Question

is there a rails way to enable a text_field to select all text upon clicking on it? If not how can I enable the JavaScript to add that type of functionality?

<% text_field value => "highlight this", :after => "onClick="SelectAll('txtfld');"" %>  

Answer 1

I recommend reading this article:

highlight text on click textbox

It is exactly what you want.

<% form_for @foo do |f| %>
  <%= f.text_field :bar, :onclick => 'this.select();' %>
     or
  <%= text_field_tag :bar, nil, :onclick => 'this.select();' %>
<% end %>