# Using :id=\>'something' vs :mid=\>'something' params **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [January 23, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-id-something-vs-mid-something-params/64470 "2006-01-23T16:53:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bogdan\_I](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@Bogdan\_I](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bogdan_I)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-id-something-vs-mid-something-params/64470/1 "2006-01-23T16:53:55Z")
Is there any reason for using :id=\>‘something’ instead of :mid=\>‘something’ in link\_to or link\_to\_remote? (well other than generating a nicer link) My tool for analysing apache logs is considering /controller/action/4 as a different link than /controller/action/5, so instead of counting /controller/action it will count every variation of that parameter. Bogdan ---
**Author:** ![Bogdan\_I](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@Bogdan\_I](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bogdan_I)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-id-something-vs-mid-something-params/64470/2 "2006-01-23T17:12:48Z")
> Is there any reason for using :id=\>‘something’ instead of :mid=\>‘something’ > in link\_to or link\_to\_remote? Well, if the parameter is an id, its best to call it id. That doesn’t mean rails has to generate routes of the form /controller/action/id, however. Just as you can add extra parts to routes in rails (eg :controller/:action/:year/:month/:day), you could (if you really felt you had to) change the default route in routes.rb to :controller/:action. This will generate urls of the form /controller/action?id=something. Even so, I’d always prefer clean urls over a scheme like this. > My tool for analysing apache logs is considering /controller/action/4 as a > different link than /controller/action/5, so instead of counting > /controller/action it will count every variation of that parameter. I don’t have any experience in log analysis, but surely there’s software that can handle this common url pattern? Tom ---
**Author:** ![Bogdan\_I](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@Bogdan\_I](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bogdan_I)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-id-something-vs-mid-something-params/64470/3 "2006-01-23T17:19:06Z")
Thanks, i didn’t think about routes.rb ---
**Author:** ![Bogdan\_I](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@Bogdan\_I](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bogdan_I)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-id-something-vs-mid-something-params/64470/4 "2006-01-23T17:35:06Z")
On 1/23/06, matthew clark [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > will submit to - /controller/form\_page/form\_save > > I’m sure my mistake is an obvious one, because this certianly isn’t desired > behavior. Try start\_form\_tag({:action =\> “form\_save”, :id =\> 1}) Tom ---
**Author:** ![Bogdan\_I](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@Bogdan\_I](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bogdan_I)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 5:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-id-something-vs-mid-something-params/64470/5 "2006-01-23T17:25:40Z")
I ran into the issue last night, but was in a hurry so I just made a note to investigate it today. When I used id for a page with a form, the submit action was incorrect. Like this - \<%= link\_to(“Form”, :action=\>“form\_page”, :id=\>1) %\> That gets you a url like - /controller/form\_page/1 then, the form start tag - \<%= start\_form\_tag(“form\_save”) %\> will submit to - /controller/form\_page/form\_save I’m sure my mistake is an obvious one, because this certianly isn’t desired behavior. matt