Rails redirect to previous page (back) after delete

Question

Is there a way to include a redirect in a link_to? I want to just refresh the current page after a delete. But, you can delete the same record from multiple views in the app.

This is the link_to:

<%= link_to 'Delete', expense, confirm: 'Are you sure?', method: :delete, :class => 'btn btn-mini btn-danger' %>

If not, does it make sense to save the current_url in flash[:fromurl] then put that in the Controller destroy section like this:

   respond_to do |format|
     format.html { redirect_to flash[:fromurl] }
     format.json { head :no_content }
   end

Thanks for the help!

Have you considered making the link remote so that you can handle the refreshing of a particular div with js and that way you won't have to reload the whole page? — Jake Smith, May 01 '13 at 18:00
That sounds great - but, I have no idea to to start doing it. Any where you could point me for an explanation? — Reddirt, May 01 '13 at 18:05
@Reddirt Check this out: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7052650/link-to-and-remote-true-jquery-how-help — MrYoshiji, May 01 '13 at 18:07
MrYoshi - that works and is a whole lot simpler than using flash - thanks!!! — Reddirt, May 01 '13 at 18:09

score 28 · Accepted Answer · answered May 01 '13 at 19:06

28

You can use the redirect_to :back :

respond_to do |format|
  format.html { redirect_to :back }
  format.json { head :no_content }
end

It uses the header "HTTP_REFERER" from the request:

redirect_to :back
# is a shorthand for:
redirect_to request.env["HTTP_REFERER"]

answered May 01 '13 at 19:06

MrYoshiji

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MrYoshiji, I was wondering if you would be willing to look at this questions for me? I would really appreciate it. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16279090/rails-passing-information-from-a-view-to-a-form – Reddirt May 01 '13 at 20:12
3

MrYoshiji - the redirect_to :back works if you delete from any page except the show page. Because, the back tries to take you back to show a record you just deleted. I've posted a new question. – Reddirt May 03 '13 at 16:57
@Reddirt did you every find out how to not get `:back` to try and send you to the record that was just removed? – Gcap Jan 16 '16 at 00:59
@Gcap You should not `redirect_to :back` after a successfull destroy action, but do a `redirect_to action: :index` instead (for example) – MrYoshiji Jan 17 '16 at 20:04

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 23 '17 at 17:48

In Rails 5 (Official Docs) you can use the updated: redirect_back(fallback_location: root_path)

Using this redirects the user to the referring page (previous page, the same as redirect_to :back). If this isn't possible, it then redirects to a fallback location specified in the controller.

An example of a method in your controller (this redirects the user to the root path as a fallback location):

def some_method
    #Your Code Here
    redirect_back(fallback_location: root_path)
end

An example of a method for deleting an expense and redirecting back, with a fallback to the root_path:

def destroy
    @expense.destroy
    redirect_back(fallback_location: root_path)
end

Below are some other examples of the fallback_location's that can be used to redirect the browser back to a specific page, if the referring page cannot be redirected to:

redirect_back fallback_location: "http://www.google.com"      #Redirects to Google (or any website you specify)
redirect_back fallback_location:  "/images/screenshot.jpg"    #Redirects to a local image
redirect_back fallback_location:  posts_path                  #Redirects to the 'posts' path
redirect_back fallback_location:  new_user_path               #Redirects to the new user path

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 09 '18 at 07:12

1

You can also try this one.

render :nothing => true

answered Jul 09 '18 at 07:12

Rails redirect to previous page (back) after delete

3 Answers3