Set :selected in simple_form on :include_blank

Ruby on Rails
1

I have the following input in form (simple_form)

<%= simple_form_for(@foo) do |f| %>
  <% f.input_field :bar, :collection => { 'Opt1' => 1, 'Opt2' => 2}, :include_blank => '(All)', :multiple => true %>                                                                                                     
<% end %>

The HTML output for this form would be:

<option value="">(All)</option>
<option value="1"Opt1</option>
<option value="2">Opt2</option>

I would like to set the (All) option as :selected, but (All) has a value of "".
I tried,

<% f.input_field :bar, :collection => { 'Opt1' => 1, 'Opt2' => 2}, :include_blank => '(All)', :multiple => true, :selected => '' %>

I also tried nil, "", " ", etc.

Is there a way to set :selected on the option that has been set in :include_blank?

2

Have you tried setting :bar to nil?

3

I have not tried setting :bar to null. What impact do you think that would have? I’m not sureI follow how that might change the selection for an option in the input_field?

4

So when I add :include_blank to a field it will have that as the default selected value for a new object. However, when editing a object it will set the select box to whatever has been chosen.

I presume you are trying to set the attribute :foo to blank. If :foo is set to something already, simple_form may be setting the select box to that value. When you run the code which option is selected?

5

Thanks for the feedback. The default selection based off of what :foo is set to is not a factor because I am setting :mutliple => true. With mutliple: => true, there is no longer a default selection based off of the testing that I have done.

6

Oh, is :foo an attribute your persisting to the database? With multiple: true there should most certainly be selected values so users are made aware of the selection they have made if they go back to edit the model.

If you are able to select multiple options, should there even be a blank value?

One last thing you could try, I think :multiple expects an array of values. You could try selected: [''] i.e.

<% f.input_field :bar, :collection => { 'Opt1' => 1, 'Opt2' => 2}, :include_blank => '(All)', :multiple => true, :selected => [''] %>

Let me know if that works.