Module | ActionView::Helpers::FormOptionsHelper
In: | lib/action_view/helpers/form_options_helper.rb

Provides a number of methods for turning different kinds of containers into a set of option tags.

## Options

The `collection_select`, `country_select`, `select`, and `time_zone_select` methods take an `options` parameter, a hash.

- `:include_blank` - set to true if the first option element of the select element is a blank. Useful if there is not a default value required for the select element. For example,

  select("post", "category", Post::CATEGORIES, {:include_blank => true})

could become:

      <select name="post[category]">
        <option></option>
        <option>joke</option>
        <option>poem</option>
      </select>

- `:prompt` - set to true or a prompt string. When the select element doesn‘t have a value yet, this prepends an option with a generic prompt — "Please select" — or the given prompt string.

Another common case is a select tag for an `belongs_to`-associated object. For example,

      select("post", "person_id", Person.find(:all).collect {|p| [ p.name, p.id ] })

could become:

      <select name="post[person_id]">
        <option value="1">David</option>
        <option value="2">Sam</option>
        <option value="3">Tobias</option>
      </select>

### Methods

collection_select country_options_for_select country_select option_groups_from_collection_for_select options_for_select options_from_collection_for_select select time_zone_options_for_select time_zone_select

### Included Modules

ERB::Util

### Constants

COUNTRIES | = | [ "Afghanistan", "Albania", "Algeria", "American Samoa", "Andorra", "Angola", "Anguilla", "Antarctica", "Antigua And Barbuda", "Argentina", "Armenia", "Aruba", "Australia", "Austria", "Azerbaijan", "Bahamas", "Bahrain", "Bangladesh", "Barbados", "Belarus", "Belgium", "Belize", "Benin", "Bermuda", "Bhutan", "Bolivia", "Bosnia and Herzegowina", "Botswana", "Bouvet Island", "Brazil", "British Indian Ocean Territory", "Brunei Darussalam", "Bulgaria", "Burkina Faso", "Burma", "Burundi", "Cambodia", "Cameroon", "Canada", "Cape Verde", "Cayman Islands", "Central African Republic", "Chad", "Chile", "China", "Christmas Island", "Cocos (Keeling) Islands", "Colombia", "Comoros", "Congo", "Congo, the Democratic Republic of the", "Cook Islands", "Costa Rica", "Cote d'Ivoire", "Croatia", "Cuba", "Cyprus", "Czech Republic", "Denmark", "Djibouti", "Dominica", "Dominican Republic", "East Timor", "Ecuador", "Egypt", "El Salvador", "England", "Equatorial Guinea", "Eritrea", "Espana", "Estonia", "Ethiopia", "Falkland Islands", "Faroe Islands", "Fiji", "Finland", "France", "French Guiana", "French Polynesia", "French Southern Territories", "Gabon", "Gambia", "Georgia", "Germany", "Ghana", "Gibraltar", "Great Britain", "Greece", "Greenland", "Grenada", "Guadeloupe", "Guam", "Guatemala", "Guinea", "Guinea-Bissau", "Guyana", "Haiti", "Heard and Mc Donald Islands", "Honduras", "Hong Kong", "Hungary", "Iceland", "India", "Indonesia", "Ireland", "Israel", "Italy", "Iran", "Iraq", "Jamaica", "Japan", "Jordan", "Kazakhstan", "Kenya", "Kiribati", "Korea, Republic of", "Korea (South)", "Kuwait", "Kyrgyzstan", "Lao People's Democratic Republic", "Latvia", "Lebanon", "Lesotho", "Liberia", "Liechtenstein", "Lithuania", "Luxembourg", "Macau", "Macedonia", "Madagascar", "Malawi", "Malaysia", "Maldives", "Mali", "Malta", "Marshall Islands", "Martinique", "Mauritania", "Mauritius", "Mayotte", "Mexico", "Micronesia, Federated States of", "Moldova, Republic of", "Monaco", "Mongolia", "Montserrat", "Morocco", "Mozambique", "Myanmar", "Namibia", "Nauru", "Nepal", "Netherlands", "Netherlands Antilles", "New Caledonia", "New Zealand", "Nicaragua", "Niger", "Nigeria", "Niue", "Norfolk Island", "Northern Ireland", "Northern Mariana Islands", "Norway", "Oman", "Pakistan", "Palau", "Panama", "Papua New Guinea", "Paraguay", "Peru", "Philippines", "Pitcairn", "Poland", "Portugal", "Puerto Rico", "Qatar", "Reunion", "Romania", "Russia", "Rwanda", "Saint Kitts and Nevis", "Saint Lucia", "Saint Vincent and the Grenadines", "Samoa (Independent)", "San Marino", "Sao Tome and Principe", "Saudi Arabia", "Scotland", "Senegal", "Serbia and Montenegro", "Seychelles", "Sierra Leone", "Singapore", "Slovakia", "Slovenia", "Solomon Islands", "Somalia", "South Africa", "South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands", "South Korea", "Spain", "Sri Lanka", "St. Helena", "St. Pierre and Miquelon", "Suriname", "Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands", "Swaziland", "Sweden", "Switzerland", "Taiwan", "Tajikistan", "Tanzania", "Thailand", "Togo", "Tokelau", "Tonga", "Trinidad", "Trinidad and Tobago", "Tunisia", "Turkey", "Turkmenistan", "Turks and Caicos Islands", "Tuvalu", "Uganda", "Ukraine", "United Arab Emirates", "United Kingdom", "United States", "United States Minor Outlying Islands", "Uruguay", "Uzbekistan", "Vanuatu", "Vatican City State (Holy See)", "Venezuela", "Viet Nam", "Virgin Islands (British)", "Virgin Islands (U.S.)", "Wales", "Wallis and Futuna Islands", "Western Sahara", "Yemen", "Zambia", "Zimbabwe" ] unless const_defined?("COUNTRIES") |  | All the countries included in the country_options output.

