Question

I followed several tutorial to make this work, but I can’t get draggable items.
Here’s what i did:

added gem 'acts_as_list' in my GemFile and did a bundle install

added <%= javascript_include_tag :defaults %> to my application.html.erb

added an :integer column named position to my facilities;

added acts_as_list in my facility model;

added the sort method in my facility model:

 def sort
   @facilities = Facility.all
   @facilities.each do |f|
     f.position = params['f'].index(f.id.to_s) + 1
     f.save
   end
 end

added this in my view:

<ul id="facilities">
<% for facility in Facility.all %>
  <% content_tag_for :li, facility do %>
    <span class="handle">[drag]</span>
    <%= link_to h(facility.name), facility %>
  <% end %>
<% end %>
</ul>
<%= sortable_element("facilities", :url => sort_facilities_path, :handle => "handle") %>

added this to the routes:

  resources :facilities do  
    collection do  
      post :sort  
    end  
  end

But in the end i have only a normal list, not draggable!
What am i missing?

Thanks!

Answer 1

As far as I remember does acts_as_list only deal with lists in Rails’ models which means the server side of things. In order to make a list element draggable you’ll have to include a client side library or plugin such as jQuery UI. The gem itself doesn’t (or at least didn’t use to) include the functionality you’re describing.

This library or solution will then

1. make your elements draggable and
2. provide you with a callback to update the order in the DB (usually using an AJAX call)