Help with understanding RESTful routes

rubyonrails-talk
1

Hi,

I'm planning a new application and after all I've read a RESTful rails app seems to be perfect for the job. But since a few days I'm struggling with routing... here's my simple test. If would be great if someone could enlighten me...

Three models: Person <----> Employment <----> Company

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base   has_many :employments   has_many :companies, :through => :employments end

class Employment < ActiveRecord::Base   belongs_to :company   belongs_to :person end

class Company < ActiveRecord::Base   has_many :employments   has_many :people, :through => :employments end

I've created the models and generated all three controllers with the scaffold_resource generator.

1. I would like the following URLs to work correct:

http://localhost:3000/companies http://localhost:3000/companies/2 http://localhost:3000/people

This is quite simple. I just added two routes: map.resources :companies map.resources :people

2. Now I would like the following to work: http://localhost:3000/companies/1/people

This should show me a list with all people assigned (via Employment) to company with ID=1.

This route seem's like a starting point: map.resources :companies do |company|   company.resources :people end

Now I think I must enhance the CompaniesController. Changing my controller to something like this...

def index   @companies = Person.find(params[:person_id]).companies end

... seems to work, but of course http://localhost:3000/companies stopped working.

Do I really have to change my index method again to decide between "person_id is set, look for Person.find(:person_id).companies" and "no person_id, so do a Company.find(:all)"?

What happens when my application is growing and there are many models connected with my Person-model? Isn't there some of this rails-magic-glue that's doing the dirty work?

I also thought that calling something like http://localhost/companies/42/people/new would automagically create the association between the Company with ID 42 and the newly entered Person...?

Regards, Timo

2

Hi,

looking at your models I’d say you need 2 more resources: employees and employers.

NOTE: I am not saying you need 2 more models. I’m saying 2 more resources.

See below:

Hi,

I’m planning a new application and after all I’ve read a RESTful rails app

seems to be perfect for the job. But since a few days I’m struggling with

routing… here’s my simple test. If would be great if someone could

enlighten me…

Three models: Person <----> Employment <----> Company

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base

has_many :employments

has_many :companies, :through => :employments

end

class Employment < ActiveRecord::Base

belongs_to :company

belongs_to :person

end

class Company < ActiveRecord::Base

has_many :employments

has_many :people, :through => :employments

end

I’ve created the models and generated all three controllers with the

scaffold_resource generator.

  1. I would like the following URLs to work correct:

http://localhost:3000/companies

http://localhost:3000/companies/2

http://localhost:3000/people

This is quite simple. I just added two routes:

map.resources :companies

map.resources :people

  1. Now I would like the following to work:

http://localhost:3000/companies/1/people

This should show me a list with all people assigned (via Employment) to

company with ID=1.

This route seem’s like a starting point:

map.resources :companies do |company|

company.resources :people

end

map.resources :companies do |company|

company.resources :employees

end

map.resources :people do |person|

person.resources :employers

end

employees_controller and employers_controller can then deal with the logic of your Employment model according to their specific needs without resorting to torturous logic like “I’m the companies controller but if I have a person_id them I’m displaying a specific person’s company”. And, of course, you can use shared partials to keep your views dry.

HTH,

Trevor

3

Timo,

Maybe this will get your mind focused toward the correct solution:

http://localhost:3000/employments/new

Take a look at the following set of slides. Page down until you see a bright orange slide labeled "Constraints are liberating." Then read though the next few slides. http://www.loudthinking.com/lt-files/worldofresources.pdf

4

Hi,

looking at your models I'd say you need 2 more resources: employees and employers.

Well, after reading the rest of your post, this seems damn logical. Thanks for the enlightment. :slight_smile:

map.resources :companies do |company|    company.resources :employees end

map.resources :people do |person|    person.resources :employers end

employees_controller and employers_controller can then deal with the logic of your Employment model according to their specific needs without resorting to torturous logic like "I'm the companies controller but if I have a person_id them I'm displaying a specific person's company". And, of course, you can use shared partials to keep your views dry.

I think this is the way to go, although I hoped for a little bit more magic...

Regards, Timo