Question

Ok so I have a delete users button

  <button id="delete" data="<%= user_path(@user) %>">Delete User</button>

which is using the jquery ui

   $("#delete").button();

and i want the clicking to delete the user so i have

   $("#delete").click(function(){
      if(confirm("Are you sure?")){
          var url = $(this).attr('data');
          $.post(url, {_method:'delete'}, null, "script");
          document.location = '<%= users_path %>';
          return false;
      } else {
          return false;
      }
   });

All works great but when the page refreshes I get no flash from my destroy action

def destroy
  User.find(params[:id]).destroy
  flash[:success] = "User deleted."
  redirect_to users_path
end

Any suggestions on how to fix this or restructure what i have done. I cant just use a link_to or button_to for styling purposes

Answer 1

Flash data only exists for the following request. It is being “eaten” by your AJAX postback.

When you post via $.post, you’re actually making two requests; the delete requests follows the redirect and issues a get request to users_path. That request sees the flash data. When you then set your document.location to users_path, there is no longer any flash data to render.

You absolutely should not be handling this through hand-rolled AJAX. Allow your link to be clicked like a regular link and allow Rails’ UJS to handle the post-back/confirm dialog. This should in no way impact your ability to style the link unless you’re doing something very wrong.