How to update a 'div' content after that ActiveRecord values are changed without reload the page?

I am using Ruby on Rails 3 with Prototype/Scriptaculous and I am trying to update a 'div' content after that ActiveRecord value开发者_JAVA技巧s are changed, without reload the page.

In the "edit.html.erb" I have:

...

<div id="test_id">
  <%= @account.name.to_s %>
</div>

<%= link_to_function( "Make test" ) do |page|
  page.replace_html :test_id, @account.name.to_s
end %>

...

Before clicking on "Make test" I update the '@account.name' value, even via AJAX. Then, clicking on "Make test", the template doesn't changes.

These are steps:

1. I show the page
2. I update '@account.name' via AJAX
3. I click on "Make test"
4. 'div' with 'id="test_id"' doesn't change!

What am I doing wrong?

P.S.: I think that @account is not reloaded in the page, also if his values are changed in the database. If so, what should I do?

I have seen the Railscasts "AJAX with RJS" and I followed an example in that (it is like the my), but it doesn't work for me.

If you have rendered edit.html.erb when the value of @account.name is "George", the HTML will remain the same (with the value "George") until you refresh it. Your call to link_to_function is, on page load, rendering an html link that calls javascript that replaces the inner html of the "test_id" div with 'George'. Unless you replace that HTML, it will always replace the inner html of that div with 'George'.

It's hard to recommend a solution without knowing exactly what you'd like to do...

updated to have more detail:

If you are making an AJAX call that changes the value of the account name on the server to "Fred", and want that change to appear on the page, you should refresh the parts of the page that use that value in that same AJAX call (that same controller action).

Your link_to_function generates HTML like this (if @account.name was 'George' when the page was rendered):

<a onclick="try { Element.update("test_id", "George"); ... >Make test</a>

It is not an ajax call, it is just a link that executes javascript. If you want to make it an ajax call that finds the latest value of the account name and refreshes the test_id div, do something like this:

<%# you need prototype included, but it should probably be in application.rhtml %> 
<%= javascript_include_tag "prototype.js" %>

<div id="test_id">
  <%= @account.name.to_s %>
</div>

<%= link_to_remote "Make test", :url => { :controller => "account", :action => "change_name" } %>

The 'Make test' link will now perform an AJAX call to the 'change_name' method in the 'account' controller. This method would look something like this:

def change_name
  # here you would load the account from the db; I'm cheating
  @account = Account.new(:name => "Fred")

  render :update do |page|
    page.replace_html :test_id, :text => @account.name.to_s
  end
end