req: Method executed in link_to

rubyonrails-talk
1

Group,

This might very well be Rails 102 stuff, but it's doing my little head in.

Simple request - I want to create a link within my View to fire off a system call to run an external program.

In this example it's pretty easy - run a Windows system command that simply starts something (it's not what I'm trying to achieve but it's an easy debug method):

  def method_to_run     system('start dir > test.txt')   end

How the *heck* do I link to this method within my View?

A simple <%= link_to feature, :method => method_to_run %> results in the following error:

<pre> undefined local variable or method `method_to_run' for #<#<Class: 0x46c3248>:0x46c1808> </pre>

Jason

2

Reference on link_to here:

http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionView/Helpers/UrlHelper.html#method-i-link_to

:method is used for specifying HTTP method such as POST, GET, etc.

The parameter that you are passing (method_to_run) is not a valid value for :method.

I suggest you define a controller and invoke one of its methods through the link.

Example:

link_to “Feature”, :controller => “mycontroller”, :action => “method_to_run”

3

Of course, I should have known that :method was for the HTTP method.

Thanks.

I guess i just need to write the correct routes now.