Rails 4.1.2 - to_param escapes slashes (and breaks app) - ruby-on-rails

I use in my app to_param to create custom URL (this custom path contains slashes):
class Machine < ActiveRecord::Base
def to_param
MachinePrettyPath.show_path(self, cut_model_text: true)
end
end
The thing is, that since Rails 4.1.2 behaviour changed and Rails doesn't allow to use slashes in the URL (when use custom URL), so it escapes slashes.
I had such routes:
Rails.application.routes.draw do
scope "(:locale)", locale: /#{I18n.available_locales.join("|")}/ do
resources :machines, except: :destroy do
collection do
get :search
get 'search/:ad_type(/:machine_type(/:machine_subtype(/:brand)))', action: 'search', as: :pretty_search
get ':subcategory/:brand(/:model)/:id', action: 'show', as: :pretty
patch ':subcategory/:brand(/:model)/:id', action: 'update' # To be able to update machines with new rich paths.
end
end
end
end
I tried by recommendation in the thread to use glob param just for show method to make sure it works:
resources :machines, except: :destroy do
#...
end
scope format: false do
get '/machines/*id', to: "machines#show"
end
But it absolutely doesn't work. I still have such broken links:
http://localhost:3000/machines/tractor%2Fminitractor%2Fmodel1%2F405
Of course, if I replace escaped slashes on myself:
http://localhost:3000/machines/tractor/minitractor/model1/405
And try to visit path, then page'll be opened.
Any ideas how can I fix that?

I've been having the same problem when using the auto-generated url helpers. I used a debugger to trace the new behavior to its source (somewhere around ActionDispatch::Journey::Visitors::Formatter), but didn't find any promising solutions. It looks like the parameterized model is now strictly treated as a single slash-delimited segment of the path and escaped accordingly, with no options to tell the formatter otherwise.
As far as I can tell, the only way to get the url helper to produce the old result is to use your original routes file and pass each segment separately, something like:
pretty_machine_path(machine.subcategory, machine.brand, machine.model, machine.id)
This is ugly as hell and obviously not something you'll want to do over and over. You could add a method to MachinePrettyPath to generate the segments as an array and explode the result for the helper (say, pretty_machine_path(*MachinePrettyPath.show_path_segments(machine))) but that's still pretty verbose.
Between the above headaches and the "You're Doing it Wrong" attitude from the devs in that Rails ticket you linked to, the simplest option for me was to bite the bullet and write a custom URL helper instead of using to_param. I've yet to find a good example of the "right" way to do that, but something like this bare-bones example should serve the purpose:
#app/helpers/urls_helper.rb
module UrlsHelper
def machine_path(machine, options = {})
pretty_machine_path(*MachinePrettyPath.show_path_segments(machine), options)
end
end
#app/controllers/application_controller.rb
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
helper :urls #for the views
include UrlsHelper #for controllers
#...
end

If you're sure the returned url is safe you should add .html_safe to the returned string:
MachinePrettyPath.show_path(self, cut_model_text: true).html_safe
(didn't see anywhere else where it can be escaped but check all the flow in your app, maybe manually testing method by by method)

How about defining the url yourself?
def to_param
"#{ subcategory.title.parameterize }/#{ brand.name.parameterize }/#{ model.name.parameterize) }/#{ id }"
end
And then in your routes something like this:
get 'machines/*id', to: "machines#show"
You also have to split your params[:id] when you do a find on your model.
Machine.find( params[:id].split("/").last )

