Ajax, Javascript variables and server-side variables - Rails

Question

I'm trying to have a user-created variable processed on the server and then sent back to the view and appended to a div.

my view using erb:

<div id = "times_div"></div>

<script>
function findTimes(current_time){
  matched_time = current_time;
  $.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    url: "match_times",
    cache: false,
    data: matched_time,
    success: function(<%= @new_times %>){
    $("#times_div").append(<%= @new_times %>);
 }
});
};
</script>

my controller:

def match_times
  reduce = Schedule.where(:date => matched_time)
  hour_on_time = reduce.collect {|x| x.hour}
  @new_times = hour_on_time
end

and my route:

  match '/match_times',  :to => 'appointments#match_times'

but I'm getting an 'undefined local variable or method `matched_time'. Why isn't the controller reading the 'data' property sent via Ajax?

Thanks

Answer 1

If you use jQuery ajax you should pass something like

$ajax({..,
  data: "matched_time="+matched_time,
  ..});

then you can evaluate the parameter in the controller using params[:matched_time] . You can also use Javascript objects instead of strings

$ajax({..,
  data: {matched_time : matched_time},
  ..});