I'm new with RoR and I have a controller (UsersController) where I wish to verify the existence of a certain session before anything. Since the session verification code is the same for several methods and I don't want to repeat myself, I decided to make a new method in my controller to check the sessions:
class UsersController < ApplicationController
def index
end
def show
end
def new
if self.has_register_session?
# Does something
else
# Does something else
end
end
def edit
end
def create
end
def update
end
def destroy
end
def self.has_register_session?
# true or false
end
end
And when I run the page /users/new, I got this error:
undefined method `has_register_session?' for #<UsersController:0x1036d9b48>
Any idea?
self when you define the method refers to the UsersController class object, but within the instance method new, self refers to the instance of UsersController.
You can either make your method an instance method:
def has_register_session?
# code
end
You can then get rid of the self when calling has_register_session? in new as well.
Or call the method on the class:
if UsersController.has_register_session?
# code
end
instead of referencing UsersController explicitly you could do self.class.
Note that you likely want the first solution: making has_register_session? an instance method.
By doing def self.blah you've created a class method whereas you want an instance method.
You might also want to make the method protected - all public methods are exposed as actions by default.
Related
In my Rails application I have a class that I want to initialize and then access it throughout my controllers. So the idea is that I set it via the application controller if it's not already been defined:
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
before_action :set_custom_class
# create an instance of customclass if doesn't exist
def set_custom_class
#custom_class ||= CustomClass.new
end
end
An example of the class:
class CustomClass
def initialize; end
def custom_method
#custom_method
end
def custom_method=(content)
#custom_method = content
end
end
If I then have a controller like:
class MyController < ApplicationController
def method_1
# set the custom_method value on my instance
#custom_class.custom_method('Some content')
# return the value I set above
#variable = #custom_class.custom_method
redirect_to :method_2
end
def method_2
# I should be able to retrieve the same value from that same instance
#variable = #custom_class.custom_method
end
end
What I'm finding is that when calling method_1 the #variable will return my content fine, but when calling method_2 AFTER method_1 (so the custom_method for the app wide #custom_class has been set) it's returning nil.
Why isn't the instance being retained? The #custom_class shouldn't be creating a new instance as it's already been set. So I can't understand why the value I have set gets lost when requesting it.
You witnessing such behaviour, because state of a controller is not preserved between requests. For example, imagine that current_user method sets #current_user for one request and returns the same user for another one.
Please, consider an option of using cookies or database for sharing state between requests.
Otherwise, a workaround would be setting a class variable of CustomClass, but I don't recommend to do it.
Looks like your before_action will re-instantiate the new object on every request. That means that since you aren't passing anything through to the class in Method2, it will come out as NULL.
Since you said app-wide, why not make it app-wide?
In config/application.rb,
module App
class Application < Rails::Application
def custom_class
#custom_class ||= CustomClass.new
end
end
end
in your application code,
Rails.application.custom_class
I am trying to access Devise's current_user variable inside a new instance of another controller. Here is my definition of GetsInterfaceController
class GetsInterfaceController < ApplicationController
def select_current_signed_in_user
#signed_in_user_here = current_user
end
end
Then I instantiate a new instance of GetsInterfaceController in ClientsController
class ClientsController < ApplicationController
def get_current_user
#gets_interface_controller = GetsInterfaceController.new
find_signed_in_user = #gets_interface_controller.select_current_signed_in_user
end
end
But I get null error on the #signed_in_user_here = current_user line in GetsInterfaceController when I try this. Anyway to get to the current_user attribute from inside GetsInterfaceController ?
I solved this by moving my code into a Module in lib directory. Works like a charm
current_user is not a variable - it is a helper method. Thus it is already available in all your helpers and views.
Additionally you never instantiate controllers in Rails. The router does that for you.
The only public methods in your controllers should be the actions which respond to HTTP requests.
If you want to reuse a method in several controllers you should be using inheritance, modules (concerns) or helpers. Never by calling a method on another controller.
To call an external service you want to create an API client class:
# adapted from https://github.com/jnunemaker/httparty
require 'httparty'
class StackExchangeClient
include HTTParty
base_uri 'api.stackexchange.com'
def initialize(service, page, user = nil)
#user = user
#options = { query: {site: service, page: page} }
end
def questions
self.class.get("/2.2/questions", #options)
end
def users
self.class.get("/2.2/users", #options)
end
end
Or if you need to call an external service and for example create several models with the data a Service Object:
class SomeService
def initialize(user, client: SomeClient)
#user = user
#client = client # for mocking
end
def call
response = #client.get('/foo')
response.each do |d|
#user.baz << d[:woo]
end
end
end
SomeService.new(current_user).call
is it necessary to mention the private methods in controller as helper_methods in controller?
