How do I create a form that submits two dates and outputs the report?

Question

I currently have a controller which produces a report. This is the controller:

def last5days

    #@monday = (Time.now).at_beginning_of_week

    @monday = (Time.now).months_ago(1)
    #@friday = 5.days.since(@monday)-1.second
    @friday = (Time.now)
    @sent_emails = ContactEmail.all(:conditions => ['date_sent >= ? and date_sent <= ?', @monday, @friday])

    @made_calls = ContactCall.all(:conditions => ['date_sent >= ? and date_sent <= ?', @monday, @friday])

    @letters_sent = ContactLetter.all(:conditions => ['date_sent >= ? and date_sent <= ?', @monday, @friday])

    @contacts_added = Contact.all(:conditions => ['date_entered >= ? and date_entered <= ?', @monday, @friday])

    #@table = ContactEmail.report_table(:all,
     #                                   :conditions => ['date_sent >= ? and date_sent <= ?', @monday, @friday])

    #@grouping = Grouping(@table, :by => "email_id")                                    

  end

Instead of hardcoding monday and friday, I want to have an interface where someone can select the start and end dates, hit submit, and the output gets returned.

I'm having troubling finding an example or knowing exactly what to do.

I started with a new view:

<%= render :partial => 'form' %>


<div id = 'display'>

</div>

I want the output from the controller to be displayed in "display" via Ajax.

I tried to create the form as follows:

<% remote_form_for  do |f| %>

  <p>
    <%= f.label :start_date %><br />
    <%= f.date_select_tag :start_date %>
  </p>
  <p>
    <%= f.label :end_date %><br />
    <%= f.date_select_tag :end_date %>
  </p>
  <p><%= f.submit "Submit" %></p>


 <% end %>

And then my plan was to change the controller to accept params[:start_date] and params[:end_date]

But I don't think I quite know how the pieces fit together to make this work. Guidance? Help?

Here is what I am trying now:

VIEW: find_start_end.html.erg

<% form_tag('return_search') do %>
  <p>
    <label>Start Date</label> <%= date_select('start_date', 'params') %>|
     <label>End Date</label> <%= date_select :end_date, params[:end_date] %>
  </p>
  <p><%= submit_tag "Get Stats" %></p>
<% end %>

CONTROLLER:

def return_search

    @sent_emails = ContactEmail.all(:conditions => ['date_sent >= ? and date_sent <= ?', params[:start_date], params[:end_date]])

    @made_calls = ContactCall.all(:conditions => ['date_sent >= ? and date_sent <= ?', params[:start_date], params[:end_date]])

    @letters_sent = ContactLetter.all(:conditions => ['date_sent >= ? and date_sent <= ?', params[:start_date], params[:end_date]])

    @contacts_added = Contact.all(:conditions => ['date_entered >= ? and date_entered <= ?', params[:start_date], params[:end_date]])

    respond_to do |format|

      format.html #view needs to be the same name as the method

    end 

    def find_start_end

    end

Answer 1

1) Make sure you get a basic HTML version up first 2) Then transfer this to Ajax.

This flow gets everyone on board and keeps logic organized.

All of your logic is correct so I will just give you the code for the HTML version and once you get that up you can get the remote version going.

controller:

 def index
       @start_date = Date.strptime(params[:start_date],"%d/%m/%Y")
       @end_date = Date.strptime(params[:end_date],"%d/%m/%Y")
       @stuffs = Stuff.find(:all, :conditions => ["created_at > ? and updated_at < ?",@start_date, @end_date])
      responds_to do |format|
          format.html #view needs to be the same name as the method
      end 
 end 

view

<% form_tag(stuffs_path, :method => :get) do %>
  <p>
    <label>Start Date</label> <%= datetime_select :start_date, params[:start_date] %> |
     <label>End Date</label> <%= datetime_select :end_date, params[:end_date] %>
  </p>
  <p><%= submit_tag "Get Stats", :disable_with => "Getting stats..." %></p>
<% end %>

routes.rb

you need a line at the top like this:

map.resources :stuffs

Basically what this does is create specific routes. Now you can call stuffs_path and it will go to the index action.

If you are not using REST the search_stuff_path could be :controller => :your_controller => :action => your_action. IF you are using REST you need to add this as a member to your routes.rb in config. If you need more info let me know.

BTW - I used stuffs to be a generic term for your resource. I think what you want would be report so the controller, routes, and views would be reports_path and map.resources :reports respectively.

So now that you got the HTML version going it's easy to get remote going.

controller

def index
    responds_to do |format|
        format.js render :partial => "remote_report"
        # you can use RJS or a partial. 
        # If it's one place you want to update just use a partial.
        # Create a file _remote_report.html.erb as a partial.
        # Put this in the views folder of course
    end 
end 

In your view:

 <div id="div_id_to_update">
 <% remote_form_tag(stuffs_path, :method => :get, :update => "div_id_to_update") do %>
   <p>
     your form methods here
   </p>
   <p>your submit tag here</p>
 <% end %>
 </div>

Those are the parts you need to change to make it remote based.