Syntax for accessing methods and variables

Rails
1

Hi all,

I have a controller named aircrafts. In there I put:

def showtime
@time = Time.now
end

In the default views/layouts/aircrafts.rhtml, I want to use the method
above to show the current time on the page.

But adding <%= @time %> does nothing. Do I have to have some kind of
<%= showtime.time %> syntax or something, like in Java?

Thanks. New to Ruby, and trying to learn as I go, so please forgive
some of these ‘simple’ questions.

Hussein.

2

Hussein P. wrote:

Hi all,

I have a controller named aircrafts. In there I put:

def showtime
@time = Time.now
end

In the default views/layouts/aircrafts.rhtml, I want to use the method
above to show the current time on the page.

But adding <%= @time %> does nothing. Do I have to have some kind of
<%= showtime.time %> syntax or something, like in Java?

Thanks. New to Ruby, and trying to learn as I go, so please forgive
some of these ‘simple’ questions.

Hussein.

Hiya Hussein,

It doesnt quite work like that. I’m sure someone will be able to
explain why better than me.

To do what you want though you can use helpers. Look in the directory
/app/helpers/aircrafts_helper.rb

Add the code above into there and you will be able to access it as you
wish

Cheers
Luke

3

Opps forgot to add if you put that into application_helper.rb then it
will be available to all of your views.

4

Hi.

Ok, so I guess the helpers files act somewhat like your java
superclasses. Would the functions be accessed just through their name
as in @time?

Also, how would you access controller-speific functions, as in the one I
had in my original post?

Thanks.

Hussein.

5

Hussein P. wrote:

Also, how would you access controller-speific functions, as in the one I
had in my original post?

You can create a function in the controller and use the helper_method
specifier.

eg

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base

helper_method :give_time

def give_time
Time.now # return the current time
end

end

Then in you view, you can put a
<%= give_time %>

In fact, helper_method makes a method visible both in the controller and
in the view. But, IMHO you should take care of not making wrong usage of
this specifier.
In most cases you just have to put these methods in the
application_helper.rb which makes it visible in all views.

6

Hussein P. wrote:

Hi all,

I have a controller named aircrafts. In there I put:

def showtime
@time = Time.now
end

In the default views/layouts/aircrafts.rhtml, I want to use the method
above to show the current time on the page.

But adding <%= @time %> does nothing. Do I have to have some kind of
<%= showtime.time %> syntax or something, like in Java?

Thanks. New to Ruby, and trying to learn as I go, so please forgive
some of these ‘simple’ questions.

Hussein.

Methods in the controller generally map to the view of that name. So,
if you have a file called views/showtime.rhtml with <%= @time %>, it
will display correctly.

You need to change it to <%= showtime %> if you want it to work.

However, this method should not be in the controller. It should probably
be in helpers/aircraft_helper.rb or helpers/application_helper.rb

I’m still green to rails, so there could be a better way, but both of my
options will work.

7

Hi and thanks for the input. I think I understand now. I’ll work on
this tonight and post back if there’s anything else.

Hussein.

8

Hussein P. wrote:

Hi all,

I have a controller named aircrafts. In there I put:

def showtime
@time = Time.now
end

Hi,

In Ruby 1)if you declare a method without associating it to any class
you just call it directly:

showtime

  1. if you declare a method within a class say X without using private,
    protected, or public you call it publicly(default way in Ruby)

obj=X.new
obj.showtime

  1. if you run them from within the script you need to add “puts” to see
    the results:
    puts showtime

puts obj.showtime

Li

C:>irb
irb(main):001:0> def showtime
irb(main):002:1> @time = Time.now
irb(main):003:1> end
=> nil
irb(main):004:0> showtime
=> Thu Dec 14 13:42:19 -0500 2006
irb(main):005:0> class X
irb(main):006:1> def showtime
irb(main):007:2> @time=Time.now
irb(main):008:2> end
irb(main):009:1> end
=> nil
irb(main):010:0> obj=X.new
=> #<X:0x2c22b74>
irb(main):011:0> obj.showtime
=> Thu Dec 14 13:43:12 -0500 2006
irb(main):012:0>

9

Honestly I would just put the code in the view:

<%= Time.now %>

If you use the time in many views and want to standardize the
formatting, go with application_helper.rb