Rails3 nested-routing issues - ruby-on-rails

Question

I would like to create a mechanism for a User to keep track of other, favorite Users, similar to SO's favorite questions. I'm using the Rails 3.0 beta.
To do so, I have a User-Favorite HABTM relationship, which works as expected:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :favorites, :class_name => "User", :join_table => "favorites", :association_foreign_key => "favorite_id", :foreign_key => "user_id"
end
The Favorites Controller only needs 3 of the 7 RESTful methods to manage a User's favorites:
class FavoritesController < ApplicationController
# GET /favorites
# GET /favorites.xml
def index
#user = User.find(params[:user_id])
#favorites = #user.favorites.joins(:profile).order("last_name,first_name")
...
end
def create
#favorite = User.find(params[:id])
current_user.favorites << #favorite
...
end
def destroy
#favorite = User.find(params[:id])
current_user.favorites.delete(#favorite)
...
end
end
The Routes.rb file contains the routing instruction:
resources :users, :except => :destroy do
resources :favorites, :only => [:index,:create,:destroy]
end
that generates these user-favorite routes:
GET /users/:user_id/favorites(.:format) {:controller=>"favorites", :action=>"index"}
user_favorites POST /users/:user_id/favorites(.:format) {:controller=>"favorites", :action=>"create"}
user_favorite DELETE /users/:user_id/favorites/:id(.:format) {:controller=>"favorites", :action=>"destroy"}
In the User's Show View, the User (#user) can be toggled as a favorite using image links, which works as expected:
<% if [test if user is a favorite] %>
# http://localhost:3000/favorites/destroy/:id?post=true
<%= link_to image_tag("favorite.png", :border => 0), :controller => :favorites, :action => :destroy, :post=>true, :id => #user %>
<% else %>
# http://localhost:3000/favorites/create/:id?post=true
<%= link_to image_tag("not-favorite.png", :border => 0), :controller => :favorites, :action => :create, :post=>true, :id => #user %>
<% end %>
However, in the current_user's favorite Index View, the link_to each favorite user:
# http://localhost:3010/users/4/favorites/3?post=true
<%= link_to image_tag("favorite.png", :border => 0), :controller => :favorites, :action => :destroy, :id => favorite, :post=>true %>
generates an error that reads:
No route matches "/users/4/favorites/3"
Questions:
Have I correctly specified my routing? Seem like the create and destroy routes would only need the id of the favorite, as the 'owner' of the favorite is always current_user.
If I'm simply referencing the Controller/Action in the Show view, do I even need the create/destroy routes?
Why doesn't the link_to in the Index View work correctly?
Are there any improvements that can be made to the over-all approach?

Answer 1

Your routing looks fine.
I think there is something wrong with your link_to, though. For one thing, the RESTful way is not to specify URLs with :controller and :action parameters. The correct way is using the generated URL methods, such as user_favorite_path. Also, you need to specify the :method parameter when targeting the destroy action. This is how I think the link_to should look like:
<%= link_to image_tag("favorite.png", :border => 0), user_favorite_path(#user, #favorite), :method => :delete %>
I believe the reason it says no route matches that URL is because you didn't specify the :method as :delete.

Answer 2

in your rake routes output, the paramater needed is :user_id not :id, so you need to send that in your link_to call.