# Auto admin?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/auto-admin/177849>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [October 25, 2009, 10:56am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/auto-admin/177849 "2009-10-25T10:56:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![fipa](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fipa](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/fipa)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2009, 10:56am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/auto-admin/177849/1 "2009-10-25T10:56:06Z")

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I’m sure we all find out that after some time, out admin pages look the  
same, and have roughly the same code in their controllers.

I already have been able to dramatically dry out my admin/controllers  
code by creating a generic admins\_controller, and subclass it. But what  
about the views? They are similar, but I can’t find a way to use same  
views for my admin controllers.

How do you handle that? Plugin?

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**Author:** ![fipa](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fipa](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/fipa)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/auto-admin/177849/2 "2009-10-25T18:33:24Z")

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Fernando P. wrote:

> I’m sure we all find out that after some time, out admin pages look the  
> same, and have roughly the same code in their controllers.
> 
> I already have been able to dramatically dry out my admin/controllers  
> code by creating a generic admins\_controller, and subclass it. But what  
> about the views? They are similar, but I can’t find a way to use same  
> views for my admin controllers.
> 
> How do you handle that? Plugin?

Hi,

If you don’t overload a method, you could specifically call render  
:template =\> ‘admin/action’, so that it will render a set template. If  
you overload a method in a subclass, you could do the same thing.  
Hope this helps 🙂

// Wouter

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fipa](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fipa](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/fipa)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2009, 6:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/auto-admin/177849/3 "2009-10-25T18:35:29Z")

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Fernando P. wrote:

> I’m sure we all find out that after some time, out admin pages look the  
> same, and have roughly the same code in their controllers.
> 
> I already have been able to dramatically dry out my admin/controllers  
> code by creating a generic admins\_controller, and subclass it. But what  
> about the views? They are similar, but I can’t find a way to use same  
> views for my admin controllers.
> 
> How do you handle that? Plugin?

ActiveScaffold?

## Best,

Marnen Laibow-Koser  
[http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org)  
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fipa](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fipa](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/fipa)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/auto-admin/177849/4 "2009-10-25T19:53:05Z")

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ActiveScaffold sounds interesting. Any feedback? I see it’s well  
maintained, it’s a good selling point for me.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fipa](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fipa](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/fipa)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/auto-admin/177849/5 "2009-10-25T19:20:27Z")

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There’s an interesting Railscast on the subject:

> **[\#19 Where Administration Goes - RailsCasts](http://railscasts.com/episodes/19-where-administration-goes)**
>
> Short Ruby on Rails screencasts containing tips, tricks and tutorials. Great for both novice and experienced web developers.

It’s a different approach, but might work for what you’re doing.

On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 10:35 AM, Marnen Laibow-Koser \<

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fipa](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fipa](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/fipa)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/auto-admin/177849/6 "2009-10-25T20:07:51Z")

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Fernando P. wrote:

> ActiveScaffold sounds interesting. Any feedback? I see it’s well  
> maintained, it’s a good selling point for me.

I mostly like it. It’s not perfect, but it’s quick and easy.

## Best,

Marnen Laibow-Koser  
[http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org)  
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid