Extra fields with custom rails form builder

forms, ruby, ruby-on-rails

Solution

It was kinda tricky (reasonable new to Ruby/Rails), but I found a solution. Put it in some helper file (or another location depending on your needs).

module ActionView::Helpers::FormHelper
  def form_for_with_updated_code(record_or_name_or_array, *args, &proc)
    form_for_without_updated_code(record_or_name_or_array, *args) { |f|
       concat(hidden_field_tag('extra','info'))
       proc.call(f)
    }
  end
  alias_method_chain :form_for, :updated_code
end

It overrides the form_for method and adds your hidden field. You could add code to extra personal options, for example to fill the hidden field(s), from the `*args` parameter using `extract_options!`.

Problem

I have a custom form builder, and one of the reasons for this custom builder is that for every form, I need to include some extra params that I don't want to explicitly put in with hidden field tags in every form I write. ``` for_for(@foo, :builder => MyBuilder) do |f| # stuff I shouldn't have to worry about # this should be put in all the time without me having to do it hidden_field_tag('extra', 'myextrainfo') # normal things I would put in f.text_field(:bar) end ``` What do I have to do in my custom form builder, or what can I override or method chain to add some extra hidden things in the form (without just adding URL params)?

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