Like
class PostsController < ApplicationController
helper_method :check_something
def new
check_something
#post = Post.new
end
def show
#post = Post.find(params[:id])
end
private
def check_something
redirect_to(root_path) and return if something
end
end
Is the statement : helper_method :check_something required ? if so why ?
And when i call a private method from a controllers action method is the params hash accessible in the private or the helper method ??
I think you have misunderstood the 'helper_method' concept.
helper_method is used to make your controller method to act as a method as its in your helper modules
So inside your controller, you can always access your private method without the 'helper_method' section
and if you add a controller method as a helper method, as you have already done, in your view you can simply call it
and for your second question, yes params hash is accessible via controllers private methods
HTH
No it is not necessary. You can always call private methods of your controller within your controller.
Also, params would be available automatically for the private methods within controller.
No need to mention a private method as helper method in your controller. You can directly call them from another methods from the same controller by passing parameters like params, or any thing.
class ContorllerName < ApplicationController
def index
private_method(params)
end
private
def private_method(vals)
vals
end
end
My question is about controller methods (possibly included from an outside class) that work with instance variables. I frequently use a before_filter in controllers to set up certain variables, e.g.:
class DocumentController < ApplicationController
before_filter :fetch_document
def action
#document.do_something
end
private
def fetch_document
#document = Document.find(params[:id])
end
end
I've been working on a project in which a few controllers will share some functionality, say, document editing. My first thought was to extract the relevant methods, and get them from application_controller.rb or a separate module. But then I noticed I was writing code that looks like this:
def fetch_document
#document = Document.find(params[:id])
end
def do_something_to_document
#document.do_something
end
This sets off warning bells: do_something_to_document is essentially assuming the existence of #document, rather than taking it as an argument. Is this, in your sage opinions, a bad coding practice? Or am I being paranoid?
Assuming it is an issue, I see two general approaches to deal with it:
Check for the instance var and bail unless it's set:
def do_something_to_document
raise "no doc!" unless #document
[...]
end
Call the action with the instance var as an argument:
def do_something_to_document(document)
[...]
end
2 looks better, because it hides the context of the calling object. But do_something_to_doc will only be called by controllers that have already set up #document, and taking #document as a method argument incurs the overhead of object creation. (Right?) 1 seems hackish, but should cover all of the cases.
I'm inclined to go with 1 (assuming I'm right about the performance issue), even though seeing a list of methods referencing mysterious instance vars gives me hives. Thoughts? Let me know if I can be more clear. (And of course, if this is answered somewhere I didn't see it, just point me in the right direction...)
Thanks,
-Erik
If you really need document in different controllers, I'd do something like this:
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
private
def document
#document ||= Document.find(params[:document_id])
end
end
class FooController < ApplicationController
before_filter :ensure_document, :only => [:foo]
def foo
document.do_something
end
private
# TODO: not sure if controller_name/action_name still exists
def ensure_document
raise "#{controller_name}##{action_name} needs a document" unless document
end
end
As #variable are session/instance variable you will get a Nil exception in do_something_to_document method.
The first code is fine, because before_filter will always load your #document.
I suggest you to write something like that
def fetch_document(doc_id)
#document ||= Document.find(doc_id)
end
def do_something_to_document
my_doc = fetch_document(params[:id])
end
where do_something_to_document is in the controller (if not, dont use params[:id], even if you know you can access this global, use another explicit parameter). The ||= thing, will asssure that you call the base only once by request.
Is there any way to share an array between controller methods and store it until page reloads or calling method of another controller? Some methods should change the array.
you can use rails cache.
Rails.cache.write("list",[1,2,3])
Rails.cache.read("list")
If you want to share the value across the methods of a same controller instance then,
declare an instance variable:
class BarsController < UsersController
before_filter :init_foo_list
def method1
render :method2
end
def method2
#foo_list.each do | item|
# do something
end
end
def init_foo_list
#foo_list ||= ['Money', 'Animals', 'Ummagumma']
end
end
If you want to share the value across two controllers withn a session, then:
class BarsController < UsersController
before_filter :init_foo_list
def method1
render :controller => "FoosController", :action => "method2"
end
def init_foo_list
params[:shared_param__] ||= ['Money', 'Animals', 'Ummagumma']
end
end
class FoosController < UsersController
def method2
params[:shared_param__].each do | item|
# do something
end
end
end
Give an unique name to the shared parameter key so as to avoid collision with existing keys.
Other option is to store the shared array in the session ad delete it before the final render.
I am not sure whether my answer is close to your requirement, but this is what I do if I want to get the value of an object/model which is fetched in one controller action and basis on that value I need to fetch other values in another controller action.
I make use of class variables and use it throughout my controller action
for eg:
#pages=Post.find.all`
##my_value=#pages.(any manipulations)
now ##my_vales can be used in any actions of that controller..
hope it helps...