id="account_pin" name="account[pin]" size="20" class="form_input" />

Returns a radio button tag for accessing a specified attribute (identified by method) on an object assigned to the template (identified by object). If the current value of method is tag_value the radio button will be checked.

To force the radio button to be checked pass :checked => true in the options hash. You may pass HTML options there as well.

Examples

# Let's say that @post.category returns "rails":
radio_button("post", "category", "rails")
radio_button("post", "category", "java")
# => <input type="radio" id="post_category_rails" name="post[category]" value="rails" checked="checked" />
#    <input type="radio" id="post_category_java" name="post[category]" value="java" />

radio_button("user", "receive_newsletter", "yes")
radio_button("user", "receive_newsletter", "no")
# => <input type="radio" id="user_receive_newsletter_yes" name="user[receive_newsletter]" value="yes" />
#    <input type="radio" id="user_receive_newsletter_no" name="user[receive_newsletter]" value="no" checked="checked" />

Returns an input tag of type “range”.

Options

• Accepts same options as range_field_tag

Returns an input of type “search” for accessing a specified attribute (identified by method) on an object assigned to the template (identified by object_name). Inputs of type “search” may be styled differently by some browsers.

Examples

search_field(:user, :name)
# => <input id="user_name" name="user[name]" size="30" type="search" />
search_field(:user, :name, :autosave => false)
# => <input autosave="false" id="user_name" name="user[name]" size="30" type="search" />
search_field(:user, :name, :results => 3)
# => <input id="user_name" name="user[name]" results="3" size="30" type="search" />
#  Assume request.host returns "www.example.com"
search_field(:user, :name, :autosave => true)
# => <input autosave="com.example.www" id="user_name" name="user[name]" results="10" size="30" type="search" />
search_field(:user, :name, :onsearch => true)
# => <input id="user_name" incremental="true" name="user[name]" onsearch="true" size="30" type="search" />
search_field(:user, :name, :autosave => false, :onsearch => true)
# => <input autosave="false" id="user_name" incremental="true" name="user[name]" onsearch="true" size="30" type="search" />
search_field(:user, :name, :autosave => true, :onsearch => true)
# => <input autosave="com.example.www" id="user_name" incremental="true" name="user[name]" onsearch="true" results="10" size="30" type="search" />

Returns a #text_field of type “tel”.

telephone_field("user", "phone")
# => <input id="user_phone" name="user[phone]" size="30" type="tel" />

Returns a textarea opening and closing tag set tailored for accessing a specified attribute (identified by method) on an object assigned to the template (identified by object). Additional options on the input tag can be passed as a hash with options.

Examples

text_area(:post, :body, :cols => 20, :rows => 40)
# => <textarea cols="20" rows="40" id="post_body" name="post[body]">
#      #{@post.body}
#    </textarea>

text_area(:comment, :text, :size => "20x30")
# => <textarea cols="20" rows="30" id="comment_text" name="comment[text]">
#      #{@comment.text}
#    </textarea>

text_area(:application, :notes, :cols => 40, :rows => 15, :class => 'app_input')
# => <textarea cols="40" rows="15" id="application_notes" name="application[notes]" class="app_input">
#      #{@application.notes}
#    </textarea>

text_area(:entry, :body, :size => "20x20", :disabled => 'disabled')
# => <textarea cols="20" rows="20" id="entry_body" name="entry[body]" disabled="disabled">
#      #{@entry.body}
#    </textarea>

Returns an input tag of the “text” type tailored for accessing a specified attribute (identified by method) on an object assigned to the template (identified by object). Additional options on the input tag can be passed as a hash with options. These options will be tagged onto the HTML as an HTML element attribute as in the example shown.

Examples

text_field(:post, :title, :size => 20)
# => <input type="text" id="post_title" name="post[title]" size="20" value="#{@post.title}" />

text_field(:post, :title, :class => "create_input")
# => <input type="text" id="post_title" name="post[title]" value="#{@post.title}" class="create_input" />

text_field(:session, :user, :onchange => "if $('session[user]').value == 'admin' { alert('Your login can not be admin!'); }")
# => <input type="text" id="session_user" name="session[user]" value="#{@session.user}" onchange = "if $('session[user]').value == 'admin' { alert('Your login can not be admin!'); }"/>

text_field(:snippet, :code, :size => 20, :class => 'code_input')
# => <input type="text" id="snippet_code" name="snippet[code]" size="20" value="#{@snippet.code}" class="code_input" />

Returns a #text_field of type “url”.

url_field("user", "homepage")
# => <input id="user_homepage" size="30" name="user[homepage]" type="url" />