Unsure How To Modify ActionController::Base

Rails
#1

Hello,

I would like to add a couple of methods like url_for in such a way
that I can call these other methods in my actions just as I might
call url_for. However I keep getting undefined method errors when I
execute those calls.

Here’s what I did:

  1. Generated a plugin: $ script/generate plugin UrlForRouter

  2. Created the file RAILS_ROOT/vendor/plugins/url_for_router/lib/
    url_for_router.rb
    This file looks like:

    module UrlForRouter
    def internal_url_for(options = {})
    host_url_for(‘0.0.0.0:3000’, options)
    end

     def external_url_for(options = {})
   host_url_for('xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx', options)   # anonymised
 end

 private
 def host_url_for(host, options = {})
   ENV['RAILS_ENV'] == 'development' ? url_for(options.merge

(:host => host)) : url_for(options)
end
end

  1. Edited RAILS_ROOT/vendor/plugins/url_for_router/init.rb to look
    like this:

    require ‘url_for_router’
    ActionController::Base.include UrlForRouter

  2. Restarted web server.

  3. In my actions I call internal_url_for and external_url_for
    exactly as I would call url_for.
    I get the error: undefined method `external_url_for’ for …etc

Is this even the right way to proceed? If so, what am I doing wrong?

Many thanks,
Andy S.

#2

Andrew S. wrote:

       host_url_for('xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx', options)   # anonymised

like this:
Is this even the right way to proceed? If so, what am I doing wrong?

Many thanks,
Andy S.

Andrew,

I think that include method is private; not 100% sure, but I recall
having similiar troubles like you described. So you would have to
include it like:

ActionController::Base.send :include, UrlForRouter

–
Bojan M.
Informatika Mihelac, Bojan M. s.p. | www.informatikamihelac.com
-> tools, scripts, tricks from our code lab: http://source.mihelac.org

#3

On 11/16/06, Andrew S. [email protected] wrote:

  1. Generated a plugin: $ script/generate plugin UrlForRouter
    def external_url_for(options = {})
  2. Edited RAILS_ROOT/vendor/plugins/url_for_router/init.rb to look

Is this even the right way to proceed? If so, what am I doing wrong?

Many thanks,
Andy S.

Andy,

Unless you want to share these methods across multiple apps don’t
bother making a plugin. Just do the following:

  1. Put url_for_router.rb in your lib/
  2. Include the module in application.rb

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
include UrlForRouter
…
end

  1. That’s it!

Also, if you want to use these methods in your views you can simply
add the following to your module.

module UrlForRouter

# --- [ ActionView helper methods ] ---
def self.included(base)
  base.send :helper_method, :internal_url_for, :external_url_for
end

end

Hope this helps.

–
Zack C.
http://depixelate.com

#4

On 16 Nov 2006, at 15:46, Bojan M. wrote:

I think that include method is private; not 100% sure, but I recall
having similiar troubles like you described. So you would have to
include it like:

ActionController::Base.send :include, UrlForRouter

Bojan, thanks for this. I tried it but unfortunately it didn’t work
for me. However that’s probably down to some other flaw on my part
rather than your suggestion.

Thanks,
Andy

#5

On 16 Nov 2006, at 15:57, Zack C. wrote:

Unless you want to share these methods across multiple apps don’t
bother making a plugin. Just do the following:

I was thinking that I would reuse this code in future apps. Now that
you mention it though, there’s no need at the moment. So I’m going
with your approach.

  1. Put url_for_router.rb in your lib/
  2. Include the module in application.rb

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
include UrlForRouter
…
end

  1. That’s it!

That works wonderfully in my controller. Thanks!

However I also have a model (which doesn’t subclass ActiveRecord)
where I am trying to call my {internal, external}_url_for methods and
I get this error:

undefined method url_for' #{RAILS_ROOT}/lib/url_for_router.rb:16:inhost_url_for’
#{RAILS_ROOT}/lib/url_for_router.rb:10:in `external_url_for’

My model class finds and calls my methods but the UrlForRouter module
can’t resolve url_for in this context. What should I do here?

end
Very nice!

Hope this helps.

Yes it does, very much.

Thanks!
Andy

#6

Just for the record, I found this post[1] which argues persuasively
for keeping knowledge of URLs out of models (as well as showing a
good way to generate URLs within ActionMailer). So I moved the URL
knowledge out of my model. Simple, really, when I thought about it.

Regards,
Andy

[1] http://www.ryandaigle.com/articles/2006/08/23/whats-new-in-edge-
rails-form-urls-in-your-actionmailers-and-elsewhere