How to render partial on the same page after clicking on link_to with AJAX

Question

I have a list of customers. Every customer has a link, which links to the customers page and displays his data.

I want to link to partial rendered on the same page below the table of customers. On initializing the "page" with the table, a blank page with something like "select a customer" should be loaded.

My code for the Customers list:

<h1>Listing Customers</h1>

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Name</th>
      <th colspan="3">Actions</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>

  <tbody>
    <% @customers.each do |customer| %>
      <tr>
        <td><%= customer.name %></td>
        <td><%= link_to 'Show', customer %></td>
        <td><%= link_to 'Edit', edit_customer_path(customer) %></td>
        <td><%= link_to 'Destroy', customer, method: :delete, data: { confirm: 'Are you sure?' } %></td>
      </tr>
    <% end %>

  </tbody>
</table>

<br>

<%= link_to 'New Customer', new_customer_path, class: "button", id: "new_customer" %>

My partial for displaying the customer:

<p>
  <strong>Name:</strong>
  <%= @customer.name %>
  <%= @customer.id %>
</p>

<%= link_to 'Edit Customer', edit_customer_path(@customer) %> |
<%= link_to 'Back', customers_path %>

Can you help me with some ideas?

Answer 1

You basically want to use AJAX to display a customer's details. For this you can use the remote: true option provided by rails for the link_to helper. What we are going to do next :

1. Create a div that will contain the loaded data. In this case div#current_customer

2. Add remote: true to your link :

   <td><%= link_to 'Show', customer, remote: true %></td>
   

3. Name your partial customers/_show.html.erb (don't forget the _so it can be called as a partial) :

   <p>
      <strong>Name:</strong>
      <%= @customer.name %>
      <%= @customer.id %>
   </p>
   
   <%= link_to 'Edit Customer', edit_customer_path(@customer) %> |
   <%= link_to 'Back', customers_path %> # You should remove this link
   

4. Respond to Javascript in the show method in CustomersController :

   respond_to do |format|
     format.js {render layout: false} # Add this line to you respond_to block
   end
   

5. Create your show.js.erb view, which is going to handle the front-end changes when respond_to :jsis gonna be called (In this case triggered by remote: true)

6. Tell show.js.erb what it must do (Replace #current_customer content with your partial, using the right @customer) :

customers/show.js.erb

$("#current_customer").html("<%= escape_javascript(render partial: 'customers/show', locals: { customer: @customer } ) %>");

customers/index.html.erb

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Name</th>
      <th colspan="3">Actions</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>

  <tbody>
    <% @customers.each do |customer| %>
      <tr>
        <td><%= customer.name %></td>
        <td><%= link_to 'Show', customer, remote: true %></td>
        <td><%= link_to 'Edit', edit_customer_path(customer) %></td>
        <td><%= link_to 'Destroy', customer, method: :delete, data: { confirm: 'Are you sure?' } %></td>
      </tr>
    <% end %>

  </tbody>
</table>

<br>

<%= link_to 'New Customer', new_customer_path, class: "button", id: "new_customer" %>

<div id="current_customer"> # This will will contain the partial 
</div>