How do I add a custom form for my collection_action/controller? - activeadmin

Question

I have the following:
collection_action :new, :method => :post do
begin
user = User.find_by_email(params[:email])
if user
UserPermission.create(:user_id => user.id,
:permission => UserPermission::SUPPORT,
:creator => current_user)
end
rescue ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound
flash[:warn] = 'User not found'
end
redirect_to admin_support_users_path, notice: 'Support user added.'
end
form do |f|
f.inputs do
f.input :email
end
end
action_item only: [:index], :method => :post do
link_to 'Add Support User', new_admin_support_user_path
end
The above works in the sense that no error is thrown. The support users page loads and I'm able to click the Add Support User button. However, 'Support user added.' is immediately shown. The Add Support User button does not take me to a form to enter an email. How do I add/create/use a form that passes an email parameter to my collection_action?
I'm new to activeadmin and documentation is sparse, so any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

Figured it out. I'll try to explain as I understand it. And my initial question may have been unclear. The reason I was getting the, 'Support user added.' message is because I was updating the wrong method. The method above should have been the :create controller method, not the :new controller method. :new uses HTTP GET, which is why it would go directly to the redirect. :create accepts an HTTP POST. So, instead, I have the following:
def create
begin
user = User.find_by_email(params[:email])
if user
UserPermission.create(:user_id => user.id,
:permission => UserPermission::SUPPORT,
:creator => current_user)
end
rescue ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound
flash[:warn] = 'User not found'
end
redirect_to admin_support_users_path, notice: 'Support user added.'
end
def new
render 'new.html.arb', :layout => 'active_admin'
end
And this correctly creates a nice looking active admin form, accepting an email parameter.

Answer 2

You just need to add another action--just like a normal resource needs separate actions for create and new. Your 'new' action can render a custom form either inline or in a separate partial, as shown here:
http://www.activeadmin.info/docs/5-forms.html
That said, I'm not sure I understand why you need a custom action. Is this in your User resource file in active admin? If so you can just use the default new user action and include the current user in the form as a hidden variable as the creator. If this is not in your User resource active admin file then you probably need one.