I want the checkbox to be checked when the user visits the page for the first time. -# This file is app/views/movies/index.html.haml %h1 All Movies = form_tag movies_path, :method => :get, :id => 'ratings_form' do Include: - @all_ratings.each do |rating| = rating = check_box_tag "ratings[#{rating}]", "1", @checked_ratings.include?(rating), :id => "ratings_#{rating}", = submit_tag 'Refresh', :id => 'ratings_submit' %table#movies %thead %tr %th{:class => ("hilite" if @sort == "title")}= link_to "Movie Title", movies_path( :sort => "title", :ratings => @checked_ratings), :id => "title_header" %th Rating %th{:class => ("hilite" if @sort == "release_date")}= link_to "Release Date", movies_path( :sort => "release_date", :ratings => @checked_ratings), :id => "release_date_header" %th More Info %tbody - @movies.each do |movie| %tr %td= movie.title %td= movie.rating %td= movie.release_date %td= link_to "More about #{movie.title}", movie_path(movie) = link_to 'Add new movie', new_movie_path #This is my Controller class MoviesController < ApplicationController def show id = params[:id] # retrieve movie ID from URI route @movie = Movie.find(id) # look up movie by unique ID # will render app/views/movies/show.<extension> by default end def index #get all the ratings available @all_ratings = Movie.all_ratings @checked_ratings = (params[:ratings].present? ? params[:ratings] : []) @sort = params[:sort] @movies = Movie.scoped if @sort && Movie.attribute_names.include?(@sort) @movies = @movies.order @sort end id @checked_ratings.empty? @checked_ratings = @all_ratings end unless @checked_ratings.empty? @movies = @movies.where :rating => @checked_ratings.keys end end def new # default: render 'new' template end def create @movie = Movie.create!(params[:movie]) flash[:notice] = "#{@movie.title} was successfully created." redirect_to movies_path end def edit @movie = Movie.find params[:id] end def update @movie = Movie.find params[:id] @movie.update_attributes!(params[:movie]) flash[:notice] = "#{@movie.title} was successfully updated." redirect_to movie_path(@movie) end def destroy @movie = Movie.find(params[:id]) @movie.destroy flash[:notice] = "Movie '#{@movie.title}' deleted." redirect_to movies_path end end In the controller, I set the @checked_rating to be @all_rating if the @checked.rating is empty but it does not do anything. I tried putting :checked = true in the index.html.haml on the check_box_tag but that makes the checkboxes checked everytime the page is refreshed. Everytime I check a particular checkbox and hit refresh button the page loads with all the checkboxes checked. Please help me with this. Thank you in Advance.