Using radio buttons in a form to update database - ruby-on-rails-3

Question

I have a deals controller that has a list of deals, I want each deal to have 3 radio buttons to toggle between "won, lost, pending". What would be the best approach in order to achieve this?
I have a couple of options, either create new entries in the deals table of type boolean, or create a different table connected to the deals table with a foreign key that has a boolean value for each option.
I'm a bit confused..
_deal_status.html.erb
<%= form_for #deal do |f| %>
State:
<label>
<%= f.radio_button :state, 'pending', :class => "radio" %>
Pending
</label>
<label>
<%= f.radio_button :state, 'won', :class => "radio" %>
Won
</label>
<label>
<%= f.radio_button :state, 'lost', :class => "radio" %>
Lost
</label>
<% end %>
this form is resetting the original #deal form to nil except for the radio buttons value.

Answer 1

Sounds like a state column is what you're looking for. If you add several boolean columns you'll have duplication of data as a deal cannot be in 2 of the given states at any time (won and lost at the same time shouldn't be possible). Look into State Machines. You can do more advanced stuff with a State Machine.
Although I highly recommend it, you don't need a State Machine. You can just add a string column state to your deals-table and use that column to keep track of the state of each deal.
$ rails g migration add_state_to_deals state:string
To get the the radio buttons in your form you can do:
<%= form_for #deal do |f| %>
...
State:
<label>
<%= f.radio_button :state, 'pending' %>
Pending
</label>
<label>
<%= f.radio_button :state, 'won' %>
Won
</label>
<label>
<%= f.radio_button :state, 'lost' %>
Lost
</label>
...
<% end %>
And have this validation and default value setter in your model:
class Deal < ActiveRecord::Base
...
validates_inclusion_of :state, in: %w{pending won lost}
after_initialize :set_default_state, if: :new_record?
private
def set_default_state
state = 'pending'
end
...
end