Calling Controller methods from application controllers

rubyonrails-talk
1

Is there a way/workaround to call a controller method from application controller?

If you're asking that question, chances are you're doing something wrong

That said if you have

ApplicationController < ActionController::Base    def another_method      some_method    end end

then you it will work as long as your controller has a method called
some_method

Fred

2

Frederick Cheung wrote:

Is there a way/workaround to call a controller method from application controller?

If you're asking that question, chances are you're doing something wrong

That said if you have

ApplicationController < ActionController::Base    def another_method      some_method    end end

then you it will work as long as your controller has a method called some_method

Fred

Thanks for the quick reply Fred. But my issue is that some_method is in SomeController, not in application controller. And i need to call specific functions in specific controllers. like SomeOneController.new, SomeTwoController.new, SomeOneController.some_method,...

3

Frederick Cheung wrote:

Is there a way/workaround to call a controller method from
application controller?

If you're asking that question, chances are you're doing something
wrong

That said if you have

ApplicationController < ActionController::Base   def another_method     some_method   end end

then you it will work as long as your controller has a method called some_method

Fred

Thanks for the quick reply Fred. But my issue is that some_method is
in SomeController, not in application controller. And i need to call specific functions in specific controllers. like
SomeOneController.new, SomeTwoController.new, SomeOneController.some_method,...

Then you're handling this the wrong way. The common code should be in
a module included in all the relevant controllers or pushed down into
the model.

Fred

4

Frederick Cheung wrote:

That said if you have Fred

Thanks for the quick reply Fred. But my issue is that some_method is
in SomeController, not in application controller. And i need to call specific functions in specific controllers. like
SomeOneController.new, SomeTwoController.new, SomeOneController.some_method,...

Then you're handling this the wrong way. The common code should be in a module included in all the relevant controllers or pushed down into the model.

Fred

Common code is the code used for calling the some_method, its in the ApplicationController. What i need is to call specific methods in specific controllers.

This is the scenario to explain.

1. User logs in (there are ajax based dashboard widgets that can be updated by user)

2. If user clicks on a widget after the session timed out, the ajax based login window will pop up (similar to light box) for user verification. There is a before_filter for checking timeout and it render the login window.

3. After verifying the user, login window will be closed

4. Ajax dashboard widget will be updated

However this 4th step is not happening if ajax login window is shown and user is verified.

My idea is to capture and save the original request, because the filter chain get halted at the point of before_filter render the login window (4th step is not happening as the login window closes). My plan is to save the request info and then call the specific method in specific controller based on that saved original request info. There would be many widgets that use the ajax login window.. so I need to keep this DRY..

Any suggestion/help welcome..!

5

Hi --

Frederick Cheung wrote:

Is there a way/workaround to call a controller method from application controller?

If you're asking that question, chances are you're doing something wrong

That said if you have

ApplicationController < ActionController::Base    def another_method      some_method    end end

then you it will work as long as your controller has a method called some_method

Fred

Thanks for the quick reply Fred. But my issue is that some_method is in SomeController, not in application controller. And i need to call specific functions in specific controllers. like SomeOneController.new, SomeTwoController.new, SomeOneController.some_method,...

See Fred's answer, to which I'll add: I think there's some confusion about how method-calling works. If you really mean SOC.some_method, then you're talking about a class method:

   class SomeOneController      def self.some_method        # etc.

rather than an instance method. If you define an instance method called some_method in SomeOneController, then it's not a matter of calling it from other controllers; it's a matter of whether or not you have an object in scope that can execute that method. (Actually that's always the question. With class methods, the necessary object happens to be a class object.)

David

6

David A. Black wrote:

Hi -- See Fred's answer, to which I'll add: I think there's some confusion about how method-calling works. If you really mean SOC.some_method, then you're talking about a class method:

   class SomeOneController      def self.some_method        # etc.

rather than an instance method. If you define an instance method called some_method in SomeOneController, then it's not a matter of calling it from other controllers; it's a matter of whether or not you have an object in scope that can execute that method. (Actually that's always the question. With class methods, the necessary object happens to be a class object.)

