Return multiple rows from table to Rails controller action

Question

Rails 4.0.1, Ruby 2.0.0, Datatables 1.10, jquery-datatables-rails 3.1.1

I have a table that has multiple rows selected by specifying a class of .active on the desired rows. I want to return the active rows, actually a single field from the active rows, to my action. That's the basic question. How do I return an array of fields from rows selected by a class to a Rails action? I'm at a loss and would appreciate the help.

To be clear, I can write the routing and the action without assistance. I need to understand what type of button or form I must use within the view to send the rows. Thanks.

The table view is:

The table is:

<table width="80%" cellspacing="0" class="display dt-responsive no-wrap table-striped dataTable no-footer dtr-inline" id="datatable" role="grid" aria-describedby="datatable_info">
    <thead>
    <tr role="row"><th class="all ui-state-default sorting_asc" tabindex="0" aria-controls="datatable" rowspan="1" colspan="1" aria-sort="ascending" aria-label="Associate: activate to sort column descending">Associate</th><th class="all ui-state-default sorting" tabindex="0" aria-controls="datatable" rowspan="1" colspan="1" aria-label="Logon: activate to sort column ascending">Logon</th><th class="min-tablet ui-state-default sorting" tabindex="0" aria-controls="datatable" rowspan="1" colspan="1" aria-label="Role: activate to sort column ascending">Role</th></tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    <tr role="row" class="odd active">
          <td class="sorting_1"><a href="/admin/associates/25/edit">Aaron James</a></td>
          <td>D110</td>
          <td>Associate</td>
        </tr><tr role="row" class="even">
          <td class="sorting_1"><a href="/admin/associates/26/edit">Amy Clark</a></td>
          <td>D111</td>
          <td>Associate</td>
        </tr><tr role="row" class="odd active">
          <td class="sorting_1"><a href="/admin/associates/23/edit">Angela Jenkins</a></td>
          <td>D108</td>
          <td>Associate</td>
        </tr><tr role="row" class="even">
          <td class="sorting_1"><a href="/admin/associates/16/edit">Bonnie Carpenter</a></td>
          <td>D101</td>
          <td>Admin</td>
        </tr><tr role="row" class="odd active">
          <td class="sorting_1"><a href="/admin/associates/24/edit">Catherine Reid</a></td>
          <td>D109</td>
          <td>Associate</td>
        </tr><tr role="row" class="even active">
          <td class="sorting_1"><a href="/admin/associates/18/edit">Donald King</a></td>
          <td>D103</td>
          <td>Associate</td>
        </tr><tr role="row" class="odd">
          <td class="sorting_1"><a href="/admin/associates/27/edit">Evelyn Foster</a></td>
          <td>D112</td>
          <td>Associate</td>
        </tr><tr role="row" class="even">
          <td class="sorting_1"><a href="/admin/associates/22/edit">Gregory Torres</a></td>
          <td>D107</td>
          <td>Associate</td>
        </tr><tr role="row" class="odd">
          <td class="sorting_1"><a href="/admin/associates/29/edit">Heather Hall</a></td>
          <td>D114</td>
          <td>Associate</td>
        </tr><tr role="row" class="even active">
          <td class="sorting_1"><a href="/admin/associates/20/edit">Lillian Myers</a></td>
          <td>D105</td>
          <td>Associate</td>
        </tr></tbody>
  </table>

The HTML.ERB is:

<div class="span8">
  <%= link_to 'New Associate', new_admin_associate_path, class: 'btn btn-primary' %>
  <p>
  <table id="datatable" class="display dt-responsive no-wrap table-striped" cellspacing="0" width="80%">
    <thead>
    <tr>
      <th class="all">Associate</th>
      <th class="all">Logon</th>
      <th class="min-tablet">Role</th>
    </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    <% @associates.each do |associate| %>
        <tr>
          <td><%= link_to associate.name, edit_admin_associate_path(associate.id) %></td>
          <td><%= associate.logon %></td>
          <td><%= associate.roles.first.name.titleize unless associate.roles.first.nil? %></td>
        </tr>
    <% end %>
    </tbody>
  </table>
</div>

The JavaScript is:

$(document).ready(function () {
    var datatable = $('#datatable').DataTable({
        responsive: true,
        autoWidth: false,
        pagingType: 'full',
        jQueryUI: true
    });
    $('#datatable tbody').on( 'click', 'tr', function () {
        $(this).toggleClass('active');
    } );

Answer 1

Expectedly, the answer seems to be in jQuery. I don't have the final code yet, but this is from DataTables.Net:

fnGetSelectedData

fnGetSelectedData 
Get the data source objects/arrays from DataTables for the selected rows (same as fnGetSelected followed by fnGetData on each row from the table). 
Default:  
Input parameters: void 
Return parameter: Array - Data from the TR nodes which are currently selected 
Code example: 
$(document).ready(function() {
    $('#example').DataTable( {
        dom: 'T<"clear">lfrtip',
        tableTools: {
            "sRowSelect": "multi",
            "aButtons": [ "select_all", "select_none" ]
        }
    } );
} );