# Variable scope and RESTful methods **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [December 30, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/variable-scope-and-restful-methods/180840 "2009-12-30T04:57:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Learn\_by\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/e274bd/32.png) [@Learn\_by\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Learn_by_D)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/variable-scope-and-restful-methods/180840/1 "2009-12-30T04:57:19Z")
I have the usual methods in a RESTful implementation: index, new In the index method I have a variable @new\_link which is not nil . At the end of the index method, I tested the value with logger.info @new\_link.inspect to make sure. And the log output shows that @new\_link is in fact not nill. Within index.html which is displayed by the index method, I include a link through new\_link\_path to call the new method to display a form to create a new link. I want to prefill this form with the value of @new\_link. However, in the scope of the new method, @new\_link is nill. How can this be? I thought that @new\_link should have a scope that covers the entire instance of the class. Are these two methods operate in 2 different instances? Thanks. – You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups “Ruby on Rails: Talk” group. To post to this group, send email to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid. For more options, visit this group at [http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en](http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en). ---
**Author:** ![Learn\_by\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/e274bd/32.png) [@Learn\_by\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Learn_by_D)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 1:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/variable-scope-and-restful-methods/180840/2 "2009-12-30T13:48:17Z")
Every time you make a request, ie call a controller action, your rails application effectively starts from scratch. There’s no persistent instance data between requests, and the reason for this is obvious: imagine that you and another person are using the website at the same time. If objects persisted between requests, how would the server know which one was yours and which was the other persons? That’s why almost every action uses params[:id] to load an object from the db, or uses params from a form to build a new object. One seeming exception to this is the session, but even this doesn’t persist - it uses cookies to get a session key which is used to reload the session data from the sessions table in the database. ---
**Author:** ![Learn\_by\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/e274bd/32.png) [@Learn\_by\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Learn_by_D)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/variable-scope-and-restful-methods/180840/3 "2009-12-31T00:11:01Z")
Max, Thank you for the insightful answer. Following your answer, I have successfully accomplished my goal by passing value through the session variable. Happy New Year. Vincent. On Dec 30, 4:48 am, Max W. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > ## One seeming exception to this is the session, but even this doesn’t persist - it uses cookies to get a session key which is used to reload the session data from the sessions table in the database. > > Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/. – You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups “Ruby on Rails: Talk” group. To post to this group, send email to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid. For more options, visit this group at [http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en](http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en).