Why doesn't my "action" take action?

Rails
1

I have the following code in my index.rhtml:


<%= render(:partial => ‘form’) %>

…and the following in my _form.rhtml
<%= form_remote_tag(:update => “images_div_main”,
:url => { :action =>
‘get_reordered_images’}) %>
How many images?
<%= text_field_tag :numreq %>
<%= submit_tag “Click to get images” %>
<%= end_form_tag %>

…and of course, this im my Mycontroller_controller.rb:
def get_reordered_images
@sock_serv = TCPSocket.new(“192.168.107.7”, 9000)
xml = “<?xml version='1.0' ?>”
@sock_serv.send(xml,0)
@results = @sock_serv.recv(1000)
@sock_serv.close
render(:layout => false)
end

and I even have this in my get_reordered_images.rhtml file:
<%= @results %>

It works great! Gets me what I want, where I want it on the page. But
what I also want to do, is “execute” this “action” when the page is
first rendered. I feel like I should just “call” this from the index
page, perhaps is ruby brackets, but I’ve spent ours and nothing happens
until I do the form_remote_tag click and then the “replacement” partial
page appears.

What do I need to do to have “get_reorder_images” execute on first
rendering of html.

Eventually, I will put in logic or a new “action” so that some
parameters are passed with subsequent calls, but this first call has a
default mode.

Thanks,
Dave

2

Okay, I figured this one out. I have to:
<%= render(:partial => ‘get_reordered_images’) %> in my index.rhtml file

Then create a _get_reordered_images file in my application’s Views file
in which I only have:
<%= render_component(:action => ‘get_reordered_images’) %>

Which calls my “def get_reordered_images” action in my controller.rb
file.

Now I have two really nagging questions:

  1. Can someone explain to me why this is “efficient” (to have all of
    these different types of files just passing along a slightly altered
    call…I know there must be an abstract explanation, but my trivial
    application does show it)?

  2. How come some posts that can be really complicated receive multiple
    comments almost immediately, but most of my posts asking simple
    questions, most of the time get no responses?

I’m guessing the multi-post responses are a tight group of colleagues
and my questions are not of interest, but maybe I’m asking them the
wrong way.

Thoughts? Comments? write to me directly at DTL “at” Stanfordalumni.org
(I’m afraid I won’t scroll down to find if anyone posted to me).
David T-L wrote:

I have the following code in my index.rhtml:


<%= render(:partial => ‘form’) %>

…and the following in my _form.rhtml
<%= form_remote_tag(:update => “images_div_main”,
:url => { :action =>
‘get_reordered_images’}) %>
How many images?
<%= text_field_tag :numreq %>
<%= submit_tag “Click to get images” %>
<%= end_form_tag %>

…and of course, this im my Mycontroller_controller.rb:
def get_reordered_images
@sock_serv = TCPSocket.new(“192.168.107.7”, 9000)
xml = “<?xml version='1.0' ?>”
@sock_serv.send(xml,0)
@results = @sock_serv.recv(1000)
@sock_serv.close
render(:layout => false)
end

and I even have this in my get_reordered_images.rhtml file:
<%= @results %>

It works great! Gets me what I want, where I want it on the page. But
what I also want to do, is “execute” this “action” when the page is
first rendered. I feel like I should just “call” this from the index
page, perhaps is ruby brackets, but I’ve spent ours and nothing happens
until I do the form_remote_tag click and then the “replacement” partial
page appears.

What do I need to do to have “get_reorder_images” execute on first
rendering of html.

Eventually, I will put in logic or a new “action” so that some
parameters are passed with subsequent calls, but this first call has a
default mode.

Thanks,
Dave

3

I literally lol’d when I had the ephiphany (re my # 2 question below)
that when someone responds to your post, the post goes back to the top.
I didn’t know that!! So those posts that show 12 responses in 2 minutes
really mean that the last response was two minutes ago, not all 12 of
them. Doh!

David T-L wrote:

Okay, I figured this one out. I have to:
<%= render(:partial => ‘get_reordered_images’) %> in my index.rhtml file

Then create a _get_reordered_images file in my application’s Views file
in which I only have:
<%= render_component(:action => ‘get_reordered_images’) %>

Which calls my “def get_reordered_images” action in my controller.rb
file.

Now I have two really nagging questions:

  1. Can someone explain to me why this is “efficient” (to have all of
    these different types of files just passing along a slightly altered
    call…I know there must be an abstract explanation, but my trivial
    application does show it)?

  2. How come some posts that can be really complicated receive multiple
    comments almost immediately, but most of my posts asking simple
    questions, most of the time get no responses?

I’m guessing the multi-post responses are a tight group of colleagues
and my questions are not of interest, but maybe I’m asking them the
wrong way.

Thoughts? Comments? write to me directly at DTL “at” Stanfordalumni.org
(I’m afraid I won’t scroll down to find if anyone posted to me).
David T-L wrote:

4

On Feb 18, 2006, at 10:51 AM, David T-L wrote:

  1. How come some posts that can be really complicated receive
    multiple
    comments almost immediately, but most of my posts asking simple
    questions, most of the time get no responses?

