ActiveAdmin Dynamic Fields

An Active Admin plugin to add dynamic behaviors to some fields.

Features:

• set conditional checks on fields
• trigger actions on target elements
• inline field editing
• create links to load some content in a dialog

The easiest way to show how this plugin works is looking the examples below.

Please ⭐ if you like it.

First, add the gem to your ActiveAdmin project: gem 'activeadmin_dynamic_fields' (and execute bundle)

If you installed Active Admin without Webpacker support:

• add at the end of your ActiveAdmin javascripts (app/assets/javascripts/active_admin.js):

//= require activeadmin/dynamic_fields

Otherwise with Webpacker:

• Execute in your project root:

yarn add blocknotes/activeadmin_dynamic_fields

• Add to your app/javascript/packs/active_admin.js:

require('activeadmin_dynamic_fields')

Options are passed to fields using input_html parameter as data attributes.

Conditions:

• data-if: check a condition, values:
  • checked: check if a checkbox is checked (ex. "data-if": "checked")
  • not_checked: check if a checkbox is not checked (equivalent to "data-if": "!checked")
  • blank: check if a field is blank
  • not_blank: check if a field is not blank
  • changed: check if the value of an input is changed (dirty)
• data-eq: check if a field has a specific value (ex. "data-eq": "42" or "data-eq": "!5")
• data-not: check if a field has not a specific value (equivalent to "data-eq": "!something")
• data-match: check if a field match a regexp
• data-mismatch: check if a field doesn't match a regexp (ex. "data-mismatch": "^\d+$")
• data-function: check the return value of a custom function (ex. "data-function": "my_check")

Actions:

• data-then: action to trigger (alias data-action), values:
  • hide: hides elements (ex. "data-then": "hide", "data-target": ".errors")
  • slide: hides elements (using sliding)
  • fade: hides elements (using fading)
  • addClass: adds classes (ex. "data-then": "addClass red")
  • addStyle: adds some styles (ex. "data-then": "addStyle color: #fb1; font-size: 12px")
  • setText: set the text of an element (ex. "data-then": "setText A sample text")
  • setValue: set the value of an input element (ex. "data-then": "setValue A sample value")
  • callback: call a function (with arguments: data-args) (ex. "data-then": "callback a_fun")
• data-else: action to trigger when the condition check is not true
• data-args: arguments passed to the callback function

Targets:

• data-target: target css selector (from parent fieldset, look for the closest match)
• data-gtarget: target css selector globally

A check condition or a custom check function are required. A trigger action is required too, unless you are using a custom function (in that case it is optional).

• A checkbox that hides other fields if is checked (ex. model Article):

form do |f|
  f.inputs 'Article' do
    f.input :published, input_html: { data: { if: 'checked', then: 'hide', target: '.grp1' } }
    f.input :online_date, wrapper_html: { class: 'grp1' }
    f.input :draft_notes, wrapper_html: { class: 'grp1' }
  end
  f.actions
end

• Add 3 classes (first, second, third) if a checkbox is not checked, else add "forth" class:

data = { if: 'not_checked', then: 'addClass first second third', target: '.grp1', else: 'addClass forth' }
f.input :published, input_html: { data: data }

• Set another field value if a string field is blank:

f.input :title, input_html: { data: { if: 'blank', then: 'setValue 10', target: '#article_position' } }

• Use a custom function for conditional check (title_not_empty() must be available on global scope) (with alternative syntax for data attributes):

attrs = { 'data-function': 'title_empty', 'data-then': 'slide', 'data-target': '#article_description_input' }
f.input :title, input_html: attrs

function title_empty(el) {
  return ($('#article_title').val().trim() === '');
}

• Call a callback function as action:

data = { if: 'checked', then: 'callback set_title', args: '["Unpublished !"]' }
f.input :published, input_html: { data: data }

function set_title(args) {
  if($('#article_title').val().trim() === '') {
    $('#article_title').val(args[0]);
    $('#article_title').trigger('change');
  }
}

• Custom function without action:

collection = [['Cat 1', 'cat1'], ['Cat 2', 'cat2'], ['Cat 3', 'cat3']]
f2.input :category, as: :select, collection: collection, input_html: { 'data-function': 'on_change_category' }

function on_change_category(el) {
  var target = el.closest('fieldset').find('.pub');
  target.prop('checked', (el.val() == 'cat2');
  target.trigger('change');
}

• Prepare a custom member action to save data, an update helper function is available (third parameter is optional, allow to filter using strong parameters):

member_action :save, method: [:post] do
  render ActiveAdmin::DynamicFields.update(resource, params)
  # render ActiveAdmin::DynamicFields.update(resource, params, [:published])
  # render ActiveAdmin::DynamicFields.update(resource, params, Article::permit_params)
end

• In index config:

# Edit a string:
column :title do |row|
  div row.title, ActiveAdmin::DynamicFields.edit_string(:title, save_admin_article_path(row.id))
end
# Edit a boolean:
column :published do |row|
  status_tag row.published, ActiveAdmin::DynamicFields.edit_boolean(:published, save_admin_article_path(row.id), row.published)
end
# Edit a select ([''] allow to have a blank value):
column :author do |row|
  select ActiveAdmin::DynamicFields.edit_select(:author_id, save_admin_article_path(row.id)) do
    options_for_select([''] + Author.pluck(:name, :id), row.author_id)
  end
end

• In show config (inside attributes_table block):

row :title do |row|
  div row.title, ActiveAdmin::DynamicFields.edit_string(:title, save_admin_article_path(row.id))
end

Example with 2 models: Author and Article

Prepare the content dialog - in Active Admin Author config:

ActiveAdmin.register Author do
  # ...
  member_action :dialog do
    record = resource
    context = Arbre::Context.new do
      dl do
        %i[name age created_at].each do |field|
          dt "#{Author.human_attribute_name(field)}:"
          dd record[field]
        end
      end
    end
    render plain: context
  end
  # ...
end

Add a link to show the dialog - in Active Admin Article config:

ActiveAdmin.register Article do
  # ...
  show do |object|
    attributes_table do
      # ...
      row :author do
        link_to object.author.name, dialog_admin_author_path(object.author), title: object.author.name, 'data-df-dialog': true, 'data-df-icon': true
      end
    end
  end
  # ...
end

The link url is loaded via AJAX before opening the dialog.

If you use this component just star it. A developer is more motivated to improve a project when there is some interest. My other Active Admin components.

Or consider offering me a coffee, it's a small thing but it is greatly appreciated: about me.

• Mattia Roccoberton: author
• The good guys that opened issues and pull requests from time to time

The gem is available as open-source under the terms of the MIT.