objectify_options on custom form builders

[mdedetrich]

When creating a custom form builder by subclassing ActionView::Helpers::FormBuilder, objectify_options is not called on any of the option parameters in any methods defined unless the user specifically knows about this private method

For example, my own simple custom form builder used to look like this.

def text_field_dollar(attribute,html_options={})
      @template.content_tag(:div,
        @template.text_field(@object_name,attribute,html_options) +
        @template.content_tag(:div,"$",'style' =>'display:inline-block;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:middle;margin-top:4px;float:left;')
      )
end

The problem is that since objectify_options was not not called on the html_options variable, the "value" field (which when the form is called in an update action inside the controller would contain the value of the attribute in the model by default) wasn't being filled. To fix this, a user has to explicitly call objectify_options on the options variable

This workflow is both very DRY and obscure/confusing. objectify_options is only documented here (http://apidock.com/rails/ActionView/Helpers/FormBuilder/objectify_options) with no comments and isn't mentioned anywhere else. Using the above as an example, one would look here

rails/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/form_helper.rb

Line 689 in 4886991

def text_field(object_name, method, options = {})

, and in that source there is no mention of using objectify_options, nor is it being called.

tl;dr It is not obvious (even in the slightest) that a user has to use objectify_options on the options parameter to mimic the default form builders methods when creating their own form builder methods.

Either the documentation needs to make this very clear, or this behavior should be automatic when using custom form builders by subclassing ActionView::Helpers::FormBuilder

[wangjohn]

I've added a lot of documentation in PR #10122 which should make it more clear what's going on in the FormBuilder class.