Updated March 30, 2023
Definition of Rails link_to
Link_to is a helper method which is supported by Rails. Rails can able to make a route or link for the given object. It can aid in providing a hyperlink to a particular part of the document or the whole document itself. Also, link_to do not have a significant role in type of view we use in the document. To make any sub-link for a given class to their corresponding path while generating an URL this link_to can be used.
Overview
Basically, the entire internet web pages work by creating link between pages. So, it is important to navigate between one page to the another. So, we need a helper to link between pages. One such example for helper to link pages is Rails link_to. The rails link_to is a helper which helps us in creating a hyperlink to the existing main document. The Rain link_to will be created as anchor tag or the h-ref tag. Anchor tag is known as an HTML code that creates another link to another page or to a specific section of the existing document. The anchor element created by the link_to code uses the URL with the help of set of options. The anchor element which is used to pass through this link is not only hash (#), but it can also strings. Instead of hash symbol, back symbol can be used which can generate a referrer. If no referrer is used in JavaScript, then back link will be used instead of referrer. When nil is passed as link then name itself will become the value of the link.
link_to(name = nil, options = nil, html_options = nil, &block)There is a difference between link_to in HTML and in Rails link_to. In a simple HTML, the link_to will be used like this (see below).
<a href="/ruby-book">Improve Your Ruby Skills</a>In Rails link_to the linke will be like this, as shown below.
<%= link_to "Improve Your Ruby Skills", "/ruby-book" %>The main difference is the usage of routes in Rails. Because routes have the advantage of using _path method. Also, we can achieve href tag (anchor tag) of our link, which is generated. Another advantage of using Rails link_to is, we need not interpolate the values and thereby the linking become easier.
How to use Rails link_to?
Options and the arguments:
1. The first argument will be the text on the link.
2. The second argument will be the URL which we are linking to.Here we can use the hardcore if needed. Or we can use Rails model or _path method.
For example:
<%= link_to "Improve Your Ruby Skills", book_path(@book) %>Or
<%= link_to "Improve Your Ruby Skills", @book %>Another advantage of using Rails is, it can able to identify the correct thing when proper conventions are used. It can able to distinguish between singular and plural objects.
3. Use of singular and plural forms:
When singular object is used, for instance, when we use only one specific song, from a specific resource use the term song.
When we are referring to a collection of resource use the correct plural term, for instance, songs.
# Plural
<%= link_to "All songs", songs_path %>
# Singular
<%= link_to "Edit Song", edit_song_path(@song) %>The above code is showing a clear difference between the correct usage of words when link_to is used. “Rake routes” will help us to track the route which we wish to track.
Creating the Rails link_to
It is always helpful to create links with the use of query parameter and anchors. Using Rails link_to we can create URL or else we can link images as well. In this part, we will see the code with an example for creating link using both URL and images. The added advantage of using Rails link_to is the possibility of accessing additional data from the URL generated.
To create a URL like this (below)
"/songs#programming"The link should be created with this code as shown below:
<%= link_to "Programming songs", songs_path(anchor: "programming") %>To gain all the flexibility needed, use the URL helpers such as _path or _URL along with link_to.
To link images, the below example can be helpful to understand.
Many people are unaware about the link_to optional block. This helps us to link us to the images as well. The below code serves as an example.
<%= link_to songs_path do %>
<%= image_tag "song Collection" %>
<% end %>The above example explains that now the optional block will be the image or in other cases it will be linking text or HTML element which is clickable.
Deleting the Rail link_to:
To delete the Rail link_to, two methods are available. The first is the term “Confirm” and the other is the term “disable_with”. Let us look into the examples to understand this clearly.
<%= link_to "Delete Song", @book, method: "delete", { confirm: "Are you sure?", disable_with: "Processing..." } %>In the above example, we are trying to delete the song link which is being generated. Mostly the default action of the link is to get request. So now we are trying to delete the link which is being generated. Obviously, be more specific about the delete action.
In case, if we want to link to the previous page, after deleting the existing link, then the below example will explain it.
<%= link_to “Back”, :back %>
Conclusion
Rails link_to is basically helps us to create a link between pages or between any two contents. It can able to create link in the form of URL. There are some added advantage of using Rails link_to than normal HTML link_to. Here, Rails link_to uses routes. There are many other odvantages like, we can create URL and link not only texts but also images. We can able to create and delete the hyperlinks created using link_to helper code. In this blog, we saw about the options and arguments and apart from that, we saw about creating and deleting the lins_to option.
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