# Standard route but having errors **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [January 3, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/standard-route-but-having-errors/124922 "2008-01-03T20:00:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chubbs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chubbs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Chubbs)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/standard-route-but-having-errors/124922/1 "2008-01-03T20:00:19Z")
hey i have routes defined as, map.question ‘question/:id’, :controller =\> ‘question’, :action =\> ‘show’ # Install the default route as the lowest priority. map.connect ‘:controller/:action/:id.:format’ map.connect ‘:controller/:action/:id’ now im having errors trying to get any of the actions inside my question controller. question/new question/edit etc… all come up with errors trying to send it to the action ‘show’ if i reverse the order: map.connect ‘:controller/:action/:id.:format’ map.connect ‘:controller/:action/:id’ map.question ‘question/:id’, :controller =\> ‘question’, :action =\> ‘show’ my actions work but then if i use question/2 it says Unknown action No action responded to 2 how do i route my urls properly for this to work? ---
**Author:** ![Chubbs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chubbs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Chubbs)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 8:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/standard-route-but-having-errors/124922/2 "2008-01-03T20:10:17Z")
2008/1/3, Chubbs [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > hey i have routes defined as, > > map.question ‘question/:id’, :controller =\> ‘question’, :action =\> > ‘show’ > > # Install the default route as the lowest priority. > > map.connect ‘:controller/:action/:id.:format’ > map.connect ‘:controller/:action/:id’ > […] > how do i route my urls properly for this to work? Try : map.question ‘question/:id’, :controller =\> ‘question’, :action =\> ‘show’, :id =\> /\d+/ map.connect ‘:controller/:action/:id.:format’ map.connect ‘:controller/:action/:id’ ``` -- Jean-François. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Chubbs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chubbs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Chubbs)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/standard-route-but-having-errors/124922/3 "2008-01-03T20:12:39Z")
ok cool that worked, but why is the :id =\> /\d+/ needed? and what does that do ? does it check to see if its a decimal as a parameter or something ? ---
**Author:** ![Chubbs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chubbs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Chubbs)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/standard-route-but-having-errors/124922/4 "2008-01-03T20:26:46Z")
2008/1/3, Chubbs [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > ok cool that worked, > > but why is the :id =\> /\d+/ needed? and what does that do ? > does it check to see if its a decimal as a parameter or something ? yes. when you’ve got this named route : map.question ‘question/:id’, :controller =\> ‘question’, :action =\> ‘show’ with ‘question/new’, Rails will try to match this path with your route, and it will be successful with params[:id] = ‘new’. If you require that the dynamic segment (:id) in the route must be in decimal format ( :id =\> /\d+/), then ‘question/new’ will not be recognized by the question named route, and Rails will try with next route and so on. ‘question/new’ will be later recognized by ‘:controller/:action/:id’ route. Requirements on route can be useful. – Jean-François. ---
**Author:** ![Chubbs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chubbs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Chubbs)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/standard-route-but-having-errors/124922/5 "2008-01-03T20:31:33Z")
mm cos i thought rails would put preference to actions if one exists so i thought it would work like this. if we have ‘question/123’ look for an action by the name of 123 , if not then see what other routes we have, in this case we have map.question ‘question/:id’, :controller =\> ‘question’, :action =\> ‘show’ if we have ‘question/new’ we found an action so ignore the other routes ---
**Author:** ![Chubbs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chubbs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Chubbs)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/standard-route-but-having-errors/124922/6 "2008-01-03T20:57:40Z")
2008/1/3, Chubbs [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > if we have ‘question/new’ > > we found an action so ignore the other routes Not exactly. The way it works, as far as I know, is that Rails tries to make your path recognize from routes, from the top to the bottom, and stops when there is a match. If any routes don’t recognize your path, there’s an error. If a path can be recognized by many routes, the one with the highest priority wins (because Rails starts at the top and stop at the first match). So the order of your routes is important. Also : - in your class controller, it’s possible to use a method\_missing mechanism - it’s also possible that the method doesn’t exist but as the template exists, Rails will directly render it (I never use this mechanism but it should work) - and in your routes.rb, you can if you want, suppress the generic route : map.connect ‘:controller/:action/:id’ because you find it permissive and you’d rather defining all the routes ‘statically’. – Jean-François. ---
**Author:** ![Chubbs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chubbs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Chubbs)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/standard-route-but-having-errors/124922/7 "2008-01-03T21:02:34Z")
ok thanks heaps for your advice. have good day!