How to Implement ajax pagination with will_paginate gem

Create a new helper (ex. app/helpers/will_paginate_helper.rb) with the following content:

module WillPaginateHelper
  class WillPaginateJSLinkRenderer < WillPaginate::ActionView::LinkRenderer
    def prepare(collection, options, template)
      options[:params] ||= {}
      options[:params]['_'] = nil
      super(collection, options, template)
    end

    protected
    def link(text, target, attributes = {})
      if target.is_a? Fixnum
        attributes[:rel] = rel_value(target)
        target = url(target)
      end

      @template.link_to(target, attributes.merge(remote: true)) do
        text.to_s.html_safe
      end
    end
  end

  def js_will_paginate(collection, options = {})
    will_paginate(collection, options.merge(:renderer => WillPaginateHelper::WillPaginateJSLinkRenderer))
  end
end

Then in your view use this tag for ajax pagination:

<%= js_will_paginate @recipes %>

Remember that the pagination links will include existing params of the url, you can exclude these as shown below. This is standard will paginate functionality:

<%= js_will_paginate @recipes, :params => { :my_excluded_param => nil } %>

Hope that solves your problem.

Update 1: Added a explanation of how this works to the original question where I posted this solution.

Update 2: I've made it Rails 4 compatible with remote: true links and renamed the helper method to js_will_paginate.

Hey if you want to paginate products then try this:

app/controllers/products_controller.rb

def index
  @products = Product.paginate(page: params[:page], per_page: 10)
end

views/products/index.html.erb

<div class = "sort_paginate_ajax"><%= render 'products' %></div>

views/products/_products.html.erb

<% @products.each do |product| %>
# your code
<% end %>
<%= will_paginate @products %>

views/products/index.js.erb

$('.sort_paginate_ajax').html("<%= escape_javascript(render("products"))%>")

assets/javascripts/application.js

$(function() {
  $(".sort_paginate_ajax th a, .sort_paginate_ajax .pagination a").on("click", function(){
    $.getScript(this.href);
    return false;
  });
});

So first we are calling paginate method on Product for all products, here an offset will be set according to params[:page] and limit will be set by per_page options. Also we are rendering products partial which will be rendered every time when other page is opened.

In partial call on @products that you want, and then will_paginate method is applied on @products, it also creates params[:page] that is used in controller.

Now in response to ajax request render content of div having class sort_paginate_ajax with the partial that we created.

Also to make request ajax request, on document load capture script of all a tags in div.sort_paginate_ajax, and return false.

Now pages will be called with ajax request

I hope this would help you.

Additional to previous answer.

string of code:

$(".sort_paginate_ajax th a, .sort_paginate_ajax .pagination a").on("click", function(){

replace with string:

$(".sort_paginate_ajax").on("click", ".pagination a", function(){

The onclick event applied only to the elements that already exist. So, for new appears links, need delegate click event from parent ".sort_paginate_ajax" to childs ".pagination a".

You could just use JQuery:

Controller:

def index
  @posts = Post.paginate(:page => params[:page])      

  respond_to do |format|
    format.html
    format.js
  end
end

Then in index.html.erb:

<div id="post-content", posts: @posts >
  <%= j render 'post_content' %>
</div>

In partial '_post_content.html.erb':

<%= will_paginate @posts %>
<% @posts.each do |post| %>
  <p><%= post.content %></p>
<% end %>

pagination.js:

$(document).ready(function() {
  $('.pagination > a').attr('data-remote', 'true');
});

index.js.erb:

$('#post-content').html("<%= j render 'post_content' %>")

Make sure to add the

$('.pagination > a').attr('data-remote', 'true');

again in your JS template (index.js.erb), so it sets the links data-remote again when the Ajax runs.