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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-16T17:09:58+00:00

Ok, I have a model that is very simple: ServiceType(id: integer, title: string, duration:

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Ok, I have a model that is very simple:

ServiceType(id: integer, title: string, duration: integer, created_at: datetime, updated_at: datetime)

Because its so simple, It’s ridiculous that I should have a separate page for creating and updating those types of records. What I would like to do is have a form on my index page which I can use to create new records and if I click the edit link, I would like the form to load that record so that the form doubles as a create/update form.

Has anyone already done this before or does anyone know of a blog article somewhere that shows how to do this?

EDIT: Using the blog link posted below by Laheab I am at this point:
If you are using Rails 3, Laheab’s link is what you want, but BE WARNED!! The guy who wrote it left a ton of obvious errors in his code.. look for bad comment blocks like */ */ instead of /* */ and look for times where he is using jQuery but leaves off the $.

IF you are using Rails 2.3.x, I have posted my modified version of this as an answer.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    If you are running Rails 2.3.x, you need to modify what the guy does in this blog link.

    This is what I did to get create/edit/destroy(this isn’t working yet, it still renders destroy.js.erb as html for some reason) it to work:

    make rails app:

    $ rails post_app
$ cd post_app
$ script/generate scaffold Post title:string content:text
$ rake db:migrate

    And now add/replace the following files:

    public/javascripts/application.js (see Railscasts episode 136 http://railscasts.com/episodes/136-jquery):

    // Setting up ajax for sending javascript requests
jQuery.ajaxSetup({
  'beforeSend': function(xhr) {xhr.setRequestHeader("Accept", "text/javascript")}
});

jQuery.fn.submitWithAjax = function() {
  this.submit(function() {
    $.post(this.action, $(this).serialize(), null, "script");
    return false;
  });
  return this;
};

jQuery.fn.getWithAjax = function() {
  this.click(function() {
    $.get(this.href, null, null, "script");
    return false;
  });
  return this;
};

jQuery.fn.postWithAjax = function() {
  this.click(function() {
    $.post(this.href, null, null, "script");
    return false;
  });
  return this;
};

    app/controllers/posts_controller:

    class PostsController < ApplicationController
  before_filter :load

  def load
    @posts = Post.all
    @post = Post.new
  end

  def index
  end

  def edit
    @post = Post.find(params[:id])
    respond_to do |format|
      format.all {render :file => "#{RAILS_ROOT}/public/404.html", :status => '404 Not Found'}
      format.js {render :layout => false}
    end
  end

  def create
    @post = Post.new(params[:post])

    if @post.save
      flash[:notice] = 'Post was successfully created.'
      @posts = Post.all
    end

    respond_to do |format|
      format.js {render :layout => false }
    end
  end

  def update
    @post = Post.find(params[:id])

    if @post.update_attributes(params[:post])
      flash[:notice] = 'Post was successfully updated.'
      @posts = Post.all
    end
    respond_to do |format|
      format.js {render :layout => false }
    end
  end

  def destroy
    @post = Post.find(params[:id])
    @post.destroy
    flash[:notice] = "Successfully destroyed post."
    @posts = Post.all
    respond_to do |format|
      format.js {render :layout => false }
    end
  end
end

    app/views/layouts/posts.html.erb

    <!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
  <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
  <title>Posts: <%= controller.action_name %></title>
  <%= stylesheet_link_tag 'scaffold' %>
  <%= javascript_include_tag 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js', 'application' %>
  <%= javascript_include_tag 'rails' %>
  <%= yield :head %>
</head>
<body>
  <div id="container">
    <div id="flash_notice" style="display: none; color: green"></div>
    <%= yield %>
  </div>
</body>
</html>

    under app/views/posts delete EVERYTHING and add the following files:

    index.html.erb:

    <%- content_for :head do -%>
  <%= javascript_include_tag '/posts.js' %>
<% end %>
<h1>Listing posts</h1>
<%= render :partial => "form" %>
<div id="posts_list">
<%= render :partial => "posts" %>
</div>

    index.js.erb:

    // Setting up the ajax requests for the forms/links.
$(document).ready(function() {
  $("#new_post").submitWithAjax();
  $("a.edit").each(function(){
    $(this).getWithAjax();
  });
  $("a.destroy").each(function(){
    $(this).postWithAjax();
  });
});

    create.js.erb:

    <% if @post.errors.any? -%>
  /*Hide the flash notice div*/
  $("#flash_notice").hide(300);

  /*Update the html of the div post_errors with the new one*/
  $("#post_errors").html("<%= escape_javascript(error_messages_for(@post))%>");

  /*Show the div post_errors*/
  $("#post_errors").show(300);
<% else -%>
  /*Hide the div post_errors*/
  $("#post_errors").hide(300);

  /*Update the html of the div flash_notice with the new one*/
  $("#flash_notice").html("<%= escape_javascript(flash[:notice])%>");

  /*Show the flash_notice div*/
  $("#flash_notice").show(300);

  /*Clear the entire form*/
  $(":input:not(input[type=submit])").val("");

  /*Replace the html of the div post_lists with the updated new one*/
  $("#posts_list").html("<%= escape_javascript( render(:partial => "posts") ) %>");
<% end -%>

    destroy.js.erb:

    $("#post_errors").hide(300);
$("#flash_notice").html("<%= escape_javascript(flash[:notice])%>");
$("#flash_notice").show(300);
$("#posts_list").html("<%= escape_javascript( render(:partial => "posts") ) %>");

    _posts.erb:

    <table>
  <tr>
    <th>Title</th>
    <th>Content</th>
  </tr>
  <% for post in @posts %>
    <tr>
      <td><%= post.title %></td>
      <td><%= post.content %></td>
      <td><%= link_to "Edit", edit_post_path(post), :class => "edit" %></td>
      <td><%= link_to "Destroy", post, :confirm => 'Are you sure?', :method => :delete, :class => 'destroy' %></td>
    </tr>
  <% end %>
</table>

    edit.js.erb:

    $("#new_post").html("<%= escape_javascript(render(:partial => "form"))%>");
$("#post_title").val('<%= escape_javascript(@post.title)%>');
$("#post_content").val('<%= escape_javascript(@post.content)%>');

    _form.erb:

    <% form_for @post do |f| %>
  <div id="post_errors" style="display:none"></div>
  <p>
    <%= f.label :title %><br/>
    <%= f.text_field :title %>
  </p>
  <p>
    <%= f.label :content %><br/>
    <%= f.text_area :content, :rows => 5 %>
  </p>
  <p><%= f.submit %></p>
<% end %>

    update.js.erb:

    <% if @post.errors.any? -%>
  $("#flash_notice").hide(300);
  $("#post_errors").html("<%= escape_javascript(error_messages_for(@post))%>");
  $("#post_errors").show(300);
<% else -%>
  $("#post_errors").hide(300);
  $("#flash_notice").html("<%= escape_javascript(flash[:notice])%>");
  $("#flash_notice").show(300);
  $(":input:not(input[type=submit])").val("");
  $("#posts_list").html("<%= escape_javascript( render(:partial => "posts") ) %>");
<% end -%>
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