View helper generates html output for a Twitter Bootstrap styled control group

Example.md

Twitter Bootstrap control_container method

This view helper generates html output for a Twitter Bootstrap styled control-group
(input fields and check_boxes).

Basic usage in a view html.erb file (pass in the Model and the Attribute name):

<%= control_container(@user, :name) %>

It renders the following:

• a label
• textbox (or other field type specified in options hash)
• a help text string (if passed)

Example HTML output:

<div class="control-group">
   <label class="control-label" for="user_name">Name</label>
   <div class="controls">
     <input id="user_name" name="user[name]" size="30" type="text" value="John Smith" />
   </div>
</div>

Label text will default to the model attribute name. You can override it in the options hash. Help text (if passed) will be located below the textbox by default, but you can pass a hash option to have the help text placed inline with the control.

You can pass these options in an options hash:

• :label_text
• :help_text
• :help_inline
• :field_type
  (default field_type is "text_field",
  other options: "text_area", "email_field", "password_field", "url_field" "check_box", etc.)

Here's an example of how to use the options hash:

<%= control_container(@user, :password, {:label_text => "New password",
                                         :help_text => "(leave blank if you don't want to change it)",
                                         :help_inline => true,
                                         :field_type => "password_field"}) %>

HTML output from above:

<div class="control-group">
  <label class="control-label" for="user_password">New password</label>
  <div class="controls">
    <input id="user_password" name="user[password]" size="30" type="password" />
    <span class="help-inline"><i>(leave blank if you don't want to change it)</i></span>
  </div>
</div>

Learn more about creating helpers here: http://vanderburg.org/Speaking/CustomRailsHelpers.pdf

twitter_bootstrap_control_container.rb

def control_container(object, data_field, options = {})

  #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # Twitter Bootstrap styled control-group
  # See help file at: https://gist.github.com/2505143 by Matt Slay
  #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  #-- Parse the parameters ------------------------------
  object = object.class.to_s.split("::").last.underscore
  field_name = data_field.to_s

  label_text = options[:label_text] ||= data_field.to_s.humanize()
  help_text = options[:help_text] || ""
  help_inline = options[:help_inline] ||= false
  field_type = options[:field_type] ||= "text_field"

  label = label_tag(object + "_" + field_name, label_text, :class => "control-label")

  input = eval(field_type + "(object, field_name)")

  if !help_text.empty?
    help_class = "help-" + (help_inline == true ? "inline" : "block")
    help = %{<span class="#{help_class}"><i>#{help_text}</i></span>}
  end

  html = %{
         <div class="control-group">
            #{label}
            <div class="controls">
              #{input}
              #{help}
            </div>
        </div>
  }

  return html.html_safe

end