David

--

David, I'm a noob to ruby, sorry if i'm not asking the correct question. The method is not a class method. The method would be a normal method we find in any controller new, index, create.. etc. is it possible for me to access that method from ApplicationController.

I just posted SomeController.some_method they way i saw it. I just need to find a workaround similar to that. My 3rd post explains what i need to use this functionality for..

7

Brian Dainton wrote:

2 things for you.

1.) The guys above give good advice. However, to solve your exact problem, just add a blank definition of some_method in ApplicationController, like so:

ApplicationController < ActionController::Base

   def some_method    end

   # you already had this another_method in here, so I'm leaving it in    def another_method      some_method    end end

When you call some_method from another_method, it will find your inherited some_method implementation in SomeController and use it.

2.) When communicating class methods versus instance methods, in Ruby, you want to indicate a class method like so:

    ClassName.some_class_method

and an instance method like this:

    ClassName#some_instance_method

Just FYI.

Best, - BD http://www.buddingrubyist.com http://www.fiveruns.com

On Apr 24, 5:50�am, Buddhi De silva <rails-mailing-l...@andreas-s.net>

Thanka Brian, highly appreciate your advice... I think latter one could do what i need to do.. Fred and David thanks heaps for your advice as well..

Hope this will work.. i'll keep posted on progress - buddhi

8

Brian Dainton wrote:

2.) When communicating class methods versus instance methods, in Ruby, you want to indicate a class method like so:

    ClassName.some_class_method

and an instance method like this:

    ClassName#some_instance_method

Just FYI.

Best, - BD http://www.buddingrubyist.com http://www.fiveruns.com

On Apr 24, 5:50�am, Buddhi De silva <rails-mailing-l...@andreas-s.net>

Hi Brian,

the "#" in ClassName#some_instance_method is treated as a comment

Any ideas?

9

You can't actually write:

ClassName#some_instance_method

in your code. If you want to use an instance method, you need to call it on an instance of the class, not the class itself. Consider a simple example.

class SomeClass   def self.some_class_method

  end

  def some_instance_method

  end end

If I want to call the class method then I would type:

SomeClass.some_class_method

but to use an *instance* method, you need to call the method on an instance of the class.

For example you might do

s = SomeClass.new s.some_instance_method

I realize this doesn't translate very well to controllers although I have to be honest the requirement tells me that you are going about it the wrong way. You should *never* have to invoke methods from multiple other controllers actions from within the application controller at once.

10

I think the easier way is going to be a simple redirection after step 3 is completed. Save the params hash on the session and redirect the user to the Controller#action he requested when the session was timed out. Then you could setup another before_filter that looks for a params hash on the session, and if found, loads that data onto the current params hash. This will incur a regular request instead of Ajax, but I think it is the best way to do it.

11

Buddhi,

The '#' is for when you are trying *communicate* an instance method. Not when coding it. You'll see it all the time in Ruby documentation.

Again, to answer your original question, if you still have your code in the same state as when you created this post, just add a blank some_method instance method to your ApplicationController.

    def some_method     end

That's it.

- BD http://www.buddingrubyist.com http://www.fiveruns.com

12

I'm still stuck with the same issue and it seems I've to accept what rails/ruby has set as rules/limitations.. hoping those are there for our own good.. :slight_smile:

Q1. However I have another question if all can kindly share the way they would solve the issue..

Scenario:

1. User logs in (there are ajax based dashboard widgets that can be updated by user)

2. If user clicks on a widget after the session timed out, the ajax based login window will pop up (similar to light box) for user verification. There is a before_filter for checking timeout and it render the login window.

3. After verifying the user, login window will be closed

4. Ajax dashboard widget will be updated

However this 4th step is not happening if ajax login window is shown and user is verified.. because the filter chain get halted at the point of before_filter render the login window (4th step is not happening as the login window closes)