# 1 layous for application with modules

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/1-layous-for-application-with-modules/55900>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [March 24, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/1-layous-for-application-with-modules/55900 "2006-03-24T21:40:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![David\_Durham](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@David\_Durham](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/David_Durham)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/1-layous-for-application-with-modules/55900/1 "2006-03-24T21:40:35Z")

</div>

Hi all,

New to list. Just read, Agile Web D. with Rails – good book.  
Ok, on to my question.

I’d like to use a single layout for my entire application, but I also  
want to use modules. This may be a mistake, but I’m also just kind of  
curious how to link properly in this case. So, for instance, I’ve code  
like this my layout:

\<%= link\_to ‘List’, :controller =\> ‘report’, :action =\> ‘list’ -%\>

\<%= link\_to ‘Applications’, :controller =\> ‘admin/application’, :action  
=\> ‘list’ -%\>

When I go to the admin module, here’s what is rendered:

```
 <a href="/admin/report/list">List</a>

 <a href="/admin/admin/application/list">Applications</a>

```

So, anyway to make link\_to “module aware?” Perhaps I’m just doing  
something wrong.

Thanks,

Dave

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![David\_Durham](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@David\_Durham](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/David_Durham)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/1-layous-for-application-with-modules/55900/2 "2006-03-24T23:11:17Z")

</div>

Try

\<%= link\_to ‘Applications’, :controller =\> ‘/admin/application’, :action  
=\> ‘list’ -%\>

and see if that does it for you.  
I’m doing exactly that in my app and it seems to work. You might also  
want  
to look at named routes instead.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![David\_Durham](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@David\_Durham](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/David_Durham)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 7:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/1-layous-for-application-with-modules/55900/3 "2006-03-25T07:03:44Z")

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David Durham wrote:

> \<%= link\_to ‘List’, :controller =\> ‘report’, :action =\> ‘list’ -%\>  
> [Applications](https://www.ruby-forum.com/admin/admin/application/list)
> 
> So, anyway to make link\_to “module aware?” Perhaps I’m just doing  
> something wrong.

I just struggled with this earlier today and found there is a nice  
solution, in the link\_to :options, you need to specify :only\_path =\>  
true

I’ve found that searching through the API docs takes a bit of work, but  
the results are worth it, because there is no better answer than the  
actual source code docs 🙂

[http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/ActionController/Base.html#M000174](http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/ActionController/Base.html#M000174)

Regards,  
John