### Public Instance methods

collection_select(object, method, collection, value_method, text_method, options = {}, html_options = {})

Return select and option tags for the given object and method using options_from_collection_for_select to generate the list of option tags.

country_options_for_select(selected = nil, priority_countries = nil)

Returns a string of option tags for pretty much any country in the world. Supply a country name as `selected` to have it marked as the selected option tag. You can also supply an array of countries as `priority_countries`, so that they will be listed above the rest of the (long) list.

NOTE: Only the option tags are returned, you have to wrap this call in a regular HTML select tag.

country_select(object, method, priority_countries = nil, options = {}, html_options = {})

Return select and option tags for the given object and method, using country_options_for_select to generate the list of option tags.

option_groups_from_collection_for_select(collection, group_method, group_label_method, option_key_method, option_value_method, selected_key = nil)

Returns a string of option tags, like options_from_collection_for_select, but surrounds them with <optgroup> tags.

An array of group objects are passed. Each group should return an array of options when calling group_method Each group should return its name when calling group_label_method.

html_option_groups_from_collection(@continents, "countries", "continent_name", "country_id", "country_name", @selected_country.id)

Could become:

     <optgroup label="Africa">
      <select>Egypt</select>
      <select>Rwanda</select>
      ...
     </optgroup>
     <optgroup label="Asia">
      <select>China</select>
      <select>India</select>
      <select>Japan</select>
      ...
     </optgroup>

with objects of the following classes: class Continent

      def initialize(p_name, p_countries) @continent_name = p_name; @countries = p_countries; end
      def continent_name() @continent_name; end
      def countries() @countries; end

end class Country

      def initialize(id, name) @id = id; @name = name end
      def country_id() @id; end
      def country_name() @name; end

end

NOTE: Only the option tags are returned, you have to wrap this call in a regular HTML select tag.

options_for_select(container, selected = nil)

Accepts a container (hash, array, enumerable, your type) and returns a string of option tags. Given a container where the elements respond to first and last (such as a two-element array), the "lasts" serve as option values and the "firsts" as option text. Hashes are turned into this form automatically, so the keys become "firsts" and values become lasts. If `selected` is specified, the matching "last" or element will get the selected option-tag. `Selected` may also be an array of values to be selected when using a multiple select.

