Question

I am trying to make gsub on my column before save or update.

Here is my controller:

        def dansk(text)
    self.text.gsub('å', 'å')
    self.text.gsub('Å', 'Å')
    self.text.gsub('æ', 'æ')
    self.text.gsub('Æ', 'Æ')
    self.text.gsub('ø', 'ø')
    self.text.gsub('Ø', 'Ø')
    end

def update  

        @photographer = Photographer.find(params[:id])          
        @photographer.update_attributes(params[:photographer])
        @photographer.text = dansk(params[:photographer][:text])
            @photographer.text = dansk(params[:photographer][:name])


                       !@photographer.save                              
            flash[:notice] = " "
            render_action 'edit'            


    end

What are I am doing wrong and why are the text and name not being “gsubbed” ?

UPDATE:
My helper:

def convert_html_entities(text)
    text.gsub(/å/,"å")
    text.gsub(/æ/,"æ")
    text.gsub(/ø/,"ø")   
    text.gsub(/©/,"©")
    text = text.gsub(/["]/, '"')       
end 

Answer 1

You should do this at the Model level (maybe put your dansk method in a module if you want to keep things DRY).

before_save :danskify

def danskify
  self.text = dansk(self.text) if text_changed?
  self.name = dansk(self.name) if name_changed?
end

def dansk(text)
  [['å', 'å'], ['Å', 'Å'], ['æ', 'æ'], ['Æ', 'Æ'], ['ø', 'ø'], ['Ø', 'Ø']].each do |rule|
    text = text.gsub(rule[0], rule[1])
  end
end

In your controller, you’d only need:

def update  
  @photographer = Photographer.find(params[:id])          
  @photographer.update_attributes(params[:photographer])
  flash[:notice] = " " #weird message BTW
  render :edit  
end