# Controller paths **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [April 13, 2006, 2:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/controller-paths/57724 "2006-04-13T14:31:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/taq)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 2:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/controller-paths/57724/1 "2006-04-13T14:31:48Z")
Hi there. Suppose I create some controllers like ruby script/generate controller Admin::product add remove ruby script/generate controller Admin::user add remove ruby script/generate controller Login login logout the directory structure will be app/controllers/admin/product\_controller.rb app/controllers/admin/user\_controller.rb app/controllers/login\_controller.rb Now suppose I need some links with link\_to from the product and user controller to the login controller. Does I need to use some paths like link\_to “Logout”, :controller =\> “…/login”, :action =\> “logout” or link\_to “Logout”, :controller =\> “/login”, :action =\> “logout” or is there a better way to do that? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/taq)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/controller-paths/57724/2 "2006-04-13T16:30:04Z")
In my experience you need to use: link\_to “Logout”, :controller =\> “admin/login”, :action =\> “logout” There may be another way to do it, but I haven’t found it yet. ---
**Author:** ![taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/taq)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/controller-paths/57724/3 "2006-04-13T16:38:02Z")
Hi Eden! > In my experience you need to use: > link\_to “Logout”, :controller =\> “admin/login”, :action =\> “logout” On this case, I’m creating a link from admin to login. Admin is _under_ login, so I need to refer to a level up there. If I use “admin/login” I think it will try to refers to app/controllers/admin/login\_controller.rb and not to app/controllers/login\_controller.rb that is the correct path, one level above admin. ---
**Author:** ![taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/taq)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/controller-paths/57724/4 "2006-04-13T17:00:54Z")
The problem I’ve had is that if you don’t absolutely path the controller ( i.e. link\_to “Logout”, :controller =\> “/admin/login”, :action =\> “logout”), it won’t work if you’re using “link\_to” within any of the “admin” controllers. It will prepend an extra “admin” to the link, so you’ll end up with “/admin/admin/login”. If you’re linking to the login controller within one of the admin controllers, you can just use :controller =\> “/login”, :action =\> “logout”. Matt ---
**Author:** ![taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/taq)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/controller-paths/57724/5 "2006-04-13T16:46:22Z")
Hi again. > On this case, I’m creating a link from admin to login. Admin is _under_ > login, so I need to refer to a level up there. Sorry, I made some confusion here. What I’d like to say is login is _above_ login, so I need to refer to a level up the admin controller. So, from the admin/product controller, for example, create a link to the login controller, one level up. ---
**Author:** ![taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/taq)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/controller-paths/57724/6 "2006-04-13T17:10:16Z")
Yes, but it’s my understanding that link\_to uses url\_for to create the link, and it will be relative to the current controller. It’s not smart enough to figure out that you have a login\_controller that’s above the current directory path. Instead it makes the link relative to the current controller. If you’re in a sub-controller (or whatever you want to call it), this will be incorrect. If someone knows better, _please_ enlighten me, because this does indeed seem to be a bit non-intuative. Matt ---
**Author:** ![taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/taq)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/controller-paths/57724/7 "2006-04-13T17:04:00Z")
Hmmm. Well, I am still new to all of this, but the basic rule of thumb I use is that :controller should be set as if you are always in the controllers folder regardless of where the call is coming from. Rails routing should take care of determining the exact html link. So I _think_ that: link\_to “Logout”, :controller =\> “login”, :action =\> “logout” should work even if you are calling it from views/admin/product. I would be interested in hearing if this assumption is wrong since I haven’t tried this exact combination yet. ---
**Author:** ![taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/taq)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/controller-paths/57724/8 "2006-04-13T18:25:54Z")
Hi! Seems that if I use link\_to “Logout”, :controller =\> “/login”, :action =\> “logout” link\_to “Logout”, :controller =\> “/admin/user”, :action =\> “add” it works ok. The first / works as, let me call this way, the “controller root”. ---
**Author:** ![taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@taq](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/taq)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/controller-paths/57724/9 "2006-04-13T22:37:31Z")
Yeah, that’s basically what I was referring to… I picked it up off of a blog post, but I’ve since lost track of where I found it. I was in the same situation myself yesterday 🙂 Matt