I'm trying to figure out how attachments are supposed to work with MIME type-based responses. What makes attachments special is that in many cases they are allowed to be arbitrary files. It would be too restrictive to require that all possible types are registered (Mime::Type.register).
Let's say for GET requests on an attachment resource I want to return metadata if the requested format is XML or JSON. Otherwise I want to return the attachment itself.
class AttachmentsController < ApplicationController respond_to :xml, :json respond_to :all, :only => :show
def show @attachment = ... respond_with(@attachment) do format.any { send_file @attachment.path } end end end
This doesn't work, because #any really means any, including :xml and :json. This doesn't work as intended, either
respond_with(@attachment) do format.xml format.json format.any { send_file @attachment.path } end
It has to be
respond_with(@attachment) do format.xml {} format.json {} format.any { send_file @attachment.path } end
But that is not the kind of code I'd like to write. I'd rather write
respond_with(@attachment) do format.default { send_file @attachment.path } end
With the intended meaning that the default block is only used if respond_to :all is active for the action and there is no more specific explicit or implicit response for the format.
Did I miss how to do this with the existing responder code? Are there serious reasons why it should not be done anyway?
Michael
