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I'm trying to use the button_to rails helper. I wrote the following code:

<%= button_to 'Edit Item', edit_item_path(@item), :class => 'mark-button' %>

and got the following error message

No route matches "/items/1/edit"

But when I refresh the page it goes to the appropriate action. The URL of the page i get is localhost:3000/items/1/edit which is the correct URL. If I switch the button_to command to link_to the page loaded with no errors. Meaning this code:

<%= link_to 'Edit Item', edit_item_path(@item), :class => 'mark-button' %>

loads fine. Maybe there is some feature of button_to I'm not aware of, but I am at a lost.

laurent
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Nachshon Schwartz
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3 Answers3

5

I think you might be misusing button_to. I've always thought that if you're linking to the edit action, you should be using link_to. Buttons seem to be for actions that need to post/put data such as updating a form or deleting a record.

Update:

By default, button_to uses POST instead of GET. Hence it working when you just visit the URL (ie GET).

Peter Brown
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  • How can i override this feature? – Nachshon Schwartz Jan 16 '11 at 23:25
  • If you want it to look like a button, I would use link_to and use a CSS class that makes your link look like a button. Great article here: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/11/18/designing-css-buttons-techniques-and-resources/ – dontangg Jan 16 '11 at 23:27
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    @nayish you can set the method to get: `button_to 'edit', edit_item_path(@item), :method => :get` – Peter Brown Jan 16 '11 at 23:31
2

button_to defaults to POST, and link_to defaults to GET.

If you really need button_to you can change the default method to GET for edit and other links.

for ex:

<%= button_to 'Edit', edit_user_path(@user), :method => :get %>
pinku
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Ruby -v 2.8.6, Rails 6.1.4.1

<%= button_to 'Edit', edit_item_path(item), :method => :get %> because with expression (@item) you do not define the object you want to edit, because (@item) it is not a specific object, there are several and you need to define only the one you want to edit, :method => :get this method is perfect

Henry Ecker
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user17406377
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