Question

I am trying to write a controller method and a corresponding view which will call the controller on web2py using Ajax. The idea is to make a small update on the database and return a simple updated message on a target div using Ajax. Below is contoller method:

def deleteajax():
recid1 = request.vars.recid
reptype1 = request.vars.reptype
if recid1 == None:
    out = 'Missing Param : recid'
    return out
if reptype1 == None:
    reptype1 = 'pr'        
if reptype1 == 'pr':
    row = db2(db2.prs_mailed.id==recid1).select().first()
    return str(row.id)
elif reptype1 == 'tb':
    row = db2(db2.tbs_mailed.id==recid1).select().first()
else:
    return 'Please provide the parameter : rep'
if row['action'] == 'D':
    out = 'Already deleted'
    return out
else:
    row.update_record(action='D')
    out = 'Deleted Successfully!'
    return out

and this is how I am calling the same from view:

     <form>{{
     response.write('<input type="hidden" name="recid" value="'+str(response._vars['prs']['id'][k])+'"/>',escape=False)}}
     <input type ='button' name="del" value = "D"  onclick="ajax('deleteajax', ['reid'], 'target')" />
     <div id="target"></div>
     </form>

I have tested the controller individually using a POST call and that works. Even the AJAX call works and displays error messages like ‘Missing Param : recid’ on the target div. I even tried modifying the controller to show more messages after finishing each statement. However, post any database operation, no commands from the controller are getting executed, nor is anything showed on the target div. Where am I going wrong?

Answer 1

First, instead of this:

{{response.write('<input type="hidden" name="recid" value="' +
    str(response._vars['prs']['id'][k])+'"/>',escape=False)}}

Just do this:

<input type="hidden" name="recid" value="{{=prs['id'][k])}}"/>

There’s no need to use response.write or to access the “prs” object through response._vars (all the items in response._vars are available globally in the view environment).

Regarding the Ajax problem, your input element name is “recid”, but your ajax() call refers to “reid”. Change the latter to “recid” and see if it works.

UPDATE:

To create multiple unique recid’s, you could do:

name="{{='recid%s' % prs['id'][k]}}"

Then, in the controller, check for request.vars that start with “recid”:

recid = [v for v in request.post_vars if v.startswith('recid')]
if recid:
    recid = int(recid[0][5:])
    [code to delete record with id==recid]