Question

I am trying to access the value of an element in a different form. More specifically I have two forms, one normal html form which submits the information, and an ajax form that updates a field in the database. I want the ajax form to take the value of an element in the normal form, but I have no idea how to accomplish that. Here is my current setup:

Message View

<%= form_for @message do |f| %>
    <%= f.text_field :to %>
    <%= f.text_area :body %>
    <%= f.submit "Send Message" %>
<% end %>
<%= form_for :save, :url => save_message_path(), :remote => :true do |f| %>
    <%= f.submit "Save" %>
<% end %>

Message Controller

def save
    account.message = params[:body]
end

But the :body param is in the other form so it sets account.message to nil because the ajax form did not have a body parameter. I would like it so the ajax form can submit the value of the body element.

Answer 1

Since the form is edited on the client side, you’ll have to write this functionality in javascript.

It is relatively straightforward to copy the value of the message body into a hidden field and submit the Ajax form. This would be most easily accomplished by adding an id your ajax form as follows:

<%= form_for :save, :url => save_messages_path(), :remote => true, :id => 'ajaxform' %>
  <%= hidden_field_tag 'hidden_message' %>

Then in javascript you could do the following:

$(document).ready(function(){
  $("#ajaxform").submit(function() {
    $("#hidden_message").val($("#message_body").val());
    return true;
  });
}