Question

In my view, let’s say I have something like this:

<%= f.text_field :name_first %>

and another time this:

<%= f.text_field :name_last %>

Instead of hard-coding the field names, I want to dynamically generate them using a view helper method.

def category_name
    @contact_info.category.name
end

def return_field_name
  category_lower = category_name.downcase
  ":name"+category_lower  
end

So now my view should have something like this:

 <%= f.text_field return_field_name %>

Answer 1

Write:

def return_field_name
  category_lower = category_name.downcase
  "name#{category_lower}".to_sym
  # but I'm sure that without #to_sym it should work as well
end

But if it will help you you should write only pure methods. IMHO it’s very good practice.