Is overriding file naming conventions (for models and controllers) possible?

Rails
1

Hello, i have another question about overriding Rails conventions.

Is it possible to tell Rails which model/controller is defined in which
file?

I have generated a model and a controller as follows:

$ rails generate model KnownIP …
…
$ rails generate controller KnownIPs …

The problem is with the “IP” in the name: now i have a model KnownIp
in the file known_ip.rb and a controller KnownIPsController in the
file known_i_ps_controller.rb, which does not look consistent.

The model can be renamed without problems to KnownIP.
However, if the controller file is renamed to known_ips_controller.rb it
(most likely) will stop working (i tested such situation with models,
but not with controllers).

Another interesting example: if a model is generated with

$ rails generate model known_i_p …

then it is broken from the beginning.
To make it work, it is necessary to rename its file from known_i_p.rb
to known_ip.rb, and to add

set_table_name ‘known_i_ps’

to it.

Can the correspondence between file names and model names be specified
manually in such odd cases?

Alexey.

2

On 2 April 2011 23:50, Alexey M. [email protected] wrote:

The problem is with the “IP” in the name: now i have a model KnownIp
in the file known_ip.rb and a controller KnownIPsController in the
file known_i_ps_controller.rb, which does not look consistent.

Something’s wrong with your typing here or on the console, because
your model should be “KnownIP” if you typed “$ rails generate model
KnownIP”. If the “p” is lower case in the model, you must have typed a
lower case p…

The model can be renamed without problems to KnownIP.
However, if the controller file is renamed to known_ips_controller.rb it
(most likely) will stop working

What do you mean “stop working”? The controller is still the
controller, whether it is handling routes for “/known_i_p” or
“/known_ip”…

Another interesting example: if a model is generated with
$ rails generate model known_i_p …
then it is broken from the beginning.

Well yes, the name of the model should be the correctly cased name of
the model… “known_i_p” is not…

To make it work, it is necessary to rename its file from known_i_p.rb
to
known_ip.rb, and to add
set_table_name ‘known_i_ps’
to it.
Can the correspondence between file names and model names be specified
manually in such odd cases?

I think the problem is you haven’t actually said what you want to
do. I don’t know what “odd case” this shows. Do you mean you want to
have a model called “KnownIp” but a table called “known_i_ps”? If so,
why? What reason do you have for not having the table called
“known_ips”?
Or do you want your model called “KnownIP” but the model file called
“known_ip.rb”? Again, what on earth for? What difference does the
model’s file name make in the scheme of things?

The controller is a totally different issue - you can call a
controller anything you like, it’s not a 1:1 mapping to a model.

3

On 3 April 2011 13:25, Michael P. [email protected] wrote:

$ rails generate controller KnownIPs …

The problem is with the “IP” in the name: now i have a model KnownIp
in the file known_ip.rb and a controller KnownIPsController in the
file known_i_ps_controller.rb, which does not look consistent.

Something’s wrong with your typing here or on the console, because
your model should be “KnownIP” if you typed “$ rails generate model
KnownIP”. If the “p” is lower case in the model, you must have typed a
lower case p…

Actually Alexey is right, using rails 3.0.5 then
rails g model KnownIP
generates models/known_ip and class KnownIp

Also
rails g model ABCdEF
gives ab_cd_ef.rb and class AbCdEf
and
rails g model ABCDEFG
gives abcdefg.rb and class Abcdefg

all rather odd.

Colin

4

On 3 April 2011 13:54, Colin L. [email protected] wrote:

…

all rather odd.

It appears that this may be the technique rails uses, first to get the
table name from the model in the generate command String#tableize is
used, then singularize is used on this to get the file name, and then
camelize to get the class name, so

ruby-1.8.7-p302 > “KnownIP”.tableize
=> “known_ips”
ruby-1.8.7-p302 > “KnownIP”.tableize.singularize.camelize
=> “KnownIp”

Since tableize uses ActiveSupport::Inflector.tableize it may be
possible to override this for particular cases.

