Link helper VS typing URL

Question

Something weird is happening and I don't know why.

When I use the helper <%= link_to "New game", new_game_path %>, my new game form does not submit.

But when I acesses the view typing the URL localhost:3000/games/new form works just well

Any idea how to solve that?

Thanks,

Here my rake routes

Prefix Verb   URI Pattern                               Controller#Action
                  root GET    /                                         games#index
         user_sessions GET    /user_sessions(.:format)                  user_sessions#index
                       POST   /user_sessions(.:format)                  user_sessions#create
      new_user_session GET    /user_sessions/new(.:format)              user_sessions#new
     edit_user_session GET    /user_sessions/:id/edit(.:format)         user_sessions#edit
          user_session GET    /user_sessions/:id(.:format)              user_sessions#show
                       PATCH  /user_sessions/:id(.:format)              user_sessions#update
                       PUT    /user_sessions/:id(.:format)              user_sessions#update
                       DELETE /user_sessions/:id(.:format)              user_sessions#destroy
                 users GET    /users(.:format)                          users#index
                       POST   /users(.:format)                          users#create
              new_user GET    /users/new(.:format)                      users#new
             edit_user GET    /users/:id/edit(.:format)                 users#edit
                  user GET    /users/:id(.:format)                      users#show
                       PATCH  /users/:id(.:format)                      users#update
                       PUT    /users/:id(.:format)                      users#update
                       DELETE /users/:id(.:format)                      users#destroy
 delete_progress_progresses POST   /progresses/delete_progress(.:format)     progresses#delete_progress
            progresses POST   /progresses(.:format)                     progresses#create
                search GET    /search(.:format)                         games#search
           game_levels GET    /games/:game_id/levels(.:format)          levels#index
                       POST   /games/:game_id/levels(.:format)          levels#create
        new_game_level GET    /games/:game_id/levels/new(.:format)      levels#new
       edit_game_level GET    /games/:game_id/levels/:id/edit(.:format) levels#edit
            game_level GET    /games/:game_id/levels/:id(.:format)      levels#show
                       PATCH  /games/:game_id/levels/:id(.:format)      levels#update
                       PUT    /games/:game_id/levels/:id(.:format)      levels#update
                       DELETE /games/:game_id/levels/:id(.:format)      levels#destroy
    insert_levels_game POST   /games/:id/insert_levels(.:format)        games#insert_levels
                 games GET    /games(.:format)                          games#index
                       POST   /games(.:format)                          games#create
              new_game GET    /games/new(.:format)                      games#new
             edit_game GET    /games/:id/edit(.:format)                 games#edit
                  game GET    /games/:id(.:format)                      games#show
                       PATCH  /games/:id(.:format)                      games#update
                       PUT    /games/:id(.:format)                      games#update
                       DELETE /games/:id(.:format)                      games#destroy
                 login GET    /login(.:format)                          user_sessions#new
                logout POST   /logout(.:format)                      user_sessions#destroy

My route file

Rails.application.routes.draw do
 root :to => 'games#index'

  resources :user_sessions
  resources :users
  resources :progresses, :only => :create do 
    collection do
      post 'delete_progress'
    end
 end

 get 'search' => 'games#search'

  resources :games do
     resources :levels

     member do
      post 'insert_levels'
    end
  end

  get 'login' => 'user_sessions#new', :as => :login
  post 'logout' => 'user_sessions#destroy', :as => :logout
end

Answer 1

Sure, you can use string as relative URL. This will never crash since rails will not try to resolve your routes building it. My guess is, that you might have a typo of some sort.

There is no reason why this wouldn't work. I have searched your git app for "new_game_path" but could not find a single example where you use this code.

I have only found < a href="/games/new">New game</a> in your layout.

Replace it with <%= link_to 'New Game', new_game_path %> this works in your app. I have just tested it.

If you intend to use internationalization at some point, you should avoid standard HTML links. They will not keep your locale persistent.

Answer 2

form

You mention that your "form does not submit"

This is not a problem with your link_to - it's an issue with your form; they are two different issues:

--

link_to

link_to takes you to a new page. It's a helper method to help create the equivalent of <a href="http://your_link.com">Your text</a>

This means that if you're sending requests to your new action, it should not matter how the users get there - only how the action is rendered.

The typical case for a form is as follows:

#app/views/games/new.html.erb
<%= form_for @game do |f| %>
   <%= f.text_field :attribute %>
   <%= f.submit "test" %>
<% end %>

#app/controllers/games_controller.rb
Class GamesController < ApplicationController
    def new
        @game = Game.new
    end
end

--

Fix

When you mention your new game form does not submit, that's an issue with your form itself. This could be due to a number of reasons, but typically with the way in which you're rendering the form

To fix this, you'll need to detail how you're rendering your form & how you'd like it to submit

---

Update

Having read your updated comments, if the form works when you send the requests to the "naked" url, the issue may not be with the form itself.

As a rule of thumb, you'll always want to use the Rails helpers when defining links etc. In your application layout, I found that you posted "pure" HTML to create a link. This is bad because if the Rails syntax changes, or your routes change, your application won't update correctly.