Ruby On Rails - Collection Select - MYSQL Database - Problem Displaying ampersand ("&")

Question

I am having an annoying problem displaying the labels of a select box correctly where there is an ampersand contained within the label string.

On a form being rendered with the form_for helper the collection_select reads data from a Mysql 5.075 database the text stored in the database is "Surabaya & Surrounding Areas" when rendered and displayed in firefox 3.6 or safari is is displaying as "Surabaya %amp; Surrounding Areas".

The code used to render the select is as follows:

<%= f.collection_select :parent_id, Destination.roots, :id, :name, {:include_blank => true} %>

I have tried adding a h(:name) and also storing && in the database but it still will not display the ampersand correctly. Have searched on google for what I thought would be a simple solution but cant find anything that solves this.

Using ROR 2.3.5/Ruby 1.8.7

If anyone has a solution it will be much appreciated.

many thanks,

David

Answer 1

I had a similar problem and had to rewrite it to use sanitize and just select. For example,

<%= f.select :parent_id, Destination.roots.all.collect {|d| [sanitize(d.name), d.id]}, {:include_blank => true} %>