I have a form to user login:
<%= form_tag(@action, :method => "post", :name => 'signup' ,:onSubmit => 'return validate();') do %>
<%= label_tag(:user, "Username:") %>
<%= text_field_tag(:user) %>
I want to check if there is the username in the database immediately after :user-field lost focus. I can override this event on the form with javascript, but I can not send Ruby-AJAX request from javascipt code.
Is there any way to check username without adding additional controls (buttons, links) on the form?
For what reason can you not send an ajax request from javascript code?
The best way would be to send a GET ajax request when the focus is lost. The get request could then return true or false and your javascript could then reflect this on the page.
You can use some JavaScript (this one written with jQuery) for AJAX cheking:
$(function() {
$('[data-validate]').blur(function() {
$this = $(this);
$.get($this.data('validate'), {
user: $this.val()
}).success(function() {
$this.removeClass('field_with_errors');
}).error(function() {
$this.addClass('field_with_errors');
});
});
});
This JavaScript will look for any fields with attribute data-validate
. Then it assings onBlur
event handler (focus lost in JavaScript world). On blur handler will send AJAX request to the URL specified in data-validate
attribute and pass parameter user
with input value.
Next modify your view to add attribute data-validate
with validation URL:
<%= text_field_tag(:user, :'data-validate' => '/users/checkname') %>
Next add route:
resources :users do
collection do
get 'checkname'
end
end
And last step create your validation:
class UsersController < ApplicationController
def checkname
if User.where('user = ?', params[:user]).count == 0
render :nothing => true, :status => 200
else
render :nothing => true, :status => 409
end
return
end
#... other controller stuff
end
I answered this in another post.
It is a friendly way for validating forms if you do not want to write it all from scratch using an existing jquery plugin. Check it out and if you like it let me know!