In an attempt to make my rails html more readable I extracted several parts of it into partials. I then use jquery to render the partials. The issue is that now the form has come all "unhooked" so to speak, meaning when I attempt to submit the form it acts as though the partials don't exist. I suspect I am not understanding quite how forms work, because it seems like in other answers related to this the form builder isn't even addressed.
This SO question seems related to what I want to do but I think I'm too inexperienced to grasp it properly
The code I have thus far goes as follows:
/assets/javascripts/work_order.js
$(document).ready(function(){
$('.best_in_place').best_in_place();
$('#work_order_dueDate').datepicker();
$.datepicker.setDefaults({ dateFormat: 'dd-mm-yy'});
var selection_made = false
$('#work_order_project_type_id').change(function(){
if (!selection_made){
selection_made = true
var selection = $(this).find('option:selected').text();
if (selection == "Variable Data Mailing"){
$.get('/presort_informations/new');
$.get('/printing_instructions/new');
}
else if (selection == "Mailing"){
$.get('/presort_informations/new');
}
else if (selection == "Print Job"){
$.get('/printing_instructions/new');
}
}
});
});
and then
/views/work_orders/_form.html.erb
<%= form_for(@workorder) do |f| %>
<% if @workorder.errors.any? %>
<div id="error_explanation">
<h2><%= pluralize(@workorder.errors.count, "error") %> prohibited this workorder from being saved:</h2>
<ul>
<% @workorder.errors.full_messages.each do |message| %>
<li><%= message %></li>
<% end %>
</ul>
</div>
<% end %>
<fieldset class="general-info">
<legend>General</legend>
<div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-md-3">
<div class="form-group">
<%= f.label :Job_Title, class: "control-label" %>
<%= f.text_field :title, class:"form-control" %>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<%= f.label :Project_Type, class: "control-label" %>
<%= f.collection_select(:project_type_id, ProjectType.all, :id, :name, {:prompt => true}, {:class => "form-control"}) %>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-md-3">
<div class="form-group">
<%= f.label :Rep, class: "control-label" %>
<%= f.text_field :rep, class:"form-control" %>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<%= f.label :Labels, class: "control-label" %>
<%= f.collection_select(:labels_id, Labels.all, :id, :name, {:prompt => true}, {:class => "form-control"}) %>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-md-3">
<div class= "form-group">
<%= f.label :Due_Date, class: "control-label" %>
<%= f.text_field :dueDate, class: "form-control" %>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<%= f.label :Project_Description, class: "control-label" %>
<%= f.text_area :projectDescription, class: "form-control" %>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<fieldset class="presort-information">
</fieldset>
<div class="col-md-6 printing">
</div>
<fieldset class="production-details">
<legend>Production</legend>
<%= f.fields_for :production_details, ProductionDetails.new do |ff| %>
<%end%>
</fieldset>
<%= f.hidden_field(:number, :value => @workorder.number) %>
<%= f.hidden_field(:client_id, :value => @workorder.client_id) %>
<%= f.submit(class: "btn btn-default") %>
<% end %>
and as an example of one of the partials:
/app/views/presort_informations/new.js.erb
$('.presort-information').append( '<%= j render("presort_informations/form") %>' );
/app/views/presort_informations/_form.html.erb
<legend>Mailing</legend>
<%= fields_for :presort_information, PresortInformation.new do |ff| %>
.
.
.
<% end %>
I'm not really sure how to tie this all together so that I can load the partials based on the select box, but then submit them all as one form.
Edit: I found this SO question which deals with the same issue, but I suspect that because I am rendering the partial after the page has been loaded I no longer have access to the form builder variable.
$('.presort-information').append( '<%= j render("presort_informations/form", f: f) %>' );
gives an undefined variable error when it's called. I'm still not sure how to bridge this gap between jquery and rails.