[LRUG] REST and Delete without JavaScript

[Matthew Westcott]

I suppose the best practice way to cater for non-JS users would be to  
use button_to, which generates a POST form, and then (assuming you  
don't want your JS-enabled users to see a big ugly button) rewrite  
that at the JS level into a link with a Javascripty POST mechanism  
behind it. I don't know of any off-the-shelf plugin that deals with  
this though - surely one must exist. Anyone...?

(:method => :delete is a bit of a red herring incidentally; behind the  
scenes Rails rewrites it into a POST action with a tweaked URL,  
because browsers can't send DELETE requests natively unless you bring  
Ajax into the equation.)

- Matt

On 27 Mar 2009, at 11:41, Simon Sebright wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Perhaps this is already well-known.  I am fairly new to Rails and am  
> working on an app which uses a RESTful style.  I want to offer  
> Delete options for the various objects and have first done this with  
> the link_to function with :method => :delete.
>
> However, with JavaScript turned off, this is just a link to the  
> "showing" of an object.
>
> Now, I know it is not a good idea simply to have a fixed GET link to  
> delete something, but want to offer a solution that works both with  
> and without JavaScript enabled on the Client Browser.  Is there an  
> established idiom for this?
>
> I guess the non-JS case needs a form with a POST action, which could  
> work just as well with JS via Ajax.  Then it seems a shame to have  
> bypassed the lovely :method => :delete!
>
> Any pointers?
>
> Thanks,
> Simon