# Common actions "split" amoung several controllers? how to? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [November 28, 2006, 2:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/common-actions-split-amoung-several-controllers-how-to/77457 "2006-11-28T02:33:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![phallstrom](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@phallstrom](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/phallstrom)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 2:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/common-actions-split-amoung-several-controllers-how-to/77457/1 "2006-11-28T02:33:25Z")
Hi all - I’ve got a set of common actions (for displaying photo thumbnails and their preview) that I’d like to share b/n a couple of controllers (ie. photos for people and photos for events). I’m trying to figure out how best to extract this common functionality so it’s easy to update/manage (ie. dry). The views aren’t a problem, I know how to do that, but I’m getting stuck with the controller/actions… Right now I’ve got my actions in a _module_ that I’m _include_’ing in each controller. Works except I get the following when one of the protected methods (defined in the module) tries to use Paginator. It works if I move it into the controller. My module is in lib/photos.rb and the error I’m getting is this: uninitialized constant Paginator This error occured while loading the following files: photos/paginator.rb Also, I’d like to setup a before\_filter for these common actions, but that doesn’t seem to work very well either. Any ideas? Or other solutions? Thanks! -philip ---
**Author:** ![phallstrom](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@phallstrom](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/phallstrom)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/common-actions-split-amoung-several-controllers-how-to/77457/2 "2006-11-28T02:53:31Z")
(skip down) On Nov 27, 4:53 pm, Philip H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > with the controller/actions… > photos/paginator.rb > Well, this is fixed by explicitly calling > ActionController::Pagination::Paginator instead of just Paginator… Still curious about best practices though… ---
**Author:** ![phallstrom](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@phallstrom](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/phallstrom)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 3:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/common-actions-split-amoung-several-controllers-how-to/77457/3 "2006-11-28T03:33:34Z")
Hi – On Mon, 27 Nov 2006, Philip H. wrote: > The views aren’t a problem, I know how to do that, but I’m getting stuck > This error occured while loading the following files: > photos/paginator.rb > > Also, I’d like to setup a before\_filter for these common actions, but that > doesn’t seem to work very well either. > > Any ideas? Or other solutions? What about putting them in application.rb? That way, they’ll be in the parent class of the controller classes. David – David A. Black | removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid Author of “Ruby for Rails” [1] | Ruby/Rails training & consultancy [3] DABlog (DAB’s Weblog) [2] | Co-director, Ruby Central, Inc. [4] [1] [Ruby for Rails](http://www.manning.com/black) | [3] [http://www.rubypowerandlight.com](http://www.rubypowerandlight.com) [2] [http://dablog.rubypal.com](http://dablog.rubypal.com) | [4] [http://www.rubycentral.org](http://www.rubycentral.org) ---
**Author:** ![phallstrom](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@phallstrom](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/phallstrom)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 4:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/common-actions-split-amoung-several-controllers-how-to/77457/4 "2006-11-28T04:21:41Z")
Another option is to make your own parent class (like application.rb) and have your common controllers inherit from that. You could also play around with mixing the actions in via a module. In theory that should work but I’ve not done it. ---
**Author:** ![phallstrom](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@phallstrom](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/phallstrom)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 4:19am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/common-actions-split-amoung-several-controllers-how-to/77457/5 "2006-11-28T04:19:41Z")
> > Right now I’ve got my actions in a _module_ that I’m _include_’ing in each > > > > Also, I’d like to setup a before\_filter for these common actions, but that > > doesn’t seem to work very well either. > > > > Any ideas? Or other solutions? > > What about putting them in application.rb? That way, they’ll be in > the parent class of the controller classes. Hrm… good idea, but I think our app is too big to justify this… however, I could create another controller and have these controllers inherit from it… hrm… tempting 🙂 Thanks! -philip