Resource Controller

resource_controller makes RESTful controllers easier, more maintainable, and super readable. With the RESTful controller pattern hidden away, you can focus on what makes your controller special.

Get It

Add it as a gem dependency

config.gem'resource_controller'

…or for the development version

config.gem'giraffesoft-resource_controller', :lib=>'resource_controller', :source=>'http://gems.github.com'

Or install it as a gem manually

sudogeminstallresource_controller

…or for the development version

sudogeminstallgiraffesoft-resource_controller

Or grab the source

git clone git://github.com/giraffesoft/resource_controller.git

Usage

Creating a basic RESTful controller is as easy as…

classPostsController<ResourceController::Baseend

…or if you prefer, you can use the method-call syntax. If you need to inherit from some other class, this syntax is definitely for you:

classPostsController<ApplicationControllerresource_controllerend

Both syntaxes are identical in their behavior. Just make sure you call resource_controller before you use any other r_c functionality in your controller.

Nobody just uses the default RESTful controller, though. resource_controller provides a simple API for customizations.

Action Lifecycle

It’s really easy to make changes to the lifecycle of your actions.

Note: We had to call the new accessor "new_action", since new is somewhat reserved in ruby.

Before and After

classProjectsController<ResourceController::Basenew_action.beforedo3.times { object.tasks.build }
endcreate.afterdoobject.creator = current_userendend

Flash

classProjectsController<ResourceController::Basecreate.flash"Can you believe how easy it is to use resource_controller? Neither could I!"end

respond_to

You can add to what’s already there…

classProjectsController<ResourceController::Basecreate.wants.js { render:template=>"show.rjs" }
end

Or you can create a whole new block. This syntax destroys everything that’s there, and starts again…

classProjectsController<ResourceController::Basecreate.responsedo|wants|wants.htmlwants.js { render:template=>"show.rjs" }
endend

Scoping

Because sometimes you want to make a bunch of customizations at once, most of the helpers accept blocks that make grouping calls really easy. Is it a DSL? Maybe; maybe not. But, it’s definitely awesome.

With actions that can fail, the scoping defaults to success. That means that create.flash == create.success.flash.

classProjectsController<ResourceController::Basecreatedoflash"Object successfully created!"wants.js { render:template=>"show.rjs" }
failure.wants.js { render:template=>"display_errors.rjs" }
enddestroydoflash"You destroyed your project. Good work."failuredoflash"You cannot destroy that project. Stop trying!"wants.js { render:template=>"display_errors.rjs" }
endendend

Singleton Resource

If you want to create a singleton RESTful controller inherit from ResourceController::Singleton.

classAccountsController<ResourceController::Singletonend

Note: This type of controllers handle a single resource only so the index action and all the collection helpers (collection_url, collection_path…) are not available for them.

Loading objects in singletons is similar to plural controllers with one exception. For non-nested singleton controllers you should override the object method as it defaults to nil for them.

classAccountsController<ResourceController::Singletonprivatedefobject@object||=Account.find(session[:account_id])
endend

In other cases you can use the default logic and override it only if you use permalinks or anything special.

Singleton nesting with both :has_many and :has_one associations is provided…

map.resource:account, :has_many=>:options# /account/options, account is a singleton parentmap.resources:users, :has_one=>:image# /users/1/image, image is a singleton child

If you have the :has_many association with a singleton parent remember to override parent_object for your :has_many controller as it returns nil by default in this case.

classOptionsController<ResourceController::Basebelongs_to:accountprotecteddefparent_objectAccount.find(session[:account_id])
endend

Helpers (ResourceController::Helpers)

Loading objects

You want to add something like pagination to your controller…

classPostsController<ResourceController::Baseprivatedefcollection@collection||=end_of_association_chain.find(:all, :page=> {:size=>10, :current=>params[:page]})
endend

Or maybe you used a permalink…

classPostsController<ResourceController::Baseprivatedefobject@object||=end_of_association_chain.find_by_permalink(param)
endend

Building objects

Maybe you have some alternative way of building objects…

classPostsController<ResourceController::Baseprivatedefbuild_object@object||=end_of_association_chain.build_my_object_some_funky_wayobject_paramsendend

…and there are tons more helpers in the ResourceController::Helpers

Nested Resources

Nested controllers can be a pain, especially if routing is such that you may or may not have a parent. Not so with Resource Controller.

classCommentsController<ResourceController::Basebelongs_to:postend

All of the finding, and creation, and everything will be done at the scope of the post automatically.

