# Imitate "Unknown action"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [November 13, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/imitate-unknown-action/120107 "2007-11-13T20:21:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![josh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/45deac/32.png) [@josh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/josh)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/imitate-unknown-action/120107/1 "2007-11-13T20:21:47Z")
Hi all I’m integrating some basic authorization stuff. When a user hits /countries/some\_unknown\_action, then Rails displays a “Unknown action” message (in development mode). When an unauthorized user hits /countries/action\_that\_needs\_authorization, then I’d like Rails to behave exactly the same way (because some error like “you don’t have permission to…” would encourage hackers to re-attempt the action). I already tried it with return render(:file =\> “#{RAILS\_ROOT}/public/404.html”, :layout =\> false, :status =\> 404) But I guess that’s not really the best way, because it’s hard-coded and doesn’t rely on Rails’ own mechanism to display the 404 page. So I tried it using raise ActionController::UnknownAction But it seems that this Exception is only used by the functional tests. So what should I do to rely on Rails’ own mechanism to display the 404 page? Thanks a lot Josh ---
**Author:** ![josh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/45deac/32.png) [@josh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/josh)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/imitate-unknown-action/120107/2 "2007-11-13T20:30:32Z")
Oh, even cooler would be to distinguish between production and development mode! In development mode I’d like to display an Exception, and in production/test mode it should behave like described above. ---
**Author:** ![josh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/45deac/32.png) [@josh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/josh)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/imitate-unknown-action/120107/3 "2007-11-13T20:31:57Z")
Wouldn’t anyone seeing that error just become confused as to why a development-mode error message was being shown during a production environment, though? This would encourage me to dig deeper than just a ‘get out of my stuff’ message. On Nov 13, 2007 7:21 PM, Joshua M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I already tried it with > But it seems that this Exception is only used by the functional tests. > So what should I do to rely on Rails’ own mechanism to display the 404 > page? > > ## Thanks a lot Josh > > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). > > > – Edd Morgan [http://www.eddm.co.uk](http://www.eddm.co.uk) +44 (0) 7805 089097 ---
**Author:** ![josh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/45deac/32.png) [@josh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/josh)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 8:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/imitate-unknown-action/120107/4 "2007-11-13T20:39:02Z")
Edd Morgan wrote: > Wouldn’t anyone seeing that error just become confused as to why a > development-mode error message was being shown during a production > environment, though? This would encourage me to dig deeper than just a > ‘get out of my stuff’ message. Well, maybe I confused some stuff in my post. In fact I just want to imitate the same behavior that Rails shows when an unknown action is called, independent of whether I’m in development or in production mode: - When in development mode, do what Rails would do - When in production mode, do what Rails would do I then only added the useful exception (in my 2nd post) of displaying some more info for developers so they can distinguish between really not existing actions and now allowed actions. ---
**Author:** ![josh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/45deac/32.png) [@josh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/josh)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 10:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/imitate-unknown-action/120107/5 "2007-11-13T22:10:31Z")
Joshua M. wrote: > Oh, even cooler would be to distinguish between production and > development mode! > > In development mode I’d like to display an Exception, and in > production/test mode it should behave like described above. This may help: > **[ActionController::Rescue](https://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionController/Rescue.html)** > > This module is responsible for providing rescue\_from to controllers, wrapping actions to handle configured errors, and configuring when detailed exceptions must be shown. Allows you to define what should happen when a controller raises an exception that isn’t rescued both in development and production. ---
**Author:** ![josh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/45deac/32.png) [@josh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/josh)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 11:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/imitate-unknown-action/120107/6 "2007-11-13T23:50:10Z")
Daniel W. wrote: > Joshua M. wrote: > > > Oh, even cooler would be to distinguish between production and > > development mode! > > > > In development mode I’d like to display an Exception, and in > > production/test mode it should behave like described above. > > This may help: > [ActionController::Rescue](http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionController/Rescue.html) > > Allows you to define what should happen when a controller raises an > exception that isn’t rescued both in development and production. Thank you! But this is only the “counterpart” of what I want to do - it’s the way to catch exceptions, but I want to throw one (I guess)… ---
**Author:** ![josh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/45deac/32.png) [@josh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/josh)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 11:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/imitate-unknown-action/120107/7 "2007-11-13T23:52:53Z")
Are you looking for raise? raise “I blew up!” -Bill Joshua M. wrote: > > This may help: > > [ActionController::Rescue](http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionController/Rescue.html) > > > > Allows you to define what should happen when a controller raises an > > exception that isn’t rescued both in development and production. > > Thank you! But this is only the “counterpart” of what I want to do - > it’s the way to catch exceptions, but I want to throw one (I guess)… – Sincerely, William P.