Rails 2.0 vs. custom routes

Rails
1

In previous Rails, I used to use these (for example)

/users/1
/users;expand_all
/users/1;say_hello

Now in Rails 2.0, I believe I am supposed to use these

/users/1
/users/expand_all
/users/1/say_hello

Am I correct?

But somehow, when I try /users/expand_all, accessing action show with
:id => “expand_all” rather than accessing action expand_all

Is there something in my routes.rb that must be reconfigured?

2

Check out the new ‘rake routes’ command. It’ll show you what available
routes and helpers you have. Also, check out this sweet cheatsheet:

Your route should look something like this:
map.resources :users, :collection => { :expand_all => :get }

And, from your view, you should be doing something like this (assuming
you’ve defined “expand_all” as a collection route as opposed to a
singular route):

<%= link_to ''Expand All Users", expand_all_users_path %>

If you’ve defined your “expand_all” route as singular, then I’d expect
to see behavior similar to what you’re seeing. If you can’t get it
working, post your routes.rb file here.

On Dec 26, 9:52 am, Sharkie L. <rails-mailing-l…@andreas-

3

I looked at the cheatsheet. In fact it refers to previous versions of
Rails, and not Rails 2.0.

4

map.resources :users,
:collection => {
:expand_all => :get
}

map.resources :users,
:member => {
:say_hello => :get
}

Install the default route as the lowest priority.

map.connect ‘:controller/:action/:id’

However when I call /users/expand all, it routes to :controller =>
users_controller, :action => show, :id => “expand_all” which is wrong.

rake routes on the other hand reports the correct routing.

5

I just tried it. Same problem still :frowning:

6

Ah, there’s the problem.

Try this:

map.resources :users,
:collection => {
:expand_all => :get
},
:member => {
:say_hello => :get
}

By calling map.resources twice, you’re overriding the first one. You
have to map each resource as a single call.

On Dec 26, 10:45 am, Sharkie L. <rails-mailing-l…@andreas-

7

Got it to work now. Thanks!

8

I find the RESTful routing very confusing for anything other than the
CRUD mode. I can see how GET/PUT/POST/DELETE maps to the controller for
that. Its been soooooo well documented and soooooo many examples; I’m
almost sick of it.

But many of us aren’t doing the kind of model that is in AWDWR, the
catalogue/invoice type of thing.

There’s a whole class of applications that have a very different front
end" Wikis, Games and so forth. Essentially they have one UI because
there is only the one conceptual model that that the user sees. (The
AWDWR has a catalogue view, a invoice view …).

Something like Instiki has 26 public methods - that is things that can
appear as URLs in buttons. Not all of them fit very obviously into the
GPPD approach.

I can squint hard and treat the various print and RSS/Atom as special
cases of ‘view’, all I’ve really done, as far as I can see, is made my
menu button code more complicated.

Instiki also has one shortcoming that is easy to get around. Its urls
are of the form
somedomain.com …
to point to the wiki controller.
For many domains this is unacceptable. Yes, I know it can be cleaned up
with Apache mod_rewrite, but many of us use hosted services and would
rather do it with the application - in routes.

So would those Rails-ists experienced in resourceful techniques please
help out the rest of us and come up with examples and illustrations that
are a little different, that aren’t in the CRUD model, that don’t
require the name of the controller in the URL to do a 1:1 mapping
url:controller.

Please, lets see some flexibility rather than the same old same old
being repeated. Those who do want the CRUD mode - well there’s plenty
out there on the 'Net right now, you don’t need to add to it with “me
too” postings.

–
Over the last few centuries, mathematicians have demonstrated
a remarkable tendency to underestimate the cryptanalytic powers
of blunt and heavy objects.
– Jamie Reid, CISSP

9

Btw, everything in that cheatsheet applies to Rails 2.0.

On Dec 26, 10:47 am, Sharkie L. <rails-mailing-l…@andreas-