I am trying to pass a ruby array to a js view (js.erb format) but it doesn't work at all.

var array = "<%= @publishers_list %>";

The variable array is just set as a string with all the array's values in it.

Is there a way to keep the array format ?

Edit

I just realized it was because of my array format.

[{:label => "name1", :value => value1}, {:label => "name2", :value => value2}]

I tried to pass a simple array like:

[1,2,3]

and it worked fine.

The question is now: how can I pass this kind of array ? I really need to keep these hashes in it because I want to put it as a source of a jQuery autocomplete.

I am trying to pass a ruby array to a js view (js.erb format) but it doesn't work at all.

var array = "<%= @publishers_list %>";

The variable array is just set as a string with all the array's values in it.

Is there a way to keep the array format ?

Edit

I just realized it was because of my array format.

[{:label => "name1", :value => value1}, {:label => "name2", :value => value2}]

I tried to pass a simple array like:

[1,2,3]

and it worked fine.

The question is now: how can I pass this kind of array ? I really need to keep these hashes in it because I want to put it as a source of a jQuery autocomplete.

• javascript
• ruby-on-rails
• ruby

3 Answers 3

var array = <%= escape_javascript @publisher_list.to_json %>

Try this:

var array = <%= j @publishers_list.to_json %>

j is shorthand for escape_javascript (thanks to commenter lfx_cool).

See the documentation: http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ERB/Util.html

To clean up your view code a little, you can also turn the @publishers_list into json in your controller. That way, in your view you can just use:

var array = <%= j @publishers_list %>

simply define a array in Controller's specific action like:

def rails_action
  @publishers_list = []
  # write some code to insert value inside this array
  # like: 
  # @publishers.each do |publisher|
  # @publishers_list << publisher.name
  # end 
end

js file which is associated with this action, like: rails_action.js.erb

now use your code

var array = [];
array = "<%= @publishers_list %>";

Thanks.