Rails 5: controller action in module - ruby-on-rails

Question

I realize this is against MVC principals and all, but how can I access the controller name/method in a module that is included in a class?
module DocumentHTMLBoxes
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
included do
def icon_or_text(variable)
if controller.action_name == 'send'
"<b>#{variable.name.capitalize}</b> #{variable.text}\n"
else
variable.format!
end
end
end
end
How can I access controller and/or controller.action_name in the module?

Answer 1

In Rails the view_context object contains all the ivars from the controller and includes all the helpers. It also provides access to the session, cookies and request. It is the implicit self when you are rendering templates.
Models do not have access to the view context - this is a conscious design as it gives a good seperation of concerns.
If you want to break the encapsulation you need to pass the context to the model.
module DocumentHTMLBoxes
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
included do
def icon_or_text(variable, context)
if context.action_name == 'send'
"<b>#{variable.name.capitalize}</b> #{variable.text}\n"
else
variable.format!
end
end
end
end
class Thing < ApplicationModel
include DocumentHTMLBoxes
end
Congratulations, you just created some really smelly code.
But, this is a really bad idea since it just adds one more responsibility to your models which are already near god-class status in Rails. Don't add generating HTML (a view/helper responsiblity!) to that list.
Instead you should just create a simple helper method:
module BoxesHelper
def icon_or_text(obj)
if context.action_name == 'send'
"<b>#{obj.name.capitalize}</b> #{obj.text}\n"
else
obj.format!
end
end
end
Or a decorator:
# #see https://ruby-doc.org/stdlib-2.1.0/libdoc/delegate/rdoc/Delegator.html
class Decorator < Delegator
attr_accessor :object
attr_accessor :context
def intialize(obj, cxt)
#object = obj
#context = cxt
super(obj) # pass obj to Delegator constructor, required
end
# Required by Delegator
def __getobj__
#object
end
def self.decorate(collection, context)
return collection.map { |record| self.new(record, context) }
end
end
module DocumentHTMLBoxes
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
included do
def icon_or_text(variable)
if context.action_name == 'send'
"<b>#{object.name.capitalize}</b> #{object.text}\n"
else
object.format!
end
end
end
end
class ThingDecorator < Decorator
include DocumentHTMLBoxes
end
To decorate a bunch of records in the controller you would do:
#things = ThingDecorator.decorate( Thing.all, self.view_context )
And now you can call icon_or_text on the decorated model:
<% #things.each do |t| %>
<% t.icon_or_text %>
<% end %>

Answer 2

I`d recommend refactor the code to make it cleaner:
Controller level call would be like
model_item.icon_or_text(variable, action_name)
The module
module DocumentHTMLBoxes
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
included do
def icon_or_text(variable, action_name)
if action_name == 'send'
"<b>#{variable.name.capitalize}</b> #{variable.text}\n"
else
variable.format!
end
end
end
end

Answer 3

Assuming you are including this concern into the controller then inside the icon_or_text method self is the controller. You will just be able to call action_name without prefixing it with controller.
module DocumentHTMLBoxes
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
included do
def icon_or_text(variable)
if action_name == 'send'
"<b>#{variable.name.capitalize}</b> #{variable.text}\n"
else
variable.format!
end
end
end
end