Pass Multidimensional Array in Query String to Controller in Rails

Question

When passing a multidimensional array to a rails controller, it does not seem to parse correctly. Am I doing it wrong?

url: http://localhost:3000/people?sort[][]=lastname&sort[][]=1&sort[][]=firstname&sort[][]=1
params: {
          "sort" => [
        [0] nil,
        [1] nil,
        [2] nil,
        [3] nil
    ],
        "action" => "index",
    "controller" => "people"
}

should be:

params: {
          "sort" => [
        [0] => [
          [0] => 'lastname',
          [1] => 1
        ],
        [1] = > [
          [0] => 'firstname',
          [1] => 1
        ]
    ],
        "action" => "index",
    "controller" => "people"
}

Answer 1

Rails doesn't support multi-dimensional arrays in the query string.

It supports one-dimensional arrays:

http://localhost:3000/people?sort[]=lastname&sort[]=firstname
# params[:sort] == ['lastname', 'firstname']

and also supports hashes:

http://localhost:3000/people?sort[lastname]=asc&sort[firstname]=desc
# params[:sort] == {:lastname => 'asc', :firstname => 'desc'}