Question

When using simple_form and creating a field for a HABTM associated model, we obtain a select box that accepts multiple options.

Is there any way of having multiple select boxes that accept a single option?

If we have categories, for example:

Category1 => <select>options...</select>
Category2 => <select>options...</select>
Category3 => <select>options...</select>
etc...

Answer 1

Assuming the following models:

class Business < ActiveRecord::Base
    has_and_belongs_to_many :categories

class Category < ActiveRecord::Base
    has_and_belongts_to_many :businesses

You can use the following rails helper to show a select box for each category.

- @business.categories.each do |c|
      = f.collection_select :category_ids, Category.all, :id, :name, {:selected => c.id}, {:name => 'business[category_ids][]'}

Then you can use javascript to dynamically create new select boxes. This railscast explains the basics.