Examples (call, result):

      options_for_select([["Dollar", "$"], ["Kroner", "DKK"]])
        <option value="$">Dollar</option>\n<option value="DKK">Kroner</option>

      options_for_select([ "VISA", "MasterCard" ], "MasterCard")
        <option>VISA</option>\n<option selected="selected">MasterCard</option>

      options_for_select({ "Basic" => "$20", "Plus" => "$40" }, "$40")
        <option value="$20">Basic</option>\n<option value="$40" selected="selected">Plus</option>

      options_for_select([ "VISA", "MasterCard", "Discover" ], ["VISA", "Discover"])
        <option selected="selected">VISA</option>\n<option>MasterCard</option>\n<option selected="selected">Discover</option>

NOTE: Only the option tags are returned, you have to wrap this call in a regular HTML select tag.

options_from_collection_for_select(collection, value_method, text_method, selected_value = nil)

Returns a string of option tags that have been compiled by iterating over the `collection` and assigning the the result of a call to the `value_method` as the option value and the `text_method` as the option text. If `selected_value` is specified, the element returning a match on `value_method` will get the selected option tag.

Example (call, result). Imagine a loop iterating over each `person` in `@project.people` to generate an input tag:

      options_from_collection_for_select(@project.people, "id", "name")
        <option value="#{person.id}">#{person.name}</option>

NOTE: Only the option tags are returned, you have to wrap this call in a regular HTML select tag.

select(object, method, choices, options = {}, html_options = {})

Create a select tag and a series of contained option tags for the provided object and method. The option currently held by the object will be selected, provided that the object is available. See options_for_select for the required format of the choices parameter.

Example with @post.person_id => 1:

      select("post", "person_id", Person.find(:all).collect {|p| [ p.name, p.id ] }, { :include_blank => true })

could become:

      <select name="post[person_id]">
        <option></option>
        <option value="1" selected="selected">David</option>
        <option value="2">Sam</option>
        <option value="3">Tobias</option>
      </select>

This can be used to provide a default set of options in the standard way: before rendering the create form, a new model instance is assigned the default options and bound to @model_name. Usually this model is not saved to the database. Instead, a second model object is created when the create request is received. This allows the user to submit a form page more than once with the expected results of creating multiple records. In addition, this allows a single partial to be used to generate form inputs for both edit and create forms.

By default, post.person_id is the selected option. Specify :selected => value to use a different selection or :selected => nil to leave all options unselected.

time_zone_options_for_select(selected = nil, priority_zones = nil, model = TimeZone)

Returns a string of option tags for pretty much any time zone in the world. Supply a TimeZone name as `selected` to have it marked as the selected option tag. You can also supply an array of TimeZone objects as `priority_zones`, so that they will be listed above the rest of the (long) list. (You can use TimeZone.us_zones as a convenience for obtaining a list of the US time zones.)

The `selected` parameter must be either `nil`, or a string that names a TimeZone.

By default, `model` is the TimeZone constant (which can be obtained in ActiveRecord as a value object). The only requirement is that the `model` parameter be an object that responds to all, and returns an array of objects that represent time zones.

NOTE: Only the option tags are returned, you have to wrap this call in a regular HTML select tag.

time_zone_select(object, method, priority_zones = nil, options = {}, html_options = {})

Return select and option tags for the given object and method, using time_zone_options_for_select to generate the list of option tags.

In addition to the `:include_blank` option documented above, this method also supports a `:model` option, which defaults to TimeZone. This may be used by users to specify a different time zone model object. (See time_zone_options_for_select for more information.)

[Validate]