How to split "f.date_select" into 3 select boxes manually?

Question

When I use the helper

= f.date_select :date_of_birth

it will generate 3 select boxes next to each other:

<select id="user_date_of_birth_3i" name="user[date_of_birth(3i)]">...</select>
<select id="user_date_of_birth_3i" name="user[date_of_birth(2i)]">...</select>
<select id="user_date_of_birth_3i" name="user[date_of_birth(1i)]">...</select>

So one Rails helper will create these 3 select boxes. I would need to put there a Rails helper, that would generate only one select box, like:

= f.date_select :date_of_birth_3i

(but this generate an error)

would generate

<select id="user_date_of_birth_3i"> name="user[date_of_birth(3i)]">...</select>

and the same for the two other select boxes...

Is there any way to achieve that?

Thank you

Answer 1

I just came up with a solution based on the form tag helper select_year and friends:

<%=
  select_year(
    my_object.date_field.try(:year),
    {
      :prompt => "",
      :start_year => Time.zone.now.year,
      :end_year => Time.zone.now.year + 4,
      :field_name => :"date_field(1i)",
      :prefix => :my_object
    },
    :class => "form-control"
  )
%>

This is kind of ugly because it not taking any information from the surrounding form and we have to set up the selected value, the special field_name with the (1i) and such.

So I ended up with a helper:

module DateSelectHelper
  def date_select_year(object, field_name, opts = {}, html_opts = {})
    merged_opts = {
      :prompt => "",
      :start_year => Time.zone.now.year,
      :end_year => Time.zone.now.year + 4,
      :field_name => :"#{field_name}(1i)",
      :prefix => object.class.name.underscore
    }.merge(opts)

    select_year(object.send(field_name).try(:year), merged_opts, html_opts)
  end

  def date_select_month(object, field_name, opts = {}, html_opts = {})
    merged_opts = {
      :prompt => "",
      :field_name => :"#{field_name}(2i)",
      :prefix => object.class.name.underscore
    }.merge(opts)

    select_month(object.send(field_name).try(:month), merged_opts, html_opts)
  end

  def date_select_day(object, field_name, opts = {}, html_opts = {})
    merged_opts = {
      :prompt => "",
      :field_name => :"#{field_name}(3i)",
      :prefix => object.class.name.underscore
    }.merge(opts)

    select_day(object.send(field_name).try(:day), merged_opts, html_opts)
  end
end

And you can use it like this:

<div class="col-sm-2">
  <%= date_select_year(f.object, :date_field, { :start_year => Time.zone.now.year, :end_year => Time.zone.now.year + 4 }, { :class => "form-control" }) %>
</div>

<div class="col-sm-3">
  <%= date_select_month(f.object, :date_field, {}, { :class => "form-control" }) %>
</div>

<div class="col-sm-2">
  <%= date_select_day(f.object, :date_field, {}, { :class => "form-control" }) %>
</div>

I'm still testing it .. but it looks like it works.