I'm asking for thoughts on how to trap valid but not active routes in route.rb instead of per controller ie I'm trying to trap the route at the dispatcher level before it dispatches the request to the specific controller/action method.
Here is the scenario: A user types in the route in the browser: eg. http://localhost:3000/events/15 This is a show action on controller events
The controllers are hierarchal as diagramed but the user has not selected an exhibit: user > --> exhibits > --> events
Thus the event is not active and can be viewed as nil.
My current solution is to use a before_filter per controller. This is specific to the controller context but duplicates the code per controller. Part of the problem is the the helper functions of the controllers are not open to the route.rb. though the instance methods/ variables do get exposed when the dispatcher runs the proc of determined controller/action. So how would u be able to get at each controller's instance methods and implement the DRY code at the dispatcher level before it dispatches to the found controller/action.
Ideas welcomed. Thk u Dave