Related

Rails route scope default based on current_user

I have a route something like:
scope ":department", department: /admin|english|math/, defaults: { department: 'admin' }
Is it possible to make the default department for this route to be based on the current_user.department.name?
If this is not possible, what is another way of solving my problem. The problem is that I want all links to default to the current scope unless otherwise noted. I'm currently doing the following in LOTS of places:
# links to /math/students
link_to 'students', students_path(department: current_user.department.name.downcase)
If I understand correctly, what you want is to be able to write:
link_to 'students', students_path
and have the department option automatically set based on the current user.
Here's a solution that's like some of the others that have been offered: define helpers for each route that requires a department. However, we can do this programmatically.
Here we go:
app/helpers/url_helper.rb
module UrlHelper
Rails.application.routes.routes.named_routes.values.
select{ |route| route.parts.include?(:department) }.each do |route|
define_method :"department_#{route.name}_path" do |*args|
opts = args.extract_options!
if args.size > 0
keys = route.parts - [:department]
opts.merge!(Hash[*keys.zip(args).flatten])
end
opts.reverse_merge!(department: current_user.department.name.downcase)
Rails.application.routes.url_helpers.send(:"#{route.name}_path", opts)
end
end
end
You now have helper methods like department_students_path for every route that has a :department path segment. These will work just like students_path -- you can pass in opts, you can even set the :department explicitly and it will override the default. And they stay up to date with changes to your routes.rb without you having to maintain it.
You might even be able to name them the same as the original helpers, i.e.,
define_method :"#{route.name}_path"
without having to prefix them with department_--I didn't do that because I'd rather avoid naming collisions like that. I'm not sure how that would work (which method would win the method lookup when calling it from a view template), but you might look into it.
You can of course repeat this block for the _url helper methods, so you'll have those in addition to the _path ones.
To make the helpers available on controllers as well as views, just include UrlHelper in your ApplicationController.
So I think this satisfies your criteria:
You can call a helper method for paths scoped to :department which will default to the current_user's department, so that you don't have to explicitly specify this every time.
The helpers are generated via metaprogramming based on the actually defined named routes that have a :department segment, so you don't have to maintain them.
Like the built-in rails url_helpers, these guys can take positional args for other path segments, like, department_student_path(#student). However, one limitation is that if you want to override the department, you need to do so in the final opts hash (department_student_path(#student, department: 'math')). Then again, in that case you could always just do student_path('math', #student), so I don't think it's much of a limitation.
Route contraints can accept a proc, so you could solve this problem with the following "hack":
concern :student_routes do
# all your routes where you want this functionality
end
# repeat this for all departments
scope ":department", constraints: lambda{|req| req.session[:user_id] && User.find(req.session[:user_id]).department.name.downcase == "english"}, defaults: { department: 'english' } do
concerns :student_routes
end
Route concerns is a feature of rails 4. If you don't use rails 4, can you get the feature with this gem: https://github.com/rails/routing_concerns.
You can also just copy all the routes for students to all of the scopes.
You could use
link_to 'students', polymorphic_path([current_user.department.name.downcase, :students])
This will call
math_students_path
So to work I suppose you should add in your routes
scope ':department', as: 'department' do
...
as key generates helpers of the form: department_something_path
As that line is too long you could extract that to a helper
# students path taking into account department
def students_path!(other_params = {}, user = current_user)
polymorphic_path([user.department.name.downcase, :students], other_params)
Then you will use in your views
link_to 'students', students_path!
What about using nested routes? You could implement this with:
resources :departments do
resources :students
end
If you want to use a friendly url (like "math" instead of an id) can you add the following to the department model:
# in models/department.rb
def to_param
name.downcase
end
Remember name have to be unique for each department. Ryan B have made a railscast about this. You could also use a gem like friendly id.
You can now add the following to your views:
# links to /math/students
link_to 'students', department_students_path(current_user.department)
If you use this often, then create a helper:
# helpers/student_helpers.rb
def students_path_for_current_user
department_students_path(current_user.department)
end
# in view
link_to 'students', students_path_for_current_user
I ended up specifying it in the ApplicationController with:
def default_url_options(options={})
{department: current_user.department.name}
end
The path helpers will fill have the :department parameter filled in automatically then...

StackOverflow Style Routes with Smart Redirects

StackOverflow seems to have this style of routes for questions:
/questions/:id/*slug
Which is easy enough to achieve, both in routes and to_param.
However, StackOverflow seems to also redirect to that path when just an ID is passed.
Example:
stackoverflow.com/questions/6841333
redirects to:
stackoverflow.com/questions/6841333/why-is-subtracting-these-two-times-in-1927-giving-a-strange-result/
Same goes for any variation of the slug
stackoverflow.com/questions/6841333/some-random-stuff
Will still redirect to the same URL.
My question is: Is this type of redirection typically handled in the controller (comparing the request to the route) or is there a way to do this in routes.rb?
The reason I wouldn't think this possible in the routes.rb file is that typically, you don't have access to the object (so you couldn't get the slug based off the ID, right?)
For anyone interested, Rails 3.2.13 and also using FriendlyID
Ok, so I think I've got this.
I was looking into doing something with middleware, but then decided that's probably not the place for this type of functionality (since we need to access ActiveRecord).
So I ended up building a service object, known as a PathCheck. The service looks like this:
class PathCheck
def initialize(model, request)
#model = model
#request = request
end
# Says if we are already where we need to be
# /:id/*slug
def at_proper_path?
#request.fullpath == proper_path
end
# Returns what the proper path is
def proper_path
Rails.application.routes.url_helpers.send(path_name, #model)
end
private
def path_name
return "edit_#{model_lowercase_name}_path" if #request.filtered_parameters["action"] == "edit"
"#{model_lowercase_name}_path"
end
def model_lowercase_name
#model.class.name.underscore
end
end
This is easy enough to implement into my controller:
def show
#post = Post.find params[:post_id] || params[:id]
check_path
end
private
def check_path
path_check = PathCheck.new #post, request
redirect_to path_check.proper_path if !path_check.at_proper_path?
end
My || in my find method is because in order to maintain resourceful routes, I did something like...
resources :posts do
get '*id' => 'posts#show'
end
Which will make a routes like: /posts/:post_id/*id on top of /posts/:id
This way, the numeric id is primarily used to look up the record, if available. This allows us to loosely match /posts/12345/not-the-right-slug to be redirected to /posts/12345/the-right-slug
The service is written in a universal fashion, so I can use it in any resourceful controller. I have't found a way to break it yet, but I'm open to correction.
Resources
Railscast #398: Service Objects by Ryan Bates
This Helpful Tweet by Jared Fine

How to override routes path helper in rails?

