# Using \*\_path and \*\_url functions with nested resources

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-path-and-url-functions-with-nested-resources/90083>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [March 25, 2007, 10:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-path-and-url-functions-with-nested-resources/90083 "2007-03-25T22:20:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Leslie\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Leslie\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Leslie_F)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 10:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-path-and-url-functions-with-nested-resources/90083/1 "2007-03-25T22:20:57Z")

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Hi all,  
I’ve been scouring the web trying to find an answer to this problem, but  
most of the discussions I’ve found seem old, inconclusive or both.

I’m trying to create a resource(REST) based app that has users and  
adverts posted to categories. I’d like to have my routes set up like  
this:

…  
map.resources :users do |users|  
users.resources :adverts, :name\_prefix =\> “users\_”  
end

map.resources :categories do | categories |  
categories.resources :adverts, :name\_prefix =\> “categories\_”  
end  
…

Which would allow me to use URL like:  
/users/1/adverts/new  
/users/1/adverts/15;edit  
/categories/35/adverts/84;edit

Which is all fine. However, in my adverts views, I need to generate the  
paths to the actions in the correct parent resource. Obviously, I can’t  
do something like user\_advert\_path(@user, @advert), as it will be  
incorrect when I render the view from a category parent.

I know I could do a workaround by having a base route to /adverts  
(map.resources :adverts) but, this seems to defeat some of the point of  
using a REST structure in the first place. I’ve also seen people using  
partials and passing in the name\_prefix to them, but that seems pretty  
inelegant to me ([Restful polymorphic - Rails - Ruby-Forum](http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/93731#189673))

I have to assume there must be a better way to generate the \*path  
functions, as this seems like a big open questions. Does anyone have any  
advice?

Thanks,  
Leslie

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Leslie\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Leslie\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Leslie_F)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 10:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-path-and-url-functions-with-nested-resources/90083/2 "2007-03-26T10:52:55Z")

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adverts\_url(:user\_id =\> 1) should generate

/user/1/adverts

adverts\_url(:user\_id =\> 1, :id =\> 99) should generate

/user/1/adverts/99

Use the same params for the \*\_path functions.

Regards,  
John

On Mar 25, 9:20 pm, Leslie F. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Leslie\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Leslie\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Leslie_F)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 4:10am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-path-and-url-functions-with-nested-resources/90083/3 "2007-03-27T04:10:45Z")

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The thing about shared partials is that they are not supposed to make  
assumptions and should be oblivious to their environment. That being  
said. Having URLs in your partials violates this rule in my opinion. If  
there is anyway to extract that environment specific information you  
should. I encounter this problem all the time. I’ve done extremely  
complex forms, with all kinds of AJAX calls, javascript, etc built in. I  
then had to turn around and use this form in another part of my  
application. Using the same partial seemed dirty and was not right. I  
just copy and pasted the form in the other section. Redundancy in your  
views is not that bad of a thing. In fact I think redundancy in your  
controllers and views is perfectly fine if being DRY gets in the way of  
flexibility.