Ruby on Rails : how to implement Cancel button in form_tag

Question

I have a basic form using the form_tag helper working fine, but I want to add a cancel button, what is the syntax for doing this? I want the cancel button to appear as a button

Answer 1

Instead of a submit tag, I would suggest a tag, because the parameter :commit might be localised, thus making it a pain to evaluate in the controller.

A button_tag can have a name/value like any other field, so you can basically create a flag with it.

The following code is what I would use:

in the view:

<%= button_tag t('buttons.cancel'), type: "submit", name: "cancel", value: true %>

in the controller:

before_filter :redirect_cancel, only: [:create, :update]

private

def redirect_cancel
  redirect_to my_page_path if params[:cancel]
end

Much cleaner imho, because you rely on a flag instead of a (potentially) localised display value.