Question

Users are able to send each other messages on my Ruby app. The table is as followed:

t.string   "content"
t.integer  "from_id"
t.integer  "reply_to_id"
t.boolean  "read",       :default => false

I have recently added the boolean, :read, and I have the form linked to messages in their inbox. When they click “Mark Read” (the link provided via the form) I want it to toggle :read => true.

I am currently unable to accomplish this. This is my current setup.

_mark_read.html.erb
  <%= form_for(:message, :mark_read => {read: true}) do |f| %>
    <div><%= f.hidden_field :read %></div>
    <%= f.submit "Mark Read", class: "btn-link" %>
  <% end %>

Class MessagesController < ApplicationController
  def mark_read
    @message = current_user.messages.build
    @message.toggle!(:read)
  end

config/routes.rb
 match '/mark_read' => 'messages#mark_read', :via => :post, :as => :mark_read

When I click “Mark Read”, here is my debug info:

--- !ruby/hash:ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess
utf8: ✓
authenticity_token: ---
message: !ruby/hash:ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess
  read: 'false'
commit: Mark Read
controller: static_pages
action: connect

I can see it is not even using my controller… and even so; I don’t think I have it set up correctly.

Any advise as to how this should be set up would be kindly appreciated.

Answer 1

Believe it or not.. I didn’t even need a model, nor controller 😀 As I said it is rendered within a paginated set. This paginated set is defined at @inbox_items identified as inbox_item.id.

Here is the form that works without any need of a model or controller. It is simply defined in config/routes.rb as:

match '/mark_read' => 'messages#mark_read', :via => :post

The form:

<ul class="share-actions" id="mark_read<%= inbox_item.id %>">
  <%= form_for :mark_read do |f| %>  
    <%= f.check_box inbox_item.toggle!(:read) %>
    <%= f.submit "Mark Read", class: "btn btn-link" %>
  <% end %>
</ul>

Ammusing, huh? 😀

More information in-case you are curious. The base Class of rendered @inbox_items, is Class Message. Messages define all of user’s private posts. In the User class I begin to set up how @inbox_items will be defined:

Class User
  def inbox
    Message.from_users_inbox(self)
  end

Then I build the rest:

Class Message
  def self.from_users_inbox(user)
    "SELECT best_friend_id FROM friendships WHERE new_friend_id = :user_id"
    where("user_id = :user_id OR reply_to_id = :user_id", user_id: user.id)
  end

MemberpagesController
  def inbox
    @message = current_user.messages.build
    @inbox_items = current_user.inbox.paginate(page: params[:page])
  end

feeds/_inbox.html.erb
  <% if @inbox_items.any? %>
    <%= render: 'feeds/inbox_item', collection: @inbox_items %>
    <%= will_paginate @inbox_items %>
  <% end %>

And finally:

feeds/_inbox_item.html.erb
  <div id="<%= inbox_item.user.name %>_<%= inbox_item.id %>">
  ...
    <ul class="share-actions" id="mark_read<%= inbox_item.id %>">
      <%= form_for :mark_read do |f| %>  
        <%= f.check_box inbox_item.toggle!(:read) %>
        <%= f.submit "Mark Read", class: "btn btn-link" %>
      <% end %>
   </ul>
...

And that did it! 🙂