Directory creation from Ruby

rubyonrails-talk
1

Hey everyone...trying to get a handle on Ruby syntax but having a bit of an issue.

I am trying to create a form and then call a linux system call that will create a directory using the value of the variable within the fieldset. Here is a short example:

<fieldset> <ol> <li> <%= f.label :name %> <%= f.text_field :name, :class => 'text' %> </li> <li> <%= f.label :credit_balance %> <%= f.text_field :credit_balance, :class => 'text' %> </li> </ol> </fieldset> <fieldset class="submit"> <%= f.submit 'Submit', :class => 'submit' %> </fieldset> <% system("mkdir /var/www/html/WHAT DO I PUT HERE") %>

Basically, I just need to know the syntax of the system line so that the directory that will be created will be the value of the :name variable within the fieldset but cannot figure out the syntax. In other words, if, on the form someone puts in WHATEVER for the :name field and 10 for the :credit_balance, I want to create a directory called /var/www/html/WHATEVER

Easy for me in PHP, but I have not been able to find a way to do it in Ruby. I am sure that it is easy for one of you.

If someone would be nice enough to get me started in the right direction, I would really appreciate it.

Thank so much!

2

You need to put that system call in the controller action which receives this form submission!

Where then you could do something like this :

system(‘mkdir var/www/html/’ + params[:model][:name]);

Also it is not advisable to hard code the entire path.

Thanks & Regards, Dhruva Sagar.

3

Hey everyone...trying to get a handle on Ruby syntax but having a bit of an issue.

I am trying to create a form and then call a linux system call that will create a directory using the value of the variable within the fieldset. Here is a short example:

<fieldset> <ol> <li> <%= f.label :name %> <%= f.text_field :name, :class => 'text' %> </li> <li> <%= f.label :credit_balance %> <%= f.text_field :credit_balance, :class => 'text' %> </li> </ol> </fieldset> <fieldset class="submit"> <%= f.submit 'Submit', :class => 'submit' %> </fieldset> <% system("mkdir /var/www/html/WHAT DO I PUT HERE") %>

Don't use system. Look into the FileUtils.mkdir method. Less chance for someone typing in "fake; rm -rf /" for the 'name' field...

Basically, I just need to know the syntax of the system line so that the directory that will be created will be the value of the :name variable within the fieldset but cannot figure out the syntax. In other words, if, on the form someone puts in WHATEVER for the :name field and 10 for the :credit_balance, I want to create a directory called /var/www/html/WHATEVER

This form will get submitted to a controller's action method. In that method you'd do something like this:

name = params[:name] # triple check that name is valid for a directory name, etc. FileUtils.mkdir("/var/www/html/#{name}")

4

I just want to echo Philip's comment for emphasis. Do NOT use system() for this, as it has serious security implications.

Best, Sebastian

5

Thank you to all who answered this question. I really appreciate and value your input.

I did, in fact, end up doing this in the application controller which handles the submission and got it working.

I was worried about the system call as well so thanks for stating the risks.

If anyone needs help in the VoIP world, let me know! I got that down!

Cheers!

Bill