Ruby on rails Landing Page

Question

I have an extremelly basic rails 4 application. It's like a landing page with a video embeded from youtube and with a field for the user put his email and zipcode...

So, I am having trouble to save this user's email and zip code, actually, I am new at rails and I don't know how to do it... I have created a model called Information, with an email and zipcode(both strings)... I have a view called home with this code:

    <%= form_for :information do |f| %>
  <div class="form-group">
       <%= f.label :Email_address %>
       <%= f.text_field :email, class: "form-control", :autofocus => true, placeholder: "Enter email" %>
  </div>

  <div class="form-group">
       <%= f.label :Zip_Code %>
       <%= f.text_field :zipcode, class: "form-control", :autofocus => true, placeholder: "Zip Code" %>
  </div>

  <div class="form-group">
        <%= f.submit "Submit", class: "btn btn-danger" %>
  </div>
<% end %>

But when I click submit nothing happens, I think I should create a controller but I dont know what to put on it to make it work! What should I do to collect just this two information in the best way? Thanks very much!

Answer 1

Let me explain some things for you, as you're new

---

Objects

Ruby (& Rails by virtue of being built on Ruby) is object orientated. This means that every interaction you make with the Rails backend (the landing page doesn't interact with the backend initially), has to be centred around objects

Although you've done well by creating the respective objects (with the Information model), you need to appreciate the process of creating, populating & initializing the respecting objects

--

Form

You're using form_for requires an ActiveRecord object. This is your major downfall - say your landing page is at application#welcome, here's the

#app/controllers/application_controller.rb
Class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
   def welcome
      @information = Information.new #-> creates "information" object
   end
end

The form_for method can then take the @information object, to populate the data as required:

#app/views/application/welcome.html.erb
<%= form_for @information do |f| %>
   <%= f.text_field :email %>
   <%= f.text_field :zipcode %>
   <%= f.submit %>
<% end %>

Notice how you're using the @information object here? This is where the ActiveRecord object comes in - allowing you to "populate" that as you wish

--

Backend

#config/routes.rb
root: "application#welcome"
resources :information, only: :create

The form_for will send your request to information_controller.rb:

#app/controllers/information_controller.rb
Class InformationController < ApplicationController
   def create
      @information = Information.new(information_params)
      if @information.save
         flash[:notice] = "Message Sent - Thank you!"
         redirect_to "application#welcome"
      end
   end

   private

   def information_params
       params.require(:information).permit(:email, :zipcode)
   end
end

This will be able to take the @information object, populate it in the database, and then redirect to the original "landing" page again.

Answer 2

You will need controller with two actions: :new and :create. in console rails g controller informations (I assume your model called Information). In this file

def new
  @information = Information.new
end

def create
  @information = Information.new(information_params)
  redirect_to @information
end

private

def information_params
 params.require(:information).permit(:email, :zipcode)
end

And then this code should go into /view/informations/new as new.erb

<%= form_for @information do |f| %>
  <div class="form-group">
       <%= f.label :Email_address %>
       <%= f.text_field :email, class: "form-control", :autofocus => true, placeholder: "Enter email" %>
  </div>

  <div class="form-group">
       <%= f.label :Zip_Code %>
       <%= f.text_field :zipcode, class: "form-control", :autofocus => true, placeholder: "Zip Code" %>
  </div>

  <div class="form-group">
        <%= f.submit "Submit", class: "btn btn-danger" %>
  </div>
<% end %>

And take a look at some quick tutorial to have a basic understanding of how MVC established. This guide http://www.railstutorial.org/book is what almost everyone start.