# Configuration/Initialization question **URL:** \ **Category:** Engines\ **Created:** [August 24, 2007, 11:53am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/configuration-initialization-question/112911 "2007-08-24T11:53:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bart\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/46a35a/32.png) [@Bart\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bart_D)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 11:53am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/configuration-initialization-question/112911/1 "2007-08-24T11:53:21Z")
Hi, Maybe I’m overseeing something, what is the right place to put Engines. (eg public paths) so that it is correctly used ? (or more generally MyPlugin.config; so that init.rb of my plugin behaves differently on startup if I’m running in dev mode or prod mode ) If I put in environment.rb before the initializer it says Engines constant is missing (because plugins are not loaded yet) If I put it after the initializer block it’s too late … regards, ## Bart NEW on aXs GUARD: SSL VPN !! (contact your reseller for more info) * * * ## aXs GUARD has completed security and anti-virus checks on this e-mail ([http://www.axsguard.com](http://www.axsguard.com)) Able NV: ond.nr 0457.938.087 RPR Mechelen ---
**Author:** ![Bart\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/46a35a/32.png) [@Bart\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bart_D)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 11:56am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/configuration-initialization-question/112911/2 "2007-08-24T11:56:21Z")
I believe you’ll want to put it in the config.after\_initialize block, somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Bart\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/46a35a/32.png) [@Bart\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bart_D)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 10:42am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/configuration-initialization-question/112911/3 "2007-08-27T10:42:09Z")
James A. wrote: > I believe you’ll want to put it in the config.after\_initialize block, somehow. That doesn’t seem to do the trick; the engine plugin is loaded and init’ed before after\_initialize. So the files are copied to the public\_directory specified in the Engines module itself and not to my specified directory setting. regards, Bart ---
**Author:** ![Bart\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/46a35a/32.png) [@Bart\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bart_D)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 1:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/configuration-initialization-question/112911/4 "2007-08-27T13:01:51Z")
Ah, Sorry - I think I misunderstood what you were trying to achieve. In general, there’s no simple way to set the options for a plugin before it has loaded. If you need a plugin to have some options set and _then_ do something, init.rb probably isn’t the place to achieve this. Instead, I’d develop your plugin such that things can happen at the end of environment.rb: MyPlugin.option\_one = :something MyPlugin.option\_two = [1,2,3,4] MyPlugin.ok\_now\_get\_ready() It sounds like you’re trying to do something with the public asset copying facilities; in this case, you _should_ be able to re-set the Engines.public\_directory parameter at the bottom of environment.rb file, and then call Rails.plugins[:your\_plugin\_name].mirror\_plugin\_assets. That might do what you hope. What is it that you’re specifically trying to do? ---
**Author:** ![Bart\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/46a35a/32.png) [@Bart\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bart_D)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 1:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/configuration-initialization-question/112911/5 "2007-08-27T13:42:56Z")
James A. wrote: > MyPlugin.option\_two = [1,2,3,4] > MyPlugin.ok\_now\_get\_ready() > > It sounds like you’re trying to do something with the public asset > copying facilities; in this case, you _should_ be able to re-set the > Engines.public\_directory parameter at the bottom of environment.rb > file, and then call > Rails.plugins[:your\_plugin\_name].mirror\_plugin\_assets. That might do > what you hope. ok, this makes sense. By studying the initializer code I already came to the same conclusion but maybe I was overlooking some meta-added functionality. Or we need to modify the configuration class to add plugin specific options or do it like you say above. To be honest I was just using the public\_path example as a ‘placeholder’ for my questions, what I’m really trying to do is explained below. > What is it that you’re specifically trying to do? Well I added an option to the engines plugin to symlink the public files instead of copy them. So I added Engines.symlink\_asset\_files boolean to the module and used it in the Engines.mirror\_files\_from. In development mode I want to symlink (because some of the plugins I’m developing contain assets that get modified during the development process of the main application), in production mode I want to copy that’s why I wanted to change the setting in config/environment. Maybe there is another way of achieving what I want; basically I want to have full flexibility in development mode with as least restarting as possible. Is it possible to execute mirror\_plugin\_assets before every request get’s handled in development mode ? Oh and BTW thanks for the great engines +plugin+ you made. regards bart ---
**Author:** ![Bart\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/46a35a/32.png) [@Bart\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bart_D)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 1:47pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/configuration-initialization-question/112911/6 "2007-08-27T13:47:57Z")
On Mon, Aug 27, 2007 at 01:39:35PM +0200, Bart D. wrote: > possible. Is it possible to execute mirror\_plugin\_assets before every > request get’s handled in development mode ? This sounds rather overcomplicated to me. I use symlinks too, and this works fine even without making any configuration changes. Maybe I’m misunderstanding what you’re trying to do, but I’ll explain how I do it: If I have a project called ‘myproject’, in my plugin\_assets directory I create a symlink by that name to the assets directory in the plugin: $ cd public/plugin\_assets $ ln …/…/vendor/plugins/myproject/assets myproject There’s no need to do anything more than this, afaik. Regards, Peter B. Solide ICT - [http://www.solide-ict.nl](http://www.solide-ict.nl) ---
**Author:** ![Bart\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/46a35a/32.png) [@Bart\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bart_D)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 2:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/configuration-initialization-question/112911/7 "2007-08-27T14:00:01Z")
Peter B. wrote: > > Maybe there is another way of achieving what I want; basically I want to > > create a symlink by that name to the assets directory in the plugin: > > $ cd public/plugin\_assets > > $ ln …/…/vendor/plugins/myproject/assets myproject > > There’s no need to do anything more than this, afaik. :-[ You’re right; shame on me; things can really be simple sometimes … thx Bart ---
**Author:** ![Bart\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/46a35a/32.png) [@Bart\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bart_D)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 2:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/configuration-initialization-question/112911/8 "2007-08-27T14:04:03Z")
On 8/27/07, Bart D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > You’re right; shame on me; things can really be simple sometimes … The other simple approach would be to attach some behaviour to the dispatcher which calls mirror\_public\_files before every request - see the “to\_prepare” method in the rails’ Dispatcher for more details 🙂