Convert User input to integer

Question

So I have a form where users can input a price. I\'m trying to make a before_validation that normalizes the data, clipping the $ if the user puts it.

before_val         


        

Answer 1

One way is to override the mechanism on the model that sets the price, like this:

def price=(val)
    write_attribute :price, val.to_s.gsub(/\D/, '').to_i
end

So when you do @model.price = whatever, it will go to this method instead of the rails default attribute writer. Then you can convert the number and use write_attribute to do the actual writing (you have to do it this way because the standard price= is now this method!).

I like this method best, but for reference another way to do it is in your controller before assigning it to the model. The parameter comes in as a string, but the model is converting that string to a number, so work with the parameter directly. Something like this (just adapt it to your controller code):

def create
    @model = Model.new(params[:model])
    @model.price = params[:model][:price].gsub(/\D/, '').to_i
    @model.save
end

For either solution, remove that before_validation.