Issue with using link_to :remote - Rails 3

Question

I am using link_to :remote to update one of the div elements on the HTML. This is just a beginner's code. However, the update does not occur on clicking the link. Here is the code:

class SampleController < ApplicationController
     def updater
        render :text => Time.now
     end
end

this is the list.html.erb:

<script type = "text/javascript" src = "/javascripts/prototype.js">
<%= link_to "Hello Testing",
    :update => "test_id",
    :url => {:action => 'updater'},
    :remote => true
%>
<div id="test_id"></div>

So on click the link "Hello Testing", the URL in the browser changes to: http://localhost:3000/samples?remote=true&update=response_id&url[action]=updater

However, the div element that I am trying to set to the current time does not occur on the UI. What can be the issue here?

---

Updated the post with:

routes.rb: http://pastebin.com/wmKsa1DD Generated HTML Code : http://pastebin.com/stU3FpL8 HTML Response in Firebug: http://pastebin.com/WjsB7zAh

Using url_for does not change the behaviour.

Answer 1

please use url_for:

<%= link_to "Hello Testing", url_for(:action => :updater),
        :update => "test_id", :remote => true %>

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think that :update is going to work, since Rails3 now mainly relies on ujs.

The "rails way" to update your div would look like (jquery) :

$('div#test_id').bind('ajax:complete', function(event, xhr) {
   $(this).html($.parseJSON(xhr.responseText));
})

Answer 2

1: You should include also rails.js file. Ordinary in Rails it makes like this:

<%= javascript_include_tag :defaults %>

2: I prefer to use this naming for urls: updater_samples_path or [:updater, :samples]

3: You should show your routes. If updater method using not GET method, then you should define it:

<%= link_to "Hello Testing", :update => "test_id", updater_samples_path, :method => :put, :remote => true %>

4: Use FIREBUG to se your AJAX responses. So you can easily debug your app. Also you can show us its response, so we will better understend situation