How to link model to controller action - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have a Slider model in my project and it has a lot of polymorphic associations with other model like Product, Manufacturer, Article and etc.
So, when I use 'show' action with one of the models I also show related Slider. It's ok. But sometimes I need to show Slider with 'index' action.
What is the best way to link some of the sliders to actions, not to other models?
UPDATE
routes
resources :products, :articles, :industries, :manufacturers, only: [:index, :show]
Product controller
class ProductsController < ApplicationController
load_resource
# GET /products
# GET /products.json
def index
#catalog = Product.by_type_and_manufacturer
end
# GET /products/1
# GET /products/1.json
def show
#page_slider = #product.slider
end
end
So in 'show' action I just use product.slider to get related Slider instance. But I want to show another slider for all products by index action.

Answer 1

In that case, what you're trying to do is not possible. You cannot create a relation to a controller action. What you need to do is link the relation's controller action, rather than trying to create a relation to the controller action. A model can only be related to another model (you cannot has_many index, show, delete, etc...)- In other words, call up the data for the relation, and link to that relation's controller action in the view.
example:
#Models:
class Page < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :sliders
end
class Slider < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :page
end
#Controllers
class PagesController < ApplicationController
def index
#pages = Page.all # lists all pages
end
def show
#page = Page.find(params[:id]) # simplified, this will probably make use of strong params in your actual code
#sliders = #page.sliders # all sliders related to the page
end
# if you would like to show a page that just has all sliders for a specific page and not the page itself...
def show_page_sliders # you will have to create a route and view for this manually
#page = Page.find(params[:id]) # simplified, this will probably make use of strong params in your actual code
#sliders = #page.sliders # all sliders related to the page
# note that this controller action is identical to the show action, because the data we're going to need is the same- the difference comes in the view
end
end
class SlidersController < ApplicationController
def index
#sliders = Slider.all
end
def show
#slider = Slider.find(params[:id])
end
end
# Views
# page#index
<% #pages.each do |p| %>
...
page listing code goes here. if you want to list the sliders for each page on the index...
<% p.sliders.each do |s| %>
...
individual slider info goes here
...
<% end %>
...
<% end %>
# pages#show
<%= #page.name %>
<%= #page.content %> <!-- or whatever data you have for page -->
# since here we are showing a singular page, we can just use our #page instance variable to list out the sliders
<% #page.sliders do |s| %>
...
Slider listing code goes here
...
<% end %>
# pages#show_sliders
<!-- this is identical to the page#show view, minus the actual page info, and with the addition of a link back to the parent page -->
<%= link_to "Back to page", page(s.page_id) %>
<% #page.sliders do |s| %>
...
Slider listing code goes here
<!-- you can link to any path from the slider listing -->
<%= link_to "Show", slider(s.id) %>
<%= link_to "Edit", edit_slider_path(s.id) %>
<%= link_to "Delete", delete_slider_path(s.id) %>
...
<% end %>
#######################UPDATE#############################
# to define one slider per controller action
class PagesController < ApplicationController
def index
#pages = Page.all
# you need to add a "controller_action" column to your Slider model
#slider = Slider.find_where(controller_action: "pages#index")
end
def show
#page = Page.find(params[:id])
#slider = Slider.find_where(controller_action: "pages#show")
end
# etc ...