Routing error (route not found) but only for destroy action

Rails
1

Hi guys

I have many different models and I want to reuse the same code for the
delete button.
So in my helper i have:

def delete_button(item_to_delete)
button_to t(‘buttons.delete’), :action => “destroy”, :controller
=> item_to_delete.class.to_s.downcase.pluralize
end

Normally i work with paths a la post_path(item_to_destroy) but I cant
find a way of making that work for different models except throwing in
some stupid switch statement which makes the code REALLY ugly…

So the code above throws a route not found error. BUT:
def delete_button(item_to_delete)
button_to t(‘buttons.delete’), :action => “new”, :controller =>
item_to_delete.class.to_s.downcase.pluralize
end

works just fine… these are the things that really annoy me about ruby
on rails.

Also… the most ridiculous thing happens at the moment… I use the
asset pipeline and after rebooting all javascript code in my file
users.js.coffee doesnt get executed in my browser anymore… If i put
it in example ‘messages.js.coffee’ it works just fine. EXACTLY the
same syntax in both files… I have NO idea why that happens. But
frankly after wasting 1h on that I dont care. Just leave my code in
the wrong file where it works…

2

Stefano wrote in post #1017840:

Hi guys

I have many different models and I want to reuse the same code for the
delete button.
So in my helper i have:

def delete_button(item_to_delete)
button_to t(‘buttons.delete’), :action => “destroy”, :controller
=> item_to_delete.class.to_s.downcase.pluralize
end

Normally i work with paths a la post_path(item_to_destroy) but I cant
find a way of making that work for different models except throwing in
some stupid switch statement which makes the code REALLY ugly…

In ruby, every method has to be called by an object, and that object is
known as the ‘receiver’. If you don’t specify an object, then ruby uses
self as the receiver. So when you call:

post_path(item_to_delete)

that is the same as:

self.post_path(item_to_delete)

The reason the object that is calling the method is called the reciever
is because calling a method with an object in ruby is the same as
sending a ‘message’ to the object. The message you send to the object
is the name of the method. In ruby, you can write that like this:

self.send(:meth_name, args)

or

self.send(:post_path, item_to_delete)

In most cases, you can use a string instead of a symbol, so that can
also be written as:

self.send(“post_path”, item_to_delete)

Once you have a way to execute a method when you have the name of the
method as a string, you can get creative:

model = item_to_destroy.class.to_s.downcase

self.send("#{model}_path", item_to_delete)

So the code above throws a route not found error. BUT:
def delete_button(item_to_delete)
button_to t(‘buttons.delete’), :action => “new”, :controller =>
item_to_delete.class.to_s.downcase.pluralize
end

works just fine… these are the things that really annoy me about ruby
on rails.

POST v. DELETE ???

Also… the most ridiculous thing happens at the moment… I use the
asset pipeline and after rebooting all javascript code in my file
users.js.coffee doesnt get executed in my browser anymore… If i put
it in example ‘messages.js.coffee’ it works just fine. EXACTLY the
same syntax in both files… I have NO idea why that happens. But
frankly after wasting 1h on that I dont care. Just leave my code in
the wrong file where it works…

Sorry, never used any coffescript.

3

On Aug 22, 12:48pm, Stefano [email protected] wrote:

works just fine… these are the things that really annoy me about ruby
on rails.

You’re not setting the method. REST dictates that the destroy action
can only be accessed by the DELETE method. Also, given that the path
you want to access is just the one for the post/comment/etc you don’t
need the path helper at all.

button_to ‘Delete’, item_to_delete, :method => ‘DELETE’

should do the trick

Fred

4

On Aug 22, 1:28pm, 7stud – [email protected] wrote:

Once you have a way to execute a method when you have the name of the
method as a string, you can get creative:

model = item_to_destroy.class.to_s.downcase

self.send(“#{model}_path”, item_to_delete)

or polymorphic_path(item_to_delete) (which is what gets called if you
do button_to(‘delete’, item_to_delete, :method => ‘delete’) )

Fred

5

Frederick C. wrote in post #1017860:

On Aug 22, 1:28pm, 7stud – [email protected] wrote:

Once you have a way to execute a method when you have the name of the
method as a string, you can get creative:

model = item_to_destroy.class.to_s.downcase

self.send(“#{model}_path”, item_to_delete)

or polymorphic_path(item_to_delete) (which is what gets called if you
do button_to(‘delete’, item_to_delete, :method => ‘delete’) )

So what you are saying is that rails automatically does all that for you
under the hood–if you specify a model object for the path in
button_to()?

6

On Aug 23, 1:49am, 7stud – [email protected] wrote:

or polymorphic_path(item_to_delete) (which is what gets called if you
do button_to(‘delete’, item_to_delete, :method => ‘delete’) )

So what you are saying is that rails automatically does all that for you
under the hood–if you specify a model object for the path in
button_to()?

Yes.

Fred