Question

A quick Rails question that I would love your guys’ help on. Been looking around for the answer and everything out there seems a bit on the more complex side for what I think is the solution. I have two pages that use a model (User) and a form on each page which updates a different attribute when saved.

• One updates their password details (validation is for presence of password)

• One updates their quiz’s response (validation is for 300 max characters)

How can I do conditional validation so that when I submit the form, validations appear on their respective pages? Do I need two separate actions? How do I link these actions to the form submit?

Here is the generic update action and the form:

Users controller

def update
  @user = User.find(params[:id])
  if @user.update_attributes(params[:user])
    flash[:success] = "All is updated"
    sign_in @user
    redirect_to @user
  else
    render 'edit'
  end
end

Form

<p><h3>Linked-In Optimization</h3></p>
<%= form_for(@user) do |form| %>
  <p><%= form.label :linkedin, 'Please copy and paste your Linked-In profile here (575  chars max.)' %></p>
  <p><%= form.text_area :linkedin %></p>
  <%= form.submit 'Save' %>
  <img class="linkedin" src="/linkedin.png">
<% end %>

Answer 1

To simplify things, use two separate controller actions.

To link your form submit to the new paths, do this

<%= form_for(@user, :url => update_password_user_path(@user)) do |f| %>

If you’ve added the necessary validations in your model, the error messages will appear on your respective forms.