where to define global functions and classes?

rubyonrails-talk
1

Where or how should I define functions and classes to be globally available to my entire Rails application? When I use script/generate to make a new model, it is available to to entire app... what if I want to make a simple class or global func to be available to the entire app? Is there a specific Rails way to do it?

Thanks.

2

(answer from beginner)

But if you ask me you should put it in the /app/application.rb to make it available to all.

3

what if I want to make a simple class or global func to be available to the entire app? Is there a specific Rails way to do it?

It depends on where you need to use this code.

If it's a view method, helpers/application_helper.rb is the place.

If you have a class that is used by other code then you need to put that into lib/. For example, if you had a class that encrypts data, you might create a class called 'Encryptor' and put it in lib/encryptor.rb. If you're using <Rails 1.2, then you need to add an include to config/environment.rb to pull that class in. As of Rails 1.2, this is done for you when the class is called.

If you have a method that is used by all controllers, then you *can* put it in application_controller.rb, but you should think about whether it belongs there or should really be in a helper or separate utility class.

Hope that helps,

Steve

4

Steve, Thanks for the reply, that answered my question as well as some others. Let me see if I got it straight though....

* Putting methods in module ApplicationHelper found in helpers/application_helper.rb will only be available to views (but not controllers or models)? * files created in /lib will automatically be included in Rails 1.2 and must be manually included in config/environment.rb in Rails < 1.2? * Putting methods in class ApplicationController found in controllers/application.rb will be available to all controllers (but not views or models)?

Does it sound like I got it?

Thanks, -- C

Steve Bartholomew wrote: