Rails Helpers You Should Know

Introduction

When working with Ruby on Rails, helpers are a powerful tool that can help you clean up your views and keep your code DRY. In this article, we will explore some of the most useful Rails helpers that you should know about.

Form Helpers

Form_for

The form_for helper is used to create a form for a specific model object. It automatically generates the appropriate form tags and input fields based on the attributes of the model object. Here's an example:


<%= form_for @user do |f| %>
  <%= f.label :username %>
  <%= f.text_field :username %>
  <%= f.label :email %>
  <%= f.email_field :email %>
  <%= f.submit %>
<% end %>

Form_tag

The form_tag helper is used to create a form that is not tied to a specific model object. This is useful for creating forms for actions that do not directly correspond to a database record. Here's an example:


<%= form_tag '/search', method: :get do %>
  <%= text_field_tag :query %>
  <%= submit_tag 'Search' %>
<% end %>

Link Helpers

Link_to

The link_to helper is used to create links in your views. It takes the text to display as the first argument and the URL as the second argument. Here's an example:


<%= link_to 'Home', root_path %>
<%= link_to 'Profile', user_path(@user) %>

Button_to

The button_to helper is used to create a form that submits via a button click. It takes the text to display on the button as the first argument and the URL as the second argument. Here's an example:


<%= button_to 'Delete', user_path(@user), method: :delete %>

Asset Helpers

Image_tag

The image_tag helper is used to display an image in your views. It takes the path to the image as the first argument. Here's an example:


<%= image_tag 'logo.png' %>

Javascript_include_tag

The javascript_include_tag helper is used to include JavaScript files in your views. It takes the path to the JavaScript file as the first argument. Here's an example:


<%= javascript_include_tag 'application' %>

Text Helpers

Pluralize

The pluralize helper is used to pluralize a word based on a count. It takes the count as the first argument and the word to pluralize as the second argument. Here's an example:


<%= pluralize(1, 'comment') %>
<%= pluralize(2, 'comment') %>

Truncate

The truncate helper is used to truncate a string to a specified length. It takes the string to truncate as the first argument and the length to truncate to as the second argument. Here's an example:


<%= truncate('Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet', length: 10) %>

Conclusion

Rails helpers are a powerful tool that can help you write cleaner and more maintainable code. By familiarizing yourself with the helpers mentioned in this article, you can streamline your development process and improve the readability of your views. Happy coding!