My route is defined like this
match '/user/:id' => 'user#show', :as => :user
If for some reason a nil ID is passed I want the route helper to return only '#' and if ID is not nil i want it to return normal path like '/user/123'.
or is there any better way to do it.
this route helper has been used in lot of places in my code so I dont want to change that. Instead I am looking for one place which will effect all instances of user_path.
Thanks
I did this in app/helpers/url_helper.rb
module UrlHelper
def resource_path(resource, parameters = {})
# my implementation
"/#{resource.category}/#{resource.name}#{ "?#{parameters.to_query}" if parameters.present? }"
end
end
I know there are ways to define such a nested route but I have a codebase using that route in several parts, as the question states.
I tried to alias old method, but was not recognised:
alias_method :old_resource_path, :resource_path
module CustomUrlHelper
def user_path(user, options = {})
if user.nil?
"#"
else
super
end
end
end
# Works at Rails 4.2.6, for older versions try http://stackoverflow.com/a/31957323/474597
Rails.application.routes.named_routes.url_helpers_module.send(:include, CustomUrlHelper)

How to implement "short" nested vanity urls in rails?

I understand how to create a vanity URL in Rails in order to translate
http://mysite.com/forum/1 into http://mysite.com/some-forum-name
But I'd like to take it a step further and get the following working (if it is possible at all):
Instead of:
http://mysite.com/forum/1/board/99/thread/321
I'd like in the first step to get to something like this: http://mysite.com/1/99/321
and ultimately have it like http://mysite.com/some-forum-name/some-board-name/this-is-the-thread-subject.
Is this possible?
To have this work "nicely" with the Rails URL helpers you have to override to_param in your model:
def to_param
permalink
end
Where permalink is generated by perhaps a before_save
before_save :set_permalink
def set_permalink
self.permalink = title.parameterize
end
The reason you create a permalink is because, eventually, maybe, potentially, you'll have a title that is not URL friendly. That is where parameterize comes in.
Now, as for finding those posts based on what permalink is you can either go the easy route or the hard route.
Easy route
Define to_param slightly differently:
def to_param
id.to_s + permalink
end
Continue using Forum.find(params[:id]) where params[:id] would be something such as 1-my-awesome-forum. Why does this still work? Well, Rails will call to_i on the argument passed to find, and calling to_i on that string will return simply 1.
Hard route
Leave to_param the same. Resort to using find_by_permalink in your controllers, using params[:id] which is passed in form the routes:
Model.find_by_permalink(params[:id])
Now for the fun part
Now you want to take the resource out of the URL. Well, it's a Sisyphean approach. Sure you could stop using the routing helpers Ruby on Rails provides such as map.resources and define them using map.connect but is it really worth that much gain? What "special super powers" does it grant you? None, I'm afraid.
But still if you wanted to do that, here's a great place to start from:
get ':forum_id/:board_id/:topic_id', :to => "topics#show", :as => "forum_board_topic"
Take a look at the Rails Routing from the Outside In guide.
maybe try something like
map.my_thread ':forum_id/:board_od/:thread_id.:format', :controller => 'threads', :action => 'show'
And then in your controller have
#forum = Forum.find(params[:forum_id])
#board = #forum.find(params[:board_id])
#thread = #board.find(params[:thread_id])
Notice that you can have that model_id be anything (the name in this case)
In your view, you can use
<%= link_to my_thread_path(#forum, #board, #thread) %>
I hope this helps

Rails RESTful Routes: override params[:id] or params[:model_id] defaults

I'm trying to understand how to change this rule directly on the map.resources:
supposing I have a route:
map.resource :user, :as => ':user', :shallow => true do |user|
user.resources :docs, :shallow => true do |file|
file.resources :specs
end
end
so I would have RESTful routes like this:
/:user/docs
/docs/:id
/docs/:doc_id/specs
So I see that is difficult to track the params[:doc_id] on this case because sometimes its params[:id] and sometimes its params[:doc_id] and in this case I would like to always call for one specific name so I won't have to create two different declarations for my filters.
Well, I did a little bit of research and I found this patch:
http://dev.rubyonrails.org/ticket/6814
and basically what this does is give you the ability to add a :key parameter on you map.resources so you can defined how you would like to reference it later so we could have something like:
map.resources :docs, :key => :doc ...
so I always would call the param with params[:doc] instead.
But actually this patch is a little bit old (3 years now)
so I was wondering if we don't have anything newer and already built-in for rails to do this task?
P.S I'm not sure about that to_param method defined inside the model, apparently this didn't change anything on my requests, and on the logs I still getting:
Parameters: {"doc_id"=>"6"} or Parameters: {"id"=>"6"} all the time.
One method of making the parameters a little more friendly without writing fully custom routes is
# docs_controller.rb
def show
#doc = Doc.find(params[:doc].to_i)
end
# doc.rb
def to_param
[ id, permalink ].join("-")
# assumes you're storing a permalink formatted version of the name of your doc
end
# routes.rb
map.resources :docs
This will give you URLs that look something like example.com/docs/234-the-name-of-your-doc

Resources