# Get text box data after pressing button in plugin
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/get-text-box-data-after-pressing-button-in-plugin/337702
**Category:** Development
**Created:** [November 22, 2024, 8:18am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/get-text-box-data-after-pressing-button-in-plugin/337702 "2024-11-22T08:18:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
I’m working on my first plugin, and I want to be able to get the text content of a text box in the admin panel (part of the plugin) after pressing a button. Then, I want to do some stuff with the content in Ruby. Is there a way for the Ember frontend to send data back to the Ruby backend?
My `plugin.rb`:
```ruby
# name: Discourse Sample Plugin
# about: A simple plugin to play around with
# version: 1.0.0
# authors: NateDhaliwal
# url: https://google.com
enabled_site_setting :plugin_enabled
add_admin_route 'sample_page.title', 'sample-page'
Discourse::Application.routes.append do
get '/admin/plugins/sample-page' => 'admin/plugins#index', constraints: StaffConstraint.new
end
```
My `assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/admin/plugin-sample-plugin.hbs`:
```hbs
```
Not sure what by `sendTextboxData` should do.
My `assets/javascripts/discourse/sample-page-route-map.js`:
```js
export default {
resource: 'admin.adminPlugins',
path: '/plugins',
map() {
this.route('sample-page');
}
};
```
My `assets/javascripts/discourse/controllers/admin-plugins-sample-plugin.js.es6`:
```js
import Controller from "@ember/controller";
import { action } from "@ember/object";
export default class AdminPluginsSamplePlugin extends Controller {
@action
sendTextboxData() {
// How do I send the data?
}
}
```
If I do manage to get the data to the Ruby backend, where do I put the logic for dealing with the data? In `plugin.rb`? Or some other file?
---
Or would a setting be more ideal? However, my use case is that the textbox won’t be needing to retain values each time. Does yml provide this functionality? Can I change Site Settings through Ruby?
---
It sounds like what you’re looking for is to make an API in Ruby that the JS can call. An example is the [Data Explorer](https://meta.discourse.org/t/32566?silent=true) plugin, which implements a user input API with admin permission scope on the ruby side.
>
>
The JS for the [data explorer](https://meta.discourse.org/t/32566?silent=true) is on the beefier side of things, so I’ll just give a simplified example of what you’d probably need.
```js
import { ajax } from "discourse/lib/ajax";
...
@action
sendTextboxData() {
ajax("/endpoint", {
type: "POST",
data: {
key: "value"
},
}).then((result) => {
// do something with the result
};
}
```
You can do the same thing with a native JS `fetch()` but it seems that the `ajax()` function that discourse provides handles a few minor things under the hood.
If your ruby code is light enough, you can probably fit it entirely within a single file for the controller. Otherwise you can organize it however you need.