I used the “Cleaning Up Controllers with Postback Actions” recipe from
Rails Recipes. Basically you replace all the edit/new/update/create
methods with one method that looks like:
def edit @recipe = Recipe.find_by_id(params[:id]) || Recipe.new
if request.post? @recipe.attributes = params[:recipe]
redirect_to :main_url and return if @recipe.save
end
end
My form uses form_for with a url parameter:
<% form_for(@schedule, :url => {:action => ‘edit’}) do |f| %>
When I create a new entry and submit the form, it does a POST just
like you’d expect, but when I edit an existing record and submit the
form, the server claims it is doing a PUT. That means no updates since
the record is only updated when the browser submits a POST action.
Even the source in the browser claims the form is going to be
submitted with a POST, but by the time it gets to the server, the
server log claims it is a PUT. Any ideas? I’ve hacked around it for
now by checking for POST or PUT but that feels, well, hacky.
Frankly I’m a little disappointed in the recipe. For it to work,
you’ll need to change your form and possibly your routes.rb file, but
those details are left out
I haven’t looked at the recipe you refer to but most browsers will
only do posts. That’s why Rails form helpers simulate doing a put by
adding a hidden field called _method to the form which rails then
checks for before passing control onto your controller.
PUTs are supposed to be used to update your records but the RESTful
way of doing it is to put the update code in the update method and
specifying resources in your routes.rb file.
Also using the REST convention, your edit method should respond to a
GET and should display a form. It shouldn’t be updating anything.
Ok, so the recipe allows you to replace 4 similar methods with one
method, which is more DRY, but from what Ritchie is saying, adhering
to the RESTful interface is more important.
Is it ‘better’ to keep the four methods and DRY them up as best I can
rather than trying the post back method recipe? I’m thinking so, since
the post back recipe made me do some things I didn’t really like, like
removing the resources entry from my routes. And it broke things.
Plus, I just discovered that the “Rails Recipes” book is for Rails
1.0. Sheesh, I just bought it
Perhaps the post back model isn’t encouraged any more despite it’s
DRYness.
Ok, so the recipe allows you to replace 4 similar methods with one
method, which is more DRY, but from what Ritchie is saying, adhering
to the RESTful interface is more important.
Is it ‘better’ to keep the four methods and DRY them up as best I can
rather than trying the post back method recipe? I’m thinking so, since
the post back recipe made me do some things I didn’t really like, like
removing the resources entry from my routes. And it broke things.
Plus, I just discovered that the “Rails Recipes” book is for Rails
1.0. Sheesh, I just bought it
Perhaps the post back model isn’t encouraged any more despite it’s
DRYness.
Yeah, this looks like a mediocre idea. If you want to avoid repetition
in your controllers, I’d suggest something like make_resourceful.
