collection_check_boxes

Returns check box tags for the collection of existing return values of method for object's class. The value returned from calling method on the instance object will be selected. If calling method returns nil, no selection is made.

The :value_method and :text_method parameters are methods to be called on each member of collection. The return values are used as the value attribute and contents of each check box tag, respectively. They can also be any object that responds to call, such as a proc, that will be called for each member of the collection to retrieve the value/text.

Example object structure for use with this method:

class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_and_belongs_to_many :authors
end
class Author < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_and_belongs_to_many :posts
  def name_with_initial
    "#{first_name.first}. #{last_name}"
  end
end

Sample usage (selecting the associated Author for an instance of Post, @post):

collection_check_boxes(:post, :author_ids, Author.all, :id, :name_with_initial)

If @post.author_ids is already [1], this would return:

<input id="post_author_ids_1" name="post[author_ids][]" type="checkbox" value="1" checked="checked" />
<label for="post_author_ids_1">D. Heinemeier Hansson</label>
<input id="post_author_ids_2" name="post[author_ids][]" type="checkbox" value="2" />
<label for="post_author_ids_2">D. Thomas</label>
<input id="post_author_ids_3" name="post[author_ids][]" type="checkbox" value="3" />
<label for="post_author_ids_3">M. Clark</label>
<input name="post[author_ids][]" type="hidden" value="" />

It is also possible to customize the way the elements will be shown by giving a block to the method:

collection_check_boxes(:post, :author_ids, Author.all, :id, :name_with_initial) do |b|
  b.label { b.check_box }
end

The argument passed to the block is a special kind of builder for this collection, which has the ability to generate the label and check box for the current item in the collection, with proper text and value. Using it, you can change the label and check box display order or even use the label as wrapper, as in the example above.

The builder methods label and check_box also accept extra HTML options:

collection_check_boxes(:post, :author_ids, Author.all, :id, :name_with_initial) do |b|
  b.label(class: "check_box") { b.check_box(class: "check_box") }
end

There are also three special methods available: object, text and value, which are the current item being rendered, its text and value methods, respectively. You can use them like this:

collection_check_boxes(:post, :author_ids, Author.all, :id, :name_with_initial) do |b|
   b.label(:"data-value" => b.value) { b.check_box + b.text }
end