Question

I have these 2 models:

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
  attr_accessible :contact, :name

  validates :name, :presence => true

  has_many :books

end

class Register < ActiveRecord::Base
  attr_accessible :checkin, :checkout, :notes, :person, :book

end

In registers/_form.html.erb I want to use f.collection_select where I can select a Person’s name from a list. The purpose of the Register model is to record a history of checkouts.

This is my first time trying to use collection_select and I can’t wrap my head around it with the examples I have read on stackoverflow and google. Maybe I don’t have all that is needed in the models?

Please help.

Answer 1

There are errors in your model with regards to associations. The correct associations should be:

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
   has_many :registers, :inverse_of => :person
end

class Register < ActiveRecord::Base
   belongs_to :person, :inverse_of => :registers
end

Then in your registers/_form.html.erb you have to have something like the following:

<%= form_for :register do |f| %>
   <% # ... input elements for the rest of the Register model %>

   <%= f.collection_select :person_id, Person.all, :id, :name %>

   <% # ... input elements for the rest of the Register model %>

   <%= f.submit %>
<% end %>