Question

How do I make a drop down menu reflect what’s stored in it’s corresponding column in a database?

I have a dropdown menu for birthday selection and it updates the database fine
but goes back to default options in select menu on refresh where as all my text fields are pulling db data fine.

My form:

    <%= form_for @profile, :remote => true,  do |f| %>
Username: <%= @profile.user.username %><br />
URL: http://site.com/<%= @profile.user.username %><br />
First Name: <%= f.text_field :first_name,   %><br />
Last Name: <%= f.text_field :last_name,  %><br />
I am <%= f.select :gender, options_for_select([['Select Gender', ''],['Male','m'],['Female','f']], "#{@profile.gender if @profile.gender}") %><br />
My birthday: 
<%= f.select :day, options_for_select(Profile::DAYS), :include_blank => "Day" %>
<%= f.select :month, options_for_select(Profile::MONTHS), :include_blank => "Month" %>
<%= f.select :year, options_for_select(Profile::YEAR_RANGE), :include_blank =>"Year" %><br />
<%= f.submit 'update' %><br />
<% end %>

Any clue what I’m missing?
Kind regards

Here’s my model:

class Profile < ActiveRecord::Base

  belongs_to :user

   attr_accessor   :password, :day, :month, :year
   attr_accessible :first_name, :last_name, :gender, :motd, :day, :month, :year

  # Local Variables
  # Regex Variables
  email_regex = /\A[\w+\-.]+@[a-z\d\-.]+\.[a-z]+\z/i
  alpha_regex = /^[a-zA-Z]*$/
  alpha_numeric_regix = /^[a-zA-Z0-9_]*$/

  MONTHS = ["January", 1], ["February", 2], ["March", 3], ["April", 4], ["May", 5], ["June", 6], ["July", 7], ["August", 8], ["September", 9], ["October", 10], ["November", 11], ["December", 12]
  DAYS = ["01", 1], ["02", 2], ["03", 3], ["04", 4], ["05", 5], ["06", 6], ["07", 7], ["08", 8], ["09", 9], ["10", 10], ["11", 11], ["12", 12], ["13", 13], ["14", 14], ["15", 15], ["16", 16],
        ["17", 17], ["18", 18], ["19", 19], ["20", 20], ["21", 21], ["22", 22], ["23", 23], ["24", 24], ["25", 25], ["26", 26], ["27", 27], ["28", 28], ["29", 29], ["30", 30], ["31", 31]
  START_YEAR = Time.now.year - 111
  END_YEAR = Time.now.year
  YEAR_RANGE = START_YEAR..END_YEAR


    #Form Validation
    validates :first_name,    :presence      => true,
                              :length        => { :minimum => 2, :maximum => 15 },
                              :format        => {
                                                  :with => alpha_regex,
                                                  :message => "Your first name must contain letters only"
                                                }

    validates :last_name,     :presence      => true,
                              :length        => { :minimum => 2, :maximum => 15 },
                              :format        => {  
                                                  :with => alpha_regex,
                                                  :message => "Your last name must contain letters only"
                                                }

    validates :gender,        :presence      => true,
                              :inclusion     => { 
                                                  :in => %w( m f ), :message => "Are you male or female?"
                                                }



  before_save :prepare_birthday

validate :validate_birthday # if :birthday == nil


private
def prepare_birthday
  begin
    unless year.blank? # in order to avoid Year like 0000
      self.birthday = Date.new(self.year.to_i, self.month.to_i, self.day.to_i)
    end
      rescue ArgumentError
    false
  end
end

def validate_birthday
  errors.add(:birthday, "Birthday is invalid") unless prepare_birthday
end
end

Update method from controller

 def update

   respond_to do |format|

     if @profile.update_attributes(params[:profile])

       format.js   { render :js => "window.location = '#{settings_edit_profile_path}'" } 
       flash[:success] = "Profile updated" 
     else
      format.js   { render :form_errors }

    end
  end
end

Answer 1

You shouldnt do it that way thats not the way it should be. In rails you should use the date_select form helper. => http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionView/Helpers/DateHelper.html#method-i-date_select When you use this helper it will automaticly work in creation and updating your objects!

Another possibility would be to use the jQuerUI datepicker which is great too.