# Which verb?: Take a bus or take the train **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [January 19, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/which-verb-take-a-bus-or-take-the-train/181882 "2010-01-19T17:38:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralphshnelvar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@ralphshnelvar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ralphshnelvar)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/which-verb-take-a-bus-or-take-the-train/181882/1 "2010-01-19T17:38:34Z")
Assume that at some point in the user’s processing we come to a page in which the user is to select from one of several choices that will then determine which processing will happen on the next page … perhaps putting up a bus route map if she selects “bus” and a train schedule if she selects “train”. What RESTful verb should I use to indicate this kind of choice? Show? ---
**Author:** ![ralphshnelvar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@ralphshnelvar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ralphshnelvar)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/which-verb-take-a-bus-or-take-the-train/181882/2 "2010-01-19T17:55:55Z")
2010/1/19 Ralph S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > Assume that at some point in the user’s processing we come to a page in > which the user is to select from one of several choices that will then > determine which processing will happen on the next page … perhaps > putting up a bus route map if she selects “bus” and a train schedule if > she selects “train”. > > What RESTful verb should I use to indicate this kind of choice? Show? Possibly a choices controller with action show as you suggest. Colin ---
**Author:** ![ralphshnelvar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@ralphshnelvar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ralphshnelvar)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/which-verb-take-a-bus-or-take-the-train/181882/3 "2010-01-19T18:52:56Z")
Colin L. wrote: > 2010/1/19 Ralph S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > > > Assume that at some point in the user’s processing we come to a page in > > which the user is to select from one of several choices that will then > > determine which processing will happen on the next page … perhaps > > putting up a bus route map if she selects “bus” and a train schedule if > > she selects “train”. > > > > What RESTful verb should I use to indicate this kind of choice? �Show? > > Possibly a choices controller with action show as you suggest. I’m not sure a separate controller is called for. In some cases it may make more sense to do show?transport=train , or to simply define nonstandard REST actions bus and train. Remember, the 7 basic REST actions are merely convention. If they do not map well to your resources, there is nothing wrong or unRESTful with defining custom actions. > Colin ## Best, Marnen Laibow-Koser [http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![ralphshnelvar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@ralphshnelvar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ralphshnelvar)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/which-verb-take-a-bus-or-take-the-train/181882/4 "2010-01-19T21:39:45Z")
Colin L. wrote: > 2010/1/19 Ralph S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > > > Assume that at some point in the user’s processing we come to a page in > > which the user is to select from one of several choices that will then > > determine which processing will happen on the next page … perhaps > > putting up a bus route map if she selects “bus” and a train schedule if > > she selects “train”. > > > > What RESTful verb should I use to indicate this kind of choice? �Show? > > Possibly a choices controller with action show as you suggest. > > Colin Colin, thank you. Can you point me at what a “choices controller” looks like? Ralph ---
**Author:** ![ralphshnelvar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@ralphshnelvar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ralphshnelvar)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/which-verb-take-a-bus-or-take-the-train/181882/5 "2010-01-19T22:26:57Z")
On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 12:39 PM, Ralph S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)wrote: > > Possibly a choices controller with action show as you suggest. > > > > Colin > > Colin, thank you. > > Can you point me at what a “choices controller” looks like? > > Ralph Ralph, you can look at a web page as being the current state and the links on page can represent the transitions between your states (i.e. web pages). Thus, in the past, I have created wizards which used an underlying state machine which worked out well. Finally, Mike Hagedorn wrote recipe 16 in “Advanced Rails Recipes” which demonstrates the usage of the acts\_as\_state\_machine gem. Good luck, -Conrad