Question

The standard Rails validation wraps my error-filled fields in a div of class fieldWithErrors.

How can I change it so that the erroneous element’s parent gets assigned that class instead of having a new div created on the page?

EDIT:

Per this website, this wraps errors in spans instead of divs, which helps my formatting a little, but I’d really love to just stick the error class in the parent element…

app/config/environment.rb (in the initializer block):

config.action_view.field_error_proc = Proc.new { |html_tag, instance| %(<span class="fieldWithErrors">#{html_tag}</span>) }

The Hpricot method listed on that site looks like what I want, but I don’t know where I should be putting it. I also keep getting uninitialized constant ActionView errors too. Can someone help?

Answer 1

Awesome!

I figured out how to get this post working (I know, I’m such a newbie).

Create a new file in app/config/initializers; I called mine error_formatting.rb.

Paste the optimized method from the website listed above in there:

ActionView::Base.field_error_proc = Proc.new do |html_tag, instance|
   ...
end

Save. Throw in some hpricot with a pinch of config.gem 'hpricot' in the app/config/environment.rb intializer block, then rake gems:install, restart the app, and now my app is working exactly the way I want it too, like a cute little kitten.