Numerical Action Names

Rails
1

I have a controller for a product, and I want the actions to reflect
the different models which are numbers. Simply using a number for the
action name doesn’t seem to work:

class ClickController < ApplicationController

def index
end

def 100
end

def 200
end
end

I also have this named route in my routes file:

map.click ‘/products/click/:action’, :controller => ‘click’

If I have a non-numeric value for action, this works fine. I use it
for a different product (“command_path(:datacollector))”–which
properly generates “/products/command/datacollector”). In Rails 1.2.x
I was able to prepend the numeric action name with an underscore
(i.e., _100, _200, etc.) and everything worked as expected. In Rails
2.0 this no longer works. Someone suggested I create a custom route:

map.click ‘/products/click/:model’, :controller => ‘click’, :action =>
‘dispatch’, :requirements => {:model => /\d{3}/}, :model => nil

I have a dispatch action in my controller:

def dispatch(model = nil)
if model.nil?
index
render(:action => ‘index’)
else
# whatever
end
end

The else statement NEVER executes. I have tried the following paths:

/products/click
/products/click/100
/products/click/200

Every path renders the index action.

What am I missing? What can I do?

Thanks.

2

On 17 Jan 2008, at 01:07, partydrone wrote:

I have a controller for a product, and I want the actions to reflect
the different models which are numbers. Simply using a number for the
action name doesn’t seem to work:

actions are methods, method names can’t start with a digi.

map.click ‘/products/click/:model’, :controller => ‘click’, :action =>
‘dispatch’, :requirements => {:model => /\d{3}/}, :model => nil

Do you need the :model => nil ?

The else statement NEVER executes. I have tried the following paths:

/products/click
/products/click/100
/products/click/200

model should materialize as params[:model], not as an argument to your
dispatch method.

Fred

3

“model should materialize as params[:model], not as an argument to
your dispatch method.”

Silly me. That was my mistake.

Thanks.

4

Next question is how do I dynamically execute an action? Here’s what I
mean: I have my dispatch action. If :model is nil, I execute then
render the index action:

def dispatch
if params[:model].nil?
index
render(:action => ‘index’)
else
action = “click_#{params[:model]}”
# execute action
render(:action => action)
end
end

At the moment, I’m setting some variables in my action that aren’t
available in my view. How do I get them there?

Thanks.

5

On 17 Jan 2008, at 01:46, partydrone wrote:

 action = "click_#{params[:model]}"
 # execute action
 render(:action => action)

end
end

You just need to call the method (eg via send)

Fred