Namespaced Resources

…are handled automatically, and any namespaces are always available, symbolized, in array form @ ResourceController::Helpers#namespaces

Polymorphic Resources

Everything, including url generation is handled completely automatically. Take this example…

## comment.rb
class Comment
belongs_to :commentable, :polymorphic => true
end
## comments_controller.rb
class CommentsController < ResourceController::Base
belongs_to :post, :product, :user
end
*Note:* Your model doesn't have to be polymorphic in the ActiveRecord sense. It can be associated in whichever way you want.
## routes.rb
map.resources :posts, :has_many => :comments
map.resources :products, :has_many => :comments
map.resources :users, :has_many => :comments

All you have to do is that, and r_c will infer whichever relationship is present, and perform all the actions at the scope of the parent object.

Parent Helpers

You also get some helpers for reflecting on your parent.

parent?# => true/false is there a parent present?parent_type# => :postparent_model# => Postparent_object# => @post

Non-standard resource names

resource_controller supports overrides for every non-standard configuration of resources.

The most common example is where the resource has a different name than the associated model. Simply overriding the model_name helper will get resource_controller working with your model.

map.resources :tags
...
class PhotoTag < ActiveRecord::Base
...
class TagsController < ResourceController::Base
private
def model_name
'photo_tag'
end
end

In the above example, the variable, and params will be set to @tag, @tags, and params. If you’d like to change that, override object_name.

defobject_name'photo_tag'end

If you’re using a non-standard controller name, but everything else is standard, overriding resource_name will propagate through all of the other helpers.

map.resources :tags, :controller => "somethings"
...
class Tag < ActiveRecord::Base
...
class SomethingsController < ResourceController::Base
private
def resource_name
'tag'
end
end

Finally, the route_name helper is used by Urligence to determine which url helper to call, so if you have non-standard route names, override it.

map.resources :tags, :controller => "taggings"
...
class Taggings < ActiveRecord::Base
...
class TaggingsController < ResourceController::Base
private
def route_name
'tag'
end
end

Url Helpers

Thanks to Urligence, you also get some free url helpers.

No matter what your controller looks like…

[edit_|new_]object_url # is the equivalent of saying [edit_|new_]post_url(@post)
[edit_|new_]object_url(some_other_object) # allows you to specify an object, but still maintain any paths or namespaces that are present
collection_url # is like saying posts_url

Url helpers are especially useful when working with polymorphic controllers.

# /posts/1/commentsobject_url# => /posts/1/comments/#{@comment.to_param}object_url(comment) # => /posts/1/comments/#{comment.to_param}edit_object_url# => /posts/1/comments/#{@comment.to_param}/editcollection_url# => /posts/1/comments# /products/1/commentsobject_url# => /products/1/comments/#{@comment.to_param}object_url(comment) # => /products/1/comments/#{comment.to_param}edit_object_url# => /products/1/comments/#{@comment.to_param}/editcollection_url# => /products/1/comments# /commentsobject_url# => /comments/#{@comment.to_param}object_url(comment) # => /comments/#{comment.to_param}edit_object_url# => /comments/#{@comment.to_param}/editcollection_url# => /comments

Or with namespaced, nested controllers…

# /admin/products/1/optionsobject_url# => /admin/products/1/options/#{@option.to_param}object_url(option) # => /admin/products/1/options/#{option.to_param}edit_object_url# => /admin/products/1/options/#{@option.to_param}/editcollection_url# => /admin/products/1/options

You get the idea. Everything is automagical! All parameters are inferred.

Credits

resource_controller was created, and is maintained by James Golick.

License

resource_controller is available under the MIT License