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, not a link, then take the user to a different URL (indicating they don't want to submit the form).

TY, Fred

Answer 1

If you want to clear/reset the form fields, do what weltschmerz suggests.

However, I'd generally expect a Cancel button to not clear the form, but to take me away from the form, meaning I don't plan on submitting it.

If you want the latter, I'd just make a link (or button) to the page you want to go to upon cancelling, such as :

=link_to 'Cancel', my_page_path

Or if you want a button:

= button_tag "Cancel", :type => 'button'

Then add this to your controller:

# before_filter for Rails 4.x and prior
before_action :check_for_cancel, :only => [:create, :update]

def check_for_cancel
  if params[:commit] == "Cancel"
    redirect_to my_page_path
  end
end