Rails has added support for adding a default value to the rich text area.
To specify the default value for a rich text area,
we need to pass the value in the form field, as shown below:
<%= form.rich_text_area :description, value: "Default description" %>
value also accepts HTML, as shown below:
<%= form.rich_text_area :description, value: "<div>First point</div><div>Second point</div>" %>
Technical aspect of this change:
Before
When we pass value to the rich text area,
it was not set to the hidden input.
This hidden input is used by <trix-editor>.
In our case,
<%= form.rich_text_area :description, value: "<div>First point</div><div>Second point</div>" %>
used to produce the following:
<input type="hidden" name="post[description]" id="post_description_trix_input_post">
<trix-editor value="<div>First point</div><div>Second point</div>" id="post_description" input="post_description_trix_input_post" class="trix-content" data-direct-upload-url="http://localhost:3000/rails/active_storage/direct_uploads" data-blob-url-template="http://localhost:3000/rails/active_storage/blobs/:signed_id/:filename" contenteditable="" role="textbox" trix-id="1" toolbar="trix-toolbar-1"></trix-editor>
After
With the recent change,
the value passed is set to the hidden input, as shown below:
<input type="hidden" name="post[description]" id="post_description_trix_input_post" value="<div>First point</div><div>Second point</div>">
<trix-editor id="post_description" input="post_description_trix_input_post" class="trix-content" data-direct-upload-url="http://localhost:3000/rails/active_storage/direct_uploads" data-blob-url-template="http://localhost:3000/rails/active_storage/blobs/redirect/:signed_id/:filename" contenteditable="" role="textbox" trix-id="1" toolbar="trix-toolbar-1"><div><!--block-->First point</div><div><!--block-->Second point</div></trix-editor>
Hence, we can see and edit the default value of the rich text area.