Colin

5

On 3 April 2011 13:54, Colin L. [email protected] wrote:

Something’s wrong with your typing here or on the console, because
your model should be “KnownIP” if you typed “$ rails generate model
KnownIP”. If the “p” is lower case in the model, you must have typed a
lower case p…

Actually Alexey is right, using rails 3.0.5 then
rails g model KnownIP
generates models/known_ip and class KnownIp

Ah! Well, in that case I’ll let the bug-reporting commence :slight_smile:

all rather odd.

Yes… must get into Rails 3. Contract ends next month so time for
some learning (if only AWDwR4 is released at some point… ETA end of
April, but it’s moved back a few times in the last couple of months
:-/

6

There is the same issue with migrations’ names, but since they play an
auxiliary role, i din’t worry too much about their names…

7

Michael P. wrote in post #990662:

Something’s wrong with your typing here or on the console, because
your model should be “KnownIP” if you typed “$ rails generate model
KnownIP”. If the “p” is lower case in the model, you must have typed a
lower case p…

No, i typed “$ rails generate model KnownIP” and got a model named
“KnownIp” in a file named “known_ip.rb”.

What do you mean “stop working”? The controller is still the
controller, whether it is handling routes for “/known_i_p” or
“/known_ip”…

Sorry, i haven’t tested this for controllers, but if there is a mismatch
between a model name and its file name, the model is not working.
Example:
“KnownIP.create” gives “uninitialized constant KnownIP” if the model
file is named “known_i_p.rb” and not “known_ip.rb”.
With controllers, which name should be used in the route, the name of
the file, or the name of the controller? :slight_smile:

Another interesting example: if a model is generated with
$ rails generate model known_i_p …
then it is broken from the beginning.

Well yes, the name of the model should be the correctly cased name of
the model… “known_i_p” is not…

According to
$ rails generate controller --help :
“Pass the controller name, either CamelCased or under_scored, and a list
of views as arguments.”
It is true that
$ rails generate model --help
does not say this, but i assumed it should have been the same…

I think the problem is you haven’t actually said what you want to
do. I don’t know what “odd case” this shows. Do you mean you want to
have a model called “KnownIp” but a table called “known_i_ps”? If so,
why? What reason do you have for not having the table called
“known_ips”?
Or do you want your model called “KnownIP” but the model file called
“known_ip.rb”? Again, what on earth for? What difference does the
model’s file name make in the scheme of things?

The controller is a totally different issue - you can call a
controller anything you like, it’s not a 1:1 mapping to a model.

I want to have a model KnownIP and a controller KnownIPs controller, and
i want to choose myself how to name their files (“known_ip.rb” and
“known_ips_controller.rb”, for example).
I also want to understand the rules and options about naming those
files, in order not to run into some model name or controller name which
would be impossible to store in any file :).

Alexey.

8

On 3 April 2011 14:13, Alexey M. [email protected] wrote:

…
I want to have a model KnownIP and a controller KnownIPs controller, and
i want to choose myself how to name their files (“known_ip.rb” and
“known_ips_controller.rb”, for example).

I have posted a question on the rails core list asking whether there
is a bug in tableize or whether this is as expected.
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core/browse_thread/thread/c3b4ec662226e2a7?hl=en

I also want to understand the rules and options about naming those
files, in order not to run into some model name or controller name which
would be impossible to store in any file :).

You are entirely free to choose controller names and associated routes
as you wish, neither has anything to do with model names. There is
often a 1:1 relationship between models and controllers. You can
therefore allow rails to call the model KnownIp but have the
controller and routes as known_ips. Just make sure that in the
controller you reference the model by its actual name (KnownIp).

In addition it is possible to override the table name for a model
using set_table_name in the model. Whether it is valid to have a
model KnownIP in a file known_ip.rb I do not know. Forget about the
model generator and try it and see. Don’t forget to remove any old
files of similar names from the models directory.

Colin

9

On 3 April 2011 14:05, Colin L. [email protected] wrote:

Since tableize uses ActiveSupport::Inflector.tableize it may be
possible to override this for particular cases.

