Declare Array Variable To Use In A Ruby On Rails View

Question

I am using Ruby 1.9.3 and Rails 3.2.6. I want to create a page where users can invite friends to sign up. The page would contain a number of fields where a user can enter email addresses. I would like these stored in an array. Basically each field on the page would be an element in the array. My hope is to loop through the array elements, verify each email address entered, update a temp email field on my table then launch an ActionMailer to send the invite email.

I would like this array initialized each time the user goes to the invite page. From what I have read in the book Programming Ruby 1.9 I should be able to declare an array like this somewhere.

friend_email = Array.new

I need the variable available long enough to access it in my controller when I verify the data entered in my view. From my limited understanding of variables they generally are not available outside of where they are declared aka initialized. This makes it interesting when trying to send entered information to a mailer. I have used temp fields on my model to simplify things.

If there is a better way to do this I would appreciate the information. I will also continue doing research. I have seen only the one I list below where an array is populated by an existing table then displayed in a view. I want to populate the array from the view.

Render an array in a view in ruby on rails

Any help would be appreciated.

Why Array? Why not standard ActiveRecord model, say, Invitation, which can belongs_to User? — denis.peplin
– denis.peplin, Commented Jul 27, 2012 at 18:21
@denis.peplin -- sounds like the OP doesn't want/need a long-term record of the people invited. Thus storing in dbms via AR would be overkill. — Larry K
– Larry K, Commented Jul 27, 2012 at 18:30
At least you will have history log about a person, who sends tons of spam using your forms. Or, from optimistic point of view, nice statistic graphs. — denis.peplin
– denis.peplin, Commented Jul 27, 2012 at 19:06
I had gone back and forth about whether to use ActiveRecord or not. I had decided not to use it. However the idea of making sure that people do not use it for spamming is something I definitely need to consider. Using ActiveRecord would definitely let us know where they are sending emails to. The whole point of requiring user accounts (with our approval) is to prevent our system from being used for spam, hackers, etc. I will definitely reconsider my approach. — Pamela Cook - LightBe Corp
– Pamela Cook - LightBe Corp, Commented Jul 27, 2012 at 20:19
Great. I think, using ActiveRecord is better and easier way. — denis.peplin
– denis.peplin, Commented Jul 28, 2012 at 12:55

MurifoX · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-27 18:20:05Z

0

Well, i believe a good approach to this problem could be the use of a single text_field that the user would input emails separated by commas/colons/semi-colons/whatever, and when submited, the controller would separate these emails using the split method and some regex, then validate each one of those. If a validations passes you have on your hand an array of emails.
I don't think you really need an array to do this.

answered Jul 27, 2012 at 18:20

MurifoX

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1 Comment

Pamela Cook - LightBe Corp Over a year ago

I agree about not using the array. I really appreciate your input along with everyone else. I realized that I did not think this through like I normally would. As much as I did not want to create another model I think it is the most prudent thing to do in order to have more control of what our website is being used for. We will have a record of who sent the invitations in the table along with bcc emails that we will get. We can delete and block the user from our system. Thanks so much. We also plan to implement a captcha.

Larry K · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-27 18:55:05Z

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I don't see how your Active Record (AR) model is at all involved if all you want to do is show/process a list of email addresses. If they don't need to be in the dbms and aren't involved with an AR model, then don't involve an AR model.

To answer the title of your q: "Declare Array Variable To Use In A Ruby On Rails View" --

A: declare the array as an instance variable in the controller. (instance variables start with an @) All instance variables declared in the controller are automatically available in the view.

def show_emails
  @emails = []
return  # the view "show_emails" will be used

def process_emails
  @emails = params['emails'] || []

  ...
     # check the emails. If there's a bad one, you can 
     #   re-render the show_emails view with an error msg
     # or send out the emails and then show a confirmation page
end

answered Jul 27, 2012 at 18:55

Larry K

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2 Comments

denis.peplin Over a year ago

Not RESTful. Vote for EmailsController with new and create actions.

Pamela Cook - LightBe Corp Over a year ago

I will be discussing this with my husband aka business partner. I think we will end up using a model for this. It will definitely be a lot easier to program and we will be able to keep track of people who want to use our website for unintended purposes.

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