Question

I’m learning Rails by writing simple TODO tasks aplication.
Two models are:

class List < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :tasks, :dependent => :destroy
  # ...
end

class Task < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :list
  # ...
end

Tasks are routed as a nested resources under Lists. So when a new Task is created by user a POST message is sent to /lists/:list_id/tasks. So far in Tasks#new view’s form there is

f.hidden_field :list_id, :value => params[:list_id]

but it’s a terrible solution, because anyone can change value of that hidden field.

What is the convention here? Should I put something like

@task.list_id = params[:list_id]

in Tasks#create action and get rid of the hidden field, or maybe

@task = List.find(params[:list_id]).tasks.new(params[:task])
if @task.save
  # ...
end

or there is even a better way I don’t know about?

Edit:
Yeah, well there was similar question and its answer is pretty much covering my question. If you have different one please post it.

Answer 1

You’re right – that would be horrible. No need for hidden fields. Something like the following.

In your TasksController:

def new
  @list = List.find(params[:list_id])
  @task = @list.tasks.build
end

def create
  @list = List.find(params[:list_id])
  @task = @list.tasks.new(params[:task])

  # etc
end

In your Task#new view:

<% form_for [@list, @task] ... %>
  ...
<% end %>