Where to put custmized files in Rails app?

Rails
1

All,

This is the first time to play on Rails application. Simple questions:
where to locate/store my own *.rb, and *.txt files in my Rails app?
I put my *.rb in the components folder so that controllers can see
them without problems. Is this the right place to do that?
But I may not know where to put *.txt files and how to locate them in
controllers.

Thank you in advance.

2

the “components” dir is deprecated and removed in v2.0+ AFAIK

you’d be better off using the lib dir or making a plugin.

On Nov 11, 1:35 pm, “[email protected]” [email protected]

3

Thank you for the response.

I am practicing on v1.7 and it works fine. But, if I move the code
from components to comp dir in lib, the controller can not fine those
fine any more. If I put those files in lib directly, it woks fine
again. How can I maintain a structure of directories in Rails?

Thanks,

4

Why do you need to maintain a directory of files? There are preset
directories already for anything you do with the Rails MVC framework
and the lib directory gives you a spot to put additional modules.
Static files that get pushed to the users belong in the public/
directory, etc.

You will need to require the files manually if you use your own
subdirectories.

5

The lib directory is included by rails automatically, so any file in
there will be included. If you put it elsewhere you’ll have to
specifically require them yourself.

On Nov 11, 11:52 pm, “[email protected]” [email protected]

6

I may not want to have a directory of files anywhere that much but,
what if I want to separate my *rb files from *xml files? The case I am
having now is that I have to put all my own files in a signal lib
directory which I may not like it very much. Is this ture that I
cannot have a sub directory in lib?

7

Thank you, jemminger.

That works for me now. However, I’ve got another issue. I have an
my_parse.rb file to parse an xml file. The directory for these files
is lib/myfiles/my_parse.rb, and lib/myfiles/xml/aa.xml. And also I
have a test file in test/unit/my_parse_test.rb. The error message is:
Errno::ENOENT: No such file or directory - xml/aa.xml when I put the
path to the aa.xml flie like this - xml/aa.xml in my_parse_test.rb.
But, it is OK if the aa.xml is in the same dir as my_parse.rb is with
the path - aa.xml.
So, what is the right path to the aa.xml in my_parse.rb if I put
aa.xml file in xml/aa.xml?
(like this: lib/myfiles/my_parse.rb, and lib/myfiles/xml/aa.xml)

8

you can have as many subdirectories in lib or anywhere else you want.
you will just have to explicitly require those files or write
something to auto-require the files in those dirs.

e.g. if you make “lib/myfiles/foo.rb”, you’ll have to put “require
‘myfiles/foo.rb’” to use it

On Nov 12, 1:41 pm, “[email protected]” [email protected]

9

All right, I got it. I should use FILE to identify the path of
my_parser.rb and then to locate the xml file.