# REST and multiple resources in a view?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rest-and-multiple-resources-in-a-view/145194>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [August 6, 2008, 7:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rest-and-multiple-resources-in-a-view/145194 "2008-08-06T19:23:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![billis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@billis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/billis)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 7:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rest-and-multiple-resources-in-a-view/145194/1 "2008-08-06T19:23:54Z")

</div>

hello all,  
I’m trying to get my feet wet with a small webapp but it’s getting  
frustrating to put together all the pieces of the REST/CRUD/restful  
controllers/composite views (composite meaning with more than 1  
resources in the view).  
So to make the problem concrete I have the following models

1. class Deal \< ActiveRecord::Base
2. belongs\_to :Restaurant
3. belongs\_to :Location
4. …
5. end
6. 
7. class Location \< ActiveRecord::Base
8. belongs\_to :Restaurant
9. end
10. 
11. class Restaurant \< ActiveRecord::Base
12. has\_many :Location
13. has\_many :Deal
14. …
15. end

In my mind each of these models corresponds to a resource, so each  
model come with its controller and its 7 CRUD controller actions, and  
the route mappings in routes.rb.

Up till now restful design is adhered (I think). What buffles me is  
how to present information from these 3 models (or any number of  
models, for that matter) in a single (composite) view and still remain  
RESTful? Use of partials and a dedicated controller with 1 action  
(without an underlying model) in order to present these resources in a  
single view doesn’t seem very restful to me. Regardless of REST, is  
the above solution (partials and dedicated controller) a valid RoR  
approach?

I read somewhere that REST makes more sense in a web services scenario  
than a UI webapp. How much of this is true?

Regarding the resource generator: it scaffolds a model and an empty  
controller. Does this make any sense when the Rails take on REST tends  
to associate a resource with an ActiveRecord model, or a model/  
controller stack? I mean, where are the CRUD actions? The scaffold  
generator scaffolds a restful controller and the views, which I do not  
want since I need composite screens.

sigh and thank you

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![billis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@billis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/billis)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 11:02am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rest-and-multiple-resources-in-a-view/145194/2 "2008-08-07T11:02:30Z")

</div>

Any takes on this please?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![billis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@billis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/billis)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rest-and-multiple-resources-in-a-view/145194/3 "2008-08-08T19:54:21Z")

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Hi –

On Wed, 6 Aug 2008, billis wrote:

> hello all,  
> I’m trying to get my feet wet with a small webapp but it’s getting  
> frustrating to put together all the pieces of the REST/CRUD/restful  
> controllers/composite views (composite meaning with more than 1  
> resources in the view).  
> So to make the problem concrete I have the following models
> 
> 1. class Deal \< ActiveRecord::Base
> 2. belongs\_to :Restaurant

You want the lowercase there: :restaurant

> 1. belongs\_to :Location
> 2. …
> 3. end
> 4. 
> 5. class Location \< ActiveRecord::Base
> 6. belongs\_to :Restaurant
> 7. end
> 8. 
> 9. class Restaurant \< ActiveRecord::Base
> 10. has\_many :Location

Lowercase and plural 🙂

> models, for that matter) in a single (composite) view and still remain  
> RESTful? Use of partials and a dedicated controller with 1 action  
> (without an underlying model) in order to present these resources in a  
> single view doesn’t seem very restful to me. Regardless of REST, is  
> the above solution (partials and dedicated controller) a valid RoR  
> approach?

RESTfulness per se varies independently of how much data you show in a  
given view, and where the data comes from. Also, you can characterize  
your resource in any way you like (“deals at restaurant X at location  
Y”). Then you can map it to Rails’s facilities in what you find is  
the best way.

> I read somewhere that REST makes more sense in a web services scenario  
> than a UI webapp. How much of this is true?

I wouldn’t say that unconditionally. There’s more to say but it’s kind  
of a different topic.

> Regarding the resource generator: it scaffolds a model and an empty  
> controller. Does this make any sense when the Rails take on REST tends  
> to associate a resource with an ActiveRecord model, or a model/  
> controller stack? I mean, where are the CRUD actions? The scaffold  
> generator scaffolds a restful controller and the views, which I do not  
> want since I need composite screens.

I would (and do) stay away from the scaffolding. It does, as you say,  
have a very specific, generic way of manifesting the concept of a  
“resource” (model/controller stack), and any application that does  
anything non-generic (i.e., pretty much every application) will  
require that you do your own.

I would start by trying to describe the resource you wish to represent  
in English, and then start to consider how much of the work you can  
get Rails to do and how much you have to do yourself. Also, have a  
look at:

[http://dablog.rubypal.com/2008/3/23/splitting-hairs-over-resource](http://dablog.rubypal.com/2008/3/23/splitting-hairs-over-resource)  
[http://dablog.rubypal.com/2008/4/24/splitting-hairs-over-resource-part-2](http://dablog.rubypal.com/2008/4/24/splitting-hairs-over-resource-part-2)

David

–  
Rails training from David A. Black and Ruby Power and Light:

- Advancing With Rails August 18-21 Edison, NJ
- Co-taught by D.A. Black and Erik Kastner  
See [http://www.rubypal.com](http://www.rubypal.com) for details and updates!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![billis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@billis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/billis)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rest-and-multiple-resources-in-a-view/145194/4 "2008-08-11T00:14:34Z")

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> On Wed, 6 Aug 2008, billis wrote:
> 
> > hello all,  
> > I’m trying to get my feet wet with a small webapp but it’s getting  
> > frustrating to put together all the pieces of the REST/CRUD/restful  
> > controllers/composite views (composite meaning with more than 1  
> > resources in the view).

