Question

i have this form that saves the relation between 2 tables in my db

Treatments belongs_to :category

Category has_many :treatments

When a treatment is created it should save the id of the category and i want the category to be a drop down list, here is my code for the form :

<%= form_for(@treatment) do |f| %>  
  <div class="field">
    <select> 
      <% Category.find(:all).each do |cat| %>   
        <option><%= cat.name %></option>  
      <% end %>
    </select>
  </div>

<div class="field">
  <%= f.label :name %><br />
  <%= f.text_field :name %>
</div>

<div class="actions">
  <%= f.submit %>
</div>

Okey so i was able to display all the categories names but im kinda lost at how i should save the cat.id with the form

btw im quite new to rails if you haven’t noticed 🙂

any thoughts ?

UPDATE

here is the html that is generated

<div class="field">
  <label for="treatment_category">Category</label>
  <br>
    <select id="category_category_id" name="category[category_id]">
    <option value="">Velja flokk</option>
    <option value="1">Nudd</option>
    <option value="2">Heilun</option>
    <option value="3">Nálastunga</option>
  </select>
</div>

okey noticed an error in the html changed id="treatment_category_id" and now in my show view i see the categorie connected to the treatment but its name looks like Category:0x3eb7d90

here is my view, its just a basic scaffold but i added the .name

<p>
 <b>Category:</b>
  <%= @treatment.category.name %>
</p>

<p>
  <b>Name:</b>
  <%= @treatment.name %>
</p>

Answer 1

USE an HTML SELECT BOX and set the values to the id values and the text to the names of the categories.
If you need to save more than 1 id then you can use javascript to append a hidden input with the value of the id to save when the form is posted.