I have no direct knowledge of your past posts, but I know that from my
perspective when a poster asks a trivial question that can be answered
via Google and/or a reading of the Rails book, I don’t bother to
respond.

When a person asks a question that is unique (and perhaps difficult),
then
I want to respond and join because it’s breaking new ground.

–
– Tom M.

5

Tom,

I appreciate your feedback.

For me, I don’t ask questions until I’ve been spinning for a few hours.

I can tell you that with the structure of Ruby on Rails and Ajax, there
are assumptions of location going on under the covers that, as a newbie,
it is hard to know when something isn’t possible versus when I’m
misunderstanding the difference between a method, a module, a helper,
and a component.

I sit here with both “Agile Web D. with Rails” and the pickaxe
“Programming Ruby” and I’m all over Google with searches, especially for
error messages.

For example, I thought I should initialize a flag ($new_search) in the
controller. The flag is used by a action (method? component?) in the
controller. Now, it appears the flag gets “re-initialized” everytime
the action is called. Okay. But I don’t want to put this code in my
index.rhtml file to initialize it (by that I mean give it the value true
when the page first renders).

So where should I initialize the flag?

I’m sure this is a trivial question, but for a newbie it opens up a
whole vista of “getting it”.

Thanks,
Dave

Tom M. wrote:

On Feb 18, 2006, at 10:51 AM, David T-L wrote:

  1. How come some posts that can be really complicated receive
    multiple
    comments almost immediately, but most of my posts asking simple
    questions, most of the time get no responses?

I have no direct knowledge of your past posts, but I know that from my
perspective when a poster asks a trivial question that can be answered
via Google and/or a reading of the Rails book, I don’t bother to
respond.

When a person asks a question that is unique (and perhaps difficult),
then
I want to respond and join because it’s breaking new ground.

–
– Tom M.

6

Tom M. wrote:

Thanks for directing your comments in a constructive way. I appreciate
that it would be easier to “walk away”.

Here’s the rub, and I’m only saying this to be helpful, and I’m
certainly only speaking for myself.

Have you seen any other code, in the Pickaxe or AWDR or Google
seaches on
Rails subjects, that have variables that begin with a dollar sign? Ruby
variables are not prefixed by dollar signs.

I know this isn’t really your main point, but it did make me wonder how
I got off on my global variable track. I could NOT find ANY code using
$nnnnn (I was surprised, I would have sworn I saw it!), but I did find
some examples (Pickaxe pp 15, 17) where $ is used to demonstrate an
example of a Global variable.

I finally remembered why I started using it: Pickaxe p.331. I was
having problems figuring out what was controlling what and I needed to
use a variable in an action and figure out why it was getting changed or
not set. In my simplistic approach, I figured I’d avoid the “problems”
of “undefined variable or method”.

Now, to answer your question: You cannot, under any circumstances with
Rails, store values that will persist from one request to the next by
using in memory variables. Doesn’t matter where they’re set, doesn’t
matter what kind they are. The only way to persist values across
requests
is via session (disregarding roll your own inter request mechanisms).

That would have been good to read (or remember if I had read it). I’m
coming from a ‘non-session’, non-object enviornment, so I wasn’t
thinking of my process in that way. Clear to me now!

As a general style suggestion, I don’t think anyone would give you
advice
to set any sort of flag in a view. Setting a flag is about controlling
the application, and therefore belongs in the controller.

I buy into that, that’s what was puzzling me.

Thanks for helping me understand the best use of this forum.

Dave

7

On Feb 18, 2006, at 12:45 PM, David T-L wrote:

For example, I thought I should initialize a flag ($new_search) in the
controller. The flag is used by a action (method? component?) in the
controller. Now, it appears the flag gets “re-initialized” everytime
the action is called. Okay. But I don’t want to put this code in my
index.rhtml file to initialize it (by that I mean give it the value
true
when the page first renders).

Here’s the rub, and I’m only saying this to be helpful, and I’m
certainly
only speaking for myself.

Have you seen any other code, in the Pickaxe or AWDR or Google
seaches on
Rails subjects, that have variables that begin with a dollar sign? Ruby
variables are not prefixed by dollar signs.

This mailing list is comprised of some of the most helpful and
knowledgeable people as any I’ve ever subscribed to. That said, a
mailing
list is NOT intended as a programming peer that you can just shoot
questions out to, as though all the members are sitting next to you in a
small room.

So, aforementioned helpful and knowledgeable people on the list will
give
more time and attention to people that have clearly spent enough time
to get familiar with the environment. Since they did this themselves,
they
know where the sticking point are, as nearly each and everyone of them
started in the same place you did: new to Ruby, new to Rails, coming
from another language, Pickaxe and AWDR on knee.

Now, to answer your question: You cannot, under any circumstances with
Rails, store values that will persist from one request to the next by
using in memory variables. Doesn’t matter where they’re set, doesn’t
matter what kind they are. The only way to persist values across
requests
is via session (disregarding roll your own inter request mechanisms).

As a general style suggestion, I don’t think anyone would give you
advice
to set any sort of flag in a view. Setting a flag is about controlling
the application, and therefore belongs in the controller.

–
– Tom M.