I’ve been on vacation but would like to add that I hear this question  
quite a bit. I think having a “home page” or “multi-resource” view is  
perfectly RESTful if you are able to think of that composite view as a  
representation of a resource unto itself.

I used to work at a retail store. The front window contained a  
variety things, in order to attract customers into the store. Once  
inside the store, products were typically separated into their  
respective aisles.

I guess it’s a bit of a gray area, but to me, it’s perfectly valid to  
have a “front window” resource, and use a representation of it as your  
“home page” or whatever. I tend to prefer the index action of a  
HomePageController, but some people think the show action makes more  
sense. But it usually boils down to rendering some partials at some  
point, and I think that’s fine.

On Aug 8, 12:53 pm, “David A. Black” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> I would start by trying to describe the resource you wish to represent  
> in English, and then start to consider how much of the work you can  
> get Rails to do and how much you have to do yourself. Also, have a  
> look at:
> 
> [http://dablog.rubypal.com/2008/3/23/splitting-hairs-over-resource](http://dablog.rubypal.com/2008/3/23/splitting-hairs-over-resource)  
> [http://dablog.rubypal.com/2008/4/24/splitting-hairs-over-resource-part-2](http://dablog.rubypal.com/2008/4/24/splitting-hairs-over-resource-part-2)
> 
> David

David’s articles are excellent, especially when he explains the  
difference between a resource and its _representation_. It’s a  
distinction that’s not made often enough in tutorials about REST.

> –  
> Rails training from David A. Black and Ruby Power and Light:
> 
> - Advancing With Rails August 18-21 Edison, NJ
> - Co-taught by D.A. Black and Erik Kastner

And if you can’t get to David’s class, consider our workshop on REST  
coming up:  
[http://www.purpleworkshops.com/workshops/rest-and-web-services](http://www.purpleworkshops.com/workshops/rest-and-web-services)

Jeff

> **[Hey Daddio!](http://softiesonrails.com)**
>
> Home of Hey Daddio Software

[purpleworkshops.com](http://purpleworkshops.com)

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**Author:** ![billis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@billis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/billis)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rest-and-multiple-resources-in-a-view/145194/5 "2008-08-11T03:24:00Z")

</div>

Hi –

On Sun, 10 Aug 2008, Jeff wrote:

> I’ve been on vacation but would like to add that I hear this question  
> quite a bit. I think having a “home page” or “multi-resource” view is  
> perfectly RESTful if you are able to think of that composite view as a  
> representation of a resource unto itself.

Definitely. Fielding puts it like this: “Any information that can be  
named can be a resource: a document or image, a temporal service (e.g.  
“today’s weather in Los A.”), a collection of other resources, a  
non-virtual object (e.g. a person), and so on.” [1]

David

[1]  
[http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/rest\_arch\_style.htm#sec\_5\_2\_1\_1](http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/rest_arch_style.htm#sec_5_2_1_1)  
Fielding, Roy Thomas. Architectural Styles and the Design of  
Network-based Software Architectures. Doctoral dissertation,  
University of California, Irvine, 2000.

–  
Rails training from David A. Black and Ruby Power and Light:

- Advancing With Rails August 18-21 Edison, NJ
- Co-taught by D.A. Black and Erik Kastner  
See [http://www.rubypal.com](http://www.rubypal.com) for details and updates!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![billis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@billis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/billis)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rest-and-multiple-resources-in-a-view/145194/6 "2008-08-15T16:06:50Z")

</div>

> I guess it’s a bit of a gray area, but to me, it’s perfectly valid to  
> have a “front window” resource, and use a representation of it as your  
> “home page” or whatever.

That’s how Im organising my controllers/views in regards to resources,  
after reading David’s articles on REST, and I have to say it’s very  
“liberating” to put resources in this perspective. I’m very new to  
Rails but I feel that, after reading a couple of books on RoR, the  
“official Rails” REST approach of most of the existing Rails  
documentation present REST in a very RoR-centric way. The result is,  
at least in my case, to be confused on how REST is used in RoR and how  
to apply the REST concepts in Rails development ( I haven’t read  
Fielding’s text but I’ll definitely will ).

Again, very ilumintaing articles, perhaps some sort of guide/text is  
needed on REST \*for RoR development".  
vassilis

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![billis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@billis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/billis)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rest-and-multiple-resources-in-a-view/145194/7 "2008-08-10T22:18:04Z")

</div>

exactly what I needed to get a better perspective on REST. thanks