I think it is actually String#underscore that is causing the problem
(this is called by tableize)
ruby-1.8.7-p302 > “KnownIP”.underscore
=> “known_ip”

The source of this can be seen at

At the head of this file is a statement that the rules will not be
changed as this could cause existing apps to fail, which makes sense.
I do not know how to override this for special cases (or if it is
possible other than monkey patching).

My suggestion in the earlier post to manually create the model file
and call the model what you want, while using set_table_name may well
be the solution.

Colin

10

On Apr 3, 2011, at 9:06 AM, Michael P. wrote:

some learning (if only AWDwR4 is released at some point… ETA end of

My copy mailed last week. Order now, gerbils are standing by!

Walter

11

Colin L. wrote in post #990676:

I have posted a question on the rails core list asking whether there
is a bug in tableize or whether this is as expected.

http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core/browse_thread/thread/c3b4ec662226e2a7?hl=en

Thanks!

You are entirely free to choose controller names and associated routes
as you wish, neither has anything to do with model names. There is
often a 1:1 relationship between models and controllers. You can
therefore allow rails to call the model KnownIp but have the
controller and routes as known_ips. Just make sure that in the
controller you reference the model by its actual name (KnownIp).

In addition it is possible to override the table name for a model
using set_table_name in the model. Whether it is valid to have a
model KnownIP in a file known_ip.rb I do not know. Forget about the
model generator and try it and see. Don’t forget to remove any old
files of similar names from the models directory.

I know this, my question is specifically about naming files where the
classes are defined.
In particular, if it is possible to define

class KnownIPsController < ApplicationController
end

in a file named “known_ips_controller.rb”.

I suspect that the answer is “No”.
Should the route be
match “see” => “known_i_ps#show”
or
match “see” => “known_ips#show”
in this case?

None works, the errors are, respectively,
uninitialized constant KnownIPsController
and
Expected …/test_app/app/controllers/known_ips_controller.rb to
define KnownIpsController

Alexey.

12

On Apr 3, 2:57pm, Alexey M. [email protected] wrote:

I know this, my question is specifically about naming files where the
classes are defined.
In particular, if it is possible to define

class KnownIPsController < ApplicationController
end

in a file named “known_ips_controller.rb”.

I suspect that the answer is “No”.

For what it’s worth you can declare any class in any file - however if
you don’t put classes where rails expects to find them then it won’t
be able to magically load them for you

Should the route be
match “see” => “known_i_ps#show”
or
match “see” => “known_ips#show”
in this case?

The routing bit and the class loading bit aren’t really related (in
that it doesn’t matter what routes exist, when automatically requiring
a file for you rails wants known_ips_controller.rb to define
KnownIpsController)

Fred

13

Frederick C. wrote in post #990688:

For what it’s worth you can declare any class in any file - however if
you don’t put classes where rails expects to find them then it won’t
be able to magically load them for you

Thanks, i think this answers my question.
So, i need to put
require ‘known_ips_controller.rb’
somewhere?
I’ll try to figure it out from here.

By the way, if i rename the migration
class CreateKnownIps < ActiveRecord::Migration
to
class CreateKnownIPs < ActiveRecord::Migration
is there a way to make it run with
$ rake db:migrate
?
Where to put
requre “20110402204538_create_known_ips.rb”
in this case?
Well, with migrations it seems more complicated and probably not worth
the efforts anyway.

Alexey.

14

On 3 April 2011 14:57, Alexey M. [email protected] wrote:

as you wish, neither has anything to do with model names. There is

I know this, my question is specifically about naming files where the
classes are defined.
In particular, if it is possible to define

class KnownIPsController < ApplicationController
end

in a file named “known_ips_controller.rb”.
ruby-1.8.7-p302 > “KnownIPsController”.underscore
=> “known_i_ps_controller”
so put it in a file called known_i_ps_controller.rb, and since
ruby-1.8.7-p302 > “KnownIPsController”.underscore.camelize
=> “KnownIPsController”
then you should be ok, or at least you should get a bit further.

Colin