How to access a hash by key - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'm trying to build a Rails helper that will create a nested dropdown menu containing links where the top most is either "All" or the current param and the dropdown contains the other options excluding the current param if there is one.
For example, if I have no post_type param I would see:
<ul>
<li>All
<ul>
<li>Discussions</li>
<li>Snaps</li>
<li>Code</li>
<li>Links</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
But if I had a post_type param of 'discussion' then I would see:
<ul>
<li>Discussions
<ul>
<li>All</li>
<li>Snaps</li>
<li>Code</li>
<li>Links</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
In my view I have:
<ul class="filter-menu">
<li>
<%= current_post_type(params) %>
<ul class="filter-menu__drop-down">
<%= list_post_types(params) %>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
In my Helper I have:
module PostsHelper
def post_types
#post_types = {
:all => {
:text => 'All post types',
:icon => 'icon-file-text2',
:post_type => nil}
}, {
:discussions => {
:text => 'Discussions',
:icon => 'icon-bubbles2',
:post_type => 'discussions'}
}, {
:snaps => {
:text => 'Snaps',
:icon => 'icon-images',
:post_type => 'snaps'}
}, {
:code => {
:text => 'Code',
:icon => 'icon-embed2',
:post_type => 'code'}
}, {
:links => {
:text => 'Links',
:icon => 'icon-link',
:post_type => 'links'}
}
end
def post_type_text(icon, text, drop_down = false)
raw('<i class="' + icon + '"></i> ' + text + (drop_down ? ' <span class="chevron">▾</span>' : ''))
end
def post_type_path(post_type)
posts_path(:filter => params[:filter], :time => params[:time], :post_type => post_type)
end
def current_post_type(params)
if params[:post_type].present? # todo: check matches above
post_type = params[:post_type].downcase
link_to post_type_text(post_types[post_type][:icon], post_types[post_type][:text], true), post_type_path(post_types[post_type][:post_type])
else
link_to post_type_text(post_types[:all][:icon], post_types[:all][:text], true), post_type_path(post_types[:all][:post_type])
end
end
def list_post_types(params)
post_types.each do |post_type| # todo: exclude current post_type
link_to post_type_text(post_types[post_type][:icon], post_types[post_type][:text]), post_type_path(post_types[post_type][:post_type])
end
end
end
How do I access the hash though? I get an error
no implicit conversion of Symbol into Integer
when doing post_types[:all].
I think it's because post_types is returning an array of hashes where as what I want is a hash of hashes accessible by key names.
I could access the :all via post_types[0][:all][:icon] but this won't work for my other hashes, as I want to access them via post_types[post_type][:icon] where post_type is the name of the post_type key I am trying to access.

Answer 1

First of all, declare a hash instead of an array:
#post_types ||= {
:all => {
:text => 'All post types',
:icon => 'icon-file-text2',
:post_type => nil},
:discussions => {
:text => 'Discussions',
:icon => 'icon-bubbles2',
:post_type => 'discussions'},
:snaps => {
:text => 'Snaps',
:icon => 'icon-images',
:post_type => 'snaps'},
:code => {
:text => 'Code',
:icon => 'icon-embed2',
:post_type => 'code'},
:links => {
:text => 'Links',
:icon => 'icon-link',
:post_type => 'links'}
}
The problem is here:
post_types.each do |post_type| # todo: exclude current post_type
link_to post_type_text(post_types[post_type] ...
You are already iterating over your hash, post_type here is an array, holding both key and value.
Use:
post_types.each do |k, v| # todo: exclude current post_type
link_to post_type_text(v[:icon] ...
To understand what’s going on:
post_types.each do |post_type| # todo: exclude current post_type
puts post_type.inspect
Also, sidenote: instantiate the instance variable only once:
def post_types
# ⇓⇓⇓ HERE
#post_types ||= {...}

Answer 2

This what I have ended up with in the end to solve my problem.
Massive thanks to mudasobwa whose answer I have accepted but I wanted to share what the final code looked like for anyone who comes across this.
module PostsHelper
def post_types
#post_types ||= {
:all => {
:text => 'All post types',
:icon => 'icon-file-text2',
:post_type => nil},
:discussions => {
:text => 'Discussions',
:icon => 'icon-bubbles2',
:post_type => 'discussions'},
:snaps => {
:text => 'Snaps',
:icon => 'icon-images',
:post_type => 'snaps'},
:code => {
:text => 'Code',
:icon => 'icon-embed2',
:post_type => 'code'},
:links => {
:text => 'Links',
:icon => 'icon-link',
:post_type => 'links'}
}
end
def post_type_text(icon, text, drop_down = false)
raw('<i class="' + icon + '"></i> ' + text + (drop_down ? ' <span class="chevron">▾</span>' : ''))
end
def post_type_path(post_type)
posts_path(:filter => params[:filter], :time => params[:time], :post_type => post_type)
end
def current_post_type(params)
post_type = params[:post_type].present? ? params[:post_type].downcase.to_sym : :all
if post_types.key?(post_type)
link_to post_type_text(post_types[post_type][:icon], post_types[post_type][:text], true), post_type_path(post_types[post_type][:post_type])
else
link_to post_type_text(post_types[:all][:icon], post_types[:all][:text], true), post_type_path(post_types[:all][:post_type])
end
end
def list_post_types(params)
html = ''
post_type = params[:post_type].present? ? params[:post_type].downcase.to_sym : :all
exclude_all = post_types.key?(post_type) ? false : true
post_types.each do |k, v|
if exclude_all && k == :all
else
html += "<li>#{link_to post_type_text(v[:icon], v[:text]), post_type_path(v[:post_type])}</li>" if k != post_type
end
end
html.html_safe
end
end