# Skinny Controller, Fat View? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [July 10, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/skinny-controller-fat-view/171842 "2009-07-10T01:25:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jeffrey\_LSTaylor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@Jeffrey\_LSTaylor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jeffrey_LSTaylor)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/skinny-controller-fat-view/171842/1 "2009-07-10T01:25:15Z")
My Web application has several contexts where a collection of ActiveRecords is rendered. If the URL contained the partial and/or layout, the several controller methods could be collapsed into one. What hazards, etc. lie that way? TIA, Jeffrey ---
**Author:** ![Jeffrey\_LSTaylor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@Jeffrey\_LSTaylor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jeffrey_LSTaylor)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/skinny-controller-fat-view/171842/2 "2009-07-10T22:08:04Z")
2009/7/10 Jeffrey L. Taylor [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > My Web application has several contexts where a collection of ActiveRecords is > rendered. Â If the URL contained the partial and/or layout, the several > controller methods could be collapsed into one. Â What hazards, etc. lie that > way? I, for one, do not understand what you mean. Could you give a more detailed description, with example? Colin ---
**Author:** ![Jeffrey\_LSTaylor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@Jeffrey\_LSTaylor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jeffrey_LSTaylor)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/skinny-controller-fat-view/171842/3 "2009-07-10T23:41:02Z")
Quoting Colin L. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > It’s an RSS readers. Users have feeds that have articles. A list of articles can appear in about four contexts: a paginated flat list of all unread articles, a flat list of articles found by a search. list of all unread articles indented under a feed (with collapse/expand icons), a list of all read articles under another type of header. Currently all of these have their own action method under two different controllers. I think it is feasible to have one action method that is passed the selection criteria (unread, read, etc. articles) and a layout or partial template to render thru the URL. Beyond the obvious SQL injection protection and restricting the template/layout to a known set of reasonable values, what hazards (security, maintenance, etc.) lie this way? I think I can move towards and possibly achieve a RESTful API with a bit of squeezing state and context into the URL. Does this way lie madness/dragons? TIA, Jeffrey ---
**Author:** ![Jeffrey\_LSTaylor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@Jeffrey\_LSTaylor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jeffrey_LSTaylor)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/skinny-controller-fat-view/171842/4 "2009-07-11T00:17:24Z")
Work at implementing Helpers into your app. You can outline your pagination methods in many different helper models and keep things transparent on your views as well as make things more manageable for yourself. For instance, Let’s say you have a number of pagination views you are going to use for tables. Create a tables\_helper.rb file and place your pagination methods there that apply for table formatting etc. Partials really only need to be created when you have multiple needs for the same bit of code between the views on a particular model. If you had 8 views for instance on one model and you are reusing a lot of the same code in those views, then create partials for the code bits you are sharing. However, keep in mind that sometimes you may get things too messy in your partials, especially if you use javascript or are applying conditions. They can’t be readily checked unless you create controller methods that look into the specific partials as they are generated. This is why I recommend (as far as pagination goes), use helpers. They make a world of difference. ---
**Author:** ![Jeffrey\_LSTaylor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@Jeffrey\_LSTaylor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jeffrey_LSTaylor)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/skinny-controller-fat-view/171842/5 "2009-07-11T00:59:20Z")
Hello– On Jul 10, 2009, at 2:40 PM, Jeffrey L. Taylor wrote: > > > etc. lie that > > > articles indented under a feed (with collapse/expand icons), a list > > > restricting the template/layout to a known set of reasonable values, > > > Jeffrey > > > If you embed that information in the URL, you wouldn’t be the first > > > (nor probably the last) to do it, but you are then tying your URL to > > > your implementation. Littering URLs with implementation details can > > > break bookmarks and also be confusing to search engines, which may or > > > may not matter to you. Why is the querystring not sufficient? E.g. [http://my.domain.com/keenview?view=flat](http://my.domain.com/keenview?view=flat) . That exposes a bit of the implementation but probably won’t break if the view key is left off. ---
**Author:** ![Jeffrey\_LSTaylor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@Jeffrey\_LSTaylor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jeffrey_LSTaylor)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/skinny-controller-fat-view/171842/6 "2009-07-11T04:17:19Z")
Check out the Presenter pattern. This might help out a bit: > **[Rails: Presenter Pattern](http://blog.jayfields.com/2007/03/rails-presenter-pattern.html)** > > The default architecture for Ruby on Rails, Model View Controller, can begin to break down as Controllers become bloated and logic begins to... ---
**Author:** ![Jeffrey\_LSTaylor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@Jeffrey\_LSTaylor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jeffrey_LSTaylor)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 1:48am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/skinny-controller-fat-view/171842/7 "2009-07-11T01:48:23Z")
Quoting s.ross [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > > > > > > > > bit of > > break bookmarks and also be confusing to search engines, which may or > > may not matter to you. > > Why is the querystring not sufficient? E.g. [http://my.domain.com/keenview?view=flat](http://my.domain.com/keenview?view=flat) > . That exposes a bit of the implementation but probably won’t break if > the view key is left off. Most of these contexts are AJAX responses so bookmarkability is not relevant, but I will keep it in mind. In fact, search results are currently not bookmarkable because only POST requests are actually searches, any GET request to the URL is expected to be a pagination request. Thank you for pointing that out. Currently too much state is in the session, so not bookmarkable. I will think on this, Jeffrey ---
**Author:** ![Jeffrey\_LSTaylor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@Jeffrey\_LSTaylor](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jeffrey_LSTaylor)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 4:37am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/skinny-controller-fat-view/171842/8 "2009-07-11T04:37:10Z")
Several years ago when I first heard about the Presenter, it didn’t make sense. Unneeded complexity. But now maybe I’ve encountered the problem(s) it is a solution to. I’ll look at it. Thanks, Jeffrey Quoting s.ross [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > > > > > > rendered. If the URL contained the partial and/or layout, the > > > > > > can appear in about four contexts: a paginated flat list of all > > > > > > selection > > > > > > squeezing state and context into the URL. > > > > > > > > Does this way lie madness/dragons? > > > > [snip]