label_tag and checkbox_tag problem in rails

Question

I want my checkboxes to be usable so I usually add label fors to the checkboxes so you can select the text instead of having to "aim" for the checkbox.

Problem is, what if I am using a nested attributes form in rails? I have this code for now:

%ul
  - test_category.test_cases.each do |test_case|
    %li
      = check_box_tag "job_test_cases[]", "#{test_case.id}", test_case.id
      = label_tag "test_case_#{test_case.id}", test_case.name

problem with this is that it produces this:

<li>
  <input type="checkbox" value="70" name="job_test_cases[]" id="job_test_cases_" checked="checked">
  <label for="test_case_70">Blah blah</label>
</li>

whereas I wanted it to be like this:

<li>
  <input type="checkbox" value="70" name="test_case_id[]" id="test_case_70" checked="checked">
  <label for="test_case_70">Blah BLah blah/label>
</li>

Your output isn't at all what I expected from how you are using check_box_tag :/ Doesn't seem to match up with the docs at all api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionView/Helpers/… — raid5ive
– raid5ive, Commented Feb 16, 2011 at 6:24
1st arg is id and name, 2nd is value, 3rd is weather it is checked (true/false), 4th are options. Not sure why you have test_case.id as the 3rd arg and it is a bit confusing to me why your id/name values don't match up. — raid5ive
– raid5ive, Commented Feb 16, 2011 at 7:03
is that possible? thats what i want to happen, because the label for is dependent on the id. but i want the name to be an array so the backend gets a collection of test_cases. — corroded
– corroded, Commented Feb 16, 2011 at 8:08

Taylored Web Sites · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-03 18:53:52Z

I was able to match the checkbox with the label as follows:

In the checkbox: I used the check_box_tag, specifying the specific item name (role here) as the index of the array to produce the id with a value in it. I passed the :name hash value to override the name specified in the check_box_tag, so that it does not have the id:

check_box_tag "user[roles][#{role.to_s}]", role.to_s, @user.has_role?(role), :name => "user[roles][]"

which generates the following HTML:

<input id="user_roles_ROLE1" name="user[roles][]" type="checkbox" value="ROLE1" />

In the label, I specified the id using the array name + '_' plus the item name (role here), to properly point to the id in the label:

label_tag "user_roles_#{role}", cur_role.role_name, :class => 'span_after_label'

which generates the following HTML:

<label class="span_after_label" for="user_roles_ROLE1">User</label>

When the PUT is sent to the controller, the params have the following fields:

"user"=>{ ..., "roles"=>["ROLE1", "ROLE2", "ROLE3"], ... }

which is the role names for all of the checked roles.

Thus for your code, I would try the following:

check_box_tag "test_case_id[#{test_case.id}]", "#{test_case.id}", test_case.id, :name => "test_case_id[]"

Viktor · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-22 14:55:31Z

3

This worked great for me:

= f.label :remember_me do
    = f.check_box :remember_me
    Remember me

There's no need to close "do" block. It gets closed automatically because of indentation. Check out the last example from Rails API: http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionView/Helpers/FormHelper.html#method-i-label

answered Mar 22, 2013 at 14:55

Viktor

3,08830 silver badges33 bronze badges

Comments

nathanvda · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-21 07:54:34Z

0

When doing nested forms, you need to the fields_for to make sure your fields are named correctly (instead of the each).

I would suggest having a look at formtastic and cocoon: that will greatly simplify doing nested forms.

[EDIT: doing it yourself]

I am not sure i can correct your code, because you do something strangely wrong: i do not understand which value you want to be possibly checked?? You don't send that it in. It could not be the id. So normally you write something like: Correcting your code would just be:

check_box_tag "test_case[#{test_case.id}]", test_case.is_checked?

where the field is_checked? returns some kind of boolean value. I think it would help if you would give a little more info about what you are trying to do.

That would generate something like

<input type="checkbox" value="true" name="test_case[70]" id="test_case_70" checked="checked">

given is_checked? would return true.

If you want to explicitly name id and name differently, you will need to set the explicitly, like so

check_box_tag "test_case[#{test_case.id}]", test_case.is_checked?, test_case.is_checked?, :name => 'bla', :id => 'other_bla'

edited Feb 21, 2011 at 7:54

answered Feb 18, 2011 at 7:14

nathanvda

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3 Comments

corroded Over a year ago

although i AM concerned with form field names, i do need the id not to have that array thing so i can do the labels myself. do you know how they implement it if ever?( i do know about formtastic)

nathanvda Over a year ago

I did an attempt at answering, but need more information. Not sure what you mean: "doing the labels yourself". With formtastic you can easily overrule values of labels. If it is more control over the generated html, check out simple_form. But in some cases you need to be able to do everything by hand as well.

corroded Over a year ago

well actually the code was done by my colleague and he needs to get an array of test_cases from the params, thus the id is test_case[] and the value is 71, 72, etc. if you submit the form you get test_cases[] => {71, 72}. i just want it to work that way with the labels, but the checkbox id ruins it because all the checkboxes must have an id of test_case[]. does that explain my plan well?

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