Interactive Datagrid Ruby on Rails - ruby-on-rails-3

Question

My Problem
I want an interactive datagrid (like Excel/Numbers) within my RoR-app. The data being put in, should update a db-table-record.
Did some research and found a lot of Excel(/CSV) processors for importing and exporting .xls(x) and .csv files. Finally I found a data grid view based on JS, JQuery and html. Here. This is exactly what I need. The only thing is, I can't get it to work within RoR.
What I tried:
Application.html.erb
I checked the file paths with 'Safari Inspector'
<script src="assets/lib/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="assets/dist/jquery.handsontable.full.js"></script>
<link rel="stylesheet" media="screen" href="assets/dist/jquery.handsontable.full.css">
View
%div#exampleGrid
%script
var myData = [
["", "Kia", "Nissan", "Toyota", "Honda"],
["2008", 10, 11, 12, 13],
["2009", 20, 11, 14, 13],
["2010", 30, 15, 12, 13]
];
$("#exampleGrid").handsontable({
data: myData,
startRows: 5,
startCols: 5,
minSpareCols: 1,
//always keep at least 1 spare row at the right
minSpareRows: 1,
//always keep at least 1 spare row at the bottom,
rowHeaders: true,
colHeaders: true,
contextMenu: true
});​
I tried the JS also in the Application.js but didn't work either.
I'm using:
Ruby: 1.9.3p194
Rails: 3.2.8
Can someone point me in the right direction / help me out?
I've been trying for hours and just cannot get it to work.
A plain index.html with the same handsontable files did work for me.

Answer 1

Can you please specify what exactly doesn't work and provide an error message? When I copy you code in my test app I get error Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected token ILLEGAL This happened because in you script there are some strange symbols. I retype this code manually and everything works fine for me. Here are my files(jquery.handsontable.full.js I place is assets/javascripts and jquery.handsontable.full.css I place in assets/stylesheets):
application.js:
//= require jquery
//= require jquery_ujs
//= require jquery.handsontable.full
application.css:
*= require_self
*= require jquery.handsontable.full
in index.html.erb:
<div id="exampleGrid"></div>
<script type="text/javascript">
var myData = [
["", "Kia", "Nissan", "Toyota", "Honda"],
["2008", 10, 11, 12, 13],
["2009", 20, 11, 14, 13],
["2010", 30, 15, 12, 13]
];
$("#exampleGrid").handsontable({
data: myData,
startRows: 5,
startCols: 5,
minSpareCols: 1,
//always keep at least 1 spare row at the right
minSpareRows: 1,
//always keep at least 1 spare row at the bottom,
rowHeaders: true,
colHeaders: true,
contextMenu: true
});
</script>

Answer 2

I've been looking for something similar at some point and ended up writing my own, as a backbone gem. I am using it in production, but in admin sections only : it's still a little beta...
Just to say : If you're already familiar with backbone and want flexibility, it can be a good start. Not the answer you're looking for but an alternative nevertheless.