James on Software

It's been a while since the last r_c release; I have been busy. I'm still busy, so this isn't a huge release, but these changes have been in SVN for a while, so I thought I'd share them.

There was a cool thread over at RefactorMyCode.com where we discussed some potential API improvements for r_c (it's still open - come share your ideas!). Here's what made it in to this release...

respond_to

respond_to now accepts symbols, and has a few extra names. All of these examples have the same effect...

create.response :html do |format|
  format.js
end

create.respond_to :html, :js

create.responds_to do |format|
  format.html
  format.js
end

create.wants.html
create.wants.js

Callbacks Accept Symbols

I've always liked that the filters, and callbacks in rails accept the name of a method or a block. Now, all the callbacks in resource_controller accept them both, too!

create.before { @post.author = current_user }

create.before :set_user

private
  def set_user
    @post.author = current_user
  end

Configuration-Style Syntax for model_name, route_name, and object_name

Now, rather than overriding a method to provide alternate model, object or route names, you can set them through a configuration-style interface (though, you can still override the methods if you prefer).

model_name  :post_tag
route_name  :tag
object_name :tag

Note: resource_name is gone as of this release. If you were overriding that in your controllers, you'll have to use a combination of the other helpers to get the same effect.

LOTS More Helper Methods Exposed

If you've had a problem with r_c helper methods not being exposed in your views, it should be solved now. Just about every possible r_c method is now available in your views!

Get It!

1.2.3+ Compatible

svn export http://svn.jamesgolick.com/resource_controller/tags/stable vendor/plugins/resource_controller

Edge/Rails 2.0 Compatible

svn export http://svn.jamesgolick.com/resource_controller/tags/edge_compatible/stable vendor/plugins/resource_controller

If you're looking for older versions, try browsing http://svn.jamesgolick.com/resource_controller/tags.

For more info, see the resource_controller section of my blog.

Come join the discussion on the mailing list.

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Looking forward to hearing from you.

Now that I've gotten a few maintenance releases out the door, I'm starting to feel like r_c's feature set is pretty solid; I think most people's needs should be covered (still a few things left to include, but we're getting there). The next step in improving resource_controller is evolving the API. What better place to hold the discussion than Marc-André's refactormycode.com?

First Refactoring designing

In the comments of the last release post, Luigi Montanez brought up an issue that's been bugging me since I first released the plugin. Currently, some customizations (before/after callbacks, response blocks, etc) are made with a "DSL"-style API. Some customizations (like alternate model names), however, are made by overriding helper methods. It's not that I don't like overriding methods, but I find the API a bit inconsistent in that way.

Currently, providing an alternate model name looks like this...

class PostsController < ResourceController::Base
  private
    def model_name
      'blog_post'
    end
end

It would be really neat, though, if it was possible to set the model_name the same way you set the flash...

class PostsController < ResourceController::Base
  model_name :blog_post
end

Please, come join the discussion at RmC, and put some of your ideas on the table for resource_controller's API.

Since last week, I've had some really great user feedback from the community. From that feedback, four new features made it in to this week's release. Here they are.

Support for Custom Route Names

Osh let me know that r_c didn't really support non-standard resource names. That is, it wasn't possible to have a controller whose name didn't match its model. Now, not only does r_c support non-standard resource names, but it supports every configuration of non-standard resources imaginable.

Osh's example was the simplest, and probably the most common. He has a resource with a name that doesnt't match the model. In that case, all you have to do is override model_name.

class TagsController < ResourceController::Base
  private
    def model_name
      'photo_tag'
    end
end

In that example, the variables, and form_builders available in your views would be named photo_tag(s). If you wanted to change that to match the name of your model, you'd override object_name.

class TagsController < ResourceController::Base
  private
    def model_name
      'photo_tag'
    end
    
    def object_name
      'photo_tag'
    end
end

Your controller might have some non-standard name, too. If it does, just override route_name.

## routes.rb
map.resources :tags, :controller => "photo_tags"

## photo_tags_controller.rb
class PhotoTagsController < ResourceController::Base
  private
    def route_name
      'tag'
    end
end

All of those new helpers default to the value of the resource_name helper, which is derived from the name of the controller.

New Urligence Syntax

In order to support non-standard routes in resource_controller, Urligence has gained some new syntax. smart_url infers the name of a resource from an object's class name, so a non-standard route name was impossible. Now, if you provide a 2-element array parameter to smart_url, the first element (a symbol) is used as the resource name, and the second element is the object that is passed to the url helper. It looks like this...

smart_url([:tag, @photo_tag])

All of the old syntax is still, of course, valid, and can be mixed and matched with the new syntax.

hash_for, path, and url

On the topic of Urligence, Hsiu-Fan raised the issue that smart_url would only return paths. Not really an accurate method name, and not convenient if you want a URL, or a hash. Hsiu-Fan was also nice enough to send in a patch, which I refactored a bit, and now we have four methods.

smart_url
smart_path
hash_for_smart_url
hash_for_smart_path

Important: The smart_url method now outputs URLs, not paths. If you are depending on paths coming out of smart_url anywhere in your code, or tests, this may be a code breaking change.

r_c has also gained helpers for all of these methods...

# object
[new_|edit_]object_url
[new_|edit_]object_path
hash_for_[new_|edit_]object_url
hash_for_[new_|edit_]object_path

# collection
collection_url
collection_path
hash_for_collection_url
hash_for_collection_path

New Instantiation Syntax

Another thing Osh brought up with me, during our back and forth, was his concern with r_c's inheritance syntax. Since there isn't any particular reason for that syntax other than the fact that I like it, I have added an alternative. Just say resource_controller, and you'll get the exact same effect as inheriting from ResourceController::Base.

class PhotosController < ApplicationController
  resource_controller
end

Just make sure that you call the resource_controller method before you use any other r_c features.

Get It!

1.2.3+ Compatible

svn export http://svn.jamesgolick.com/resource_controller/tags/stable vendor/plugins/resource_controller

Edge/Rails 2.0 Compatible

svn export http://svn.jamesgolick.com/resource_controller/tags/edge_compatible/stable vendor/plugins/resource_controller

If you're looking for older versions, try browsing http://svn.jamesgolick.com/resource_controller/tags.

For more info, see the resource_controller section of my blog.

Come join the discussion on the mailing list.