thr3ads.net - Rails core - Can we move the "helpers" folder to "views/helpers"? [Dec 2012]

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Jeff Cohen

2012-Dec-18 16:38 UTC

Can we move the "helpers" folder to "views/helpers"?

Hi everyone,

I know this would break a long-standing tradition, but I really think the 
"app/helpers" folder should really by "app/views/helpers".

I think it helps communicate that any methods in there are intended 
primarily for the views to use.

I''m not sure how big a job it would be to make this change, but
I''m ready
to investigate if the core team agrees that this would be something nice 
for Rails 4.

Thanks!
Jeff



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Nicolás Sanguinetti

2012-Dec-18 16:45 UTC

head link

Re: Can we move the "helpers" folder to "views/helpers"?

If, for whatever reason, it makes sense to have a HelpersController in your
app, now you have a name clash and have to work around it.

IMHO there''s nothing wrong with app/helpers per se. If you think the
problem is a lack of documentation, that would be the place to improve :)

Cheers,
-foca


On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 2:38 PM, Jeff Cohen <cohen.jeff@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I know this would break a long-standing tradition, but I really think the
> "app/helpers" folder should really by
"app/views/helpers".
>
> I think it helps communicate that any methods in there are intended
> primarily for the views to use.
>
> I''m not sure how big a job it would be to make this change, but
I''m ready
> to investigate if the core team agrees that this would be something nice
> for Rails 4.
>
> Thanks!
> Jeff
>
>
>
>  --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "Ruby on Rails: Core" group.
> To view this discussion on the web visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rubyonrails-core/-/4_e7koIYi3UJ.
> To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> rubyonrails-core+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit this group at
> http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core?hl=en.
>
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Gary Weaver

2012-Dec-18 17:43 UTC

head link

Re: Can we move the "helpers" folder to "views/helpers"?

Historically, helpers can be and have been included in controllers by some, 
as they are modules. As you said, "any methods in there are intended 
*primarily* for the views"- primarily being the operative word. I would 
think moving them would hurt more than it would help. In addition, right 
now autoloading works under the premise that everything under the 
autoloaded directory has the same fully-qualified path to the constant as 
the relative path under one of the autoload directories. So, you''d then
want to add complexity to that to say when autoloading, ensure that if 
there is another autoloaded directory under that directory, then ignore 
that directory when autoloading the higher level autoloaded directory. That 
would get too messy. The alternative would mean adding a Helpers module for 
each helper which would be cumbersome and break things.

On Tuesday, December 18, 2012 11:38:34 AM UTC-5, Jeff Cohen
wrote:>
> Hi everyone,
>
> I know this would break a long-standing tradition, but I really think the 
> "app/helpers" folder should really by
"app/views/helpers".
>
> I think it helps communicate that any methods in there are intended 
> primarily for the views to use.
>
> I''m not sure how big a job it would be to make this change, but
I''m ready
> to investigate if the core team agrees that this would be something nice 
> for Rails 4.
>
> Thanks!
> Jeff
>
>
>
>
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Gary Weaver

2012-Dec-19 14:44 UTC

head link

Re: Can we move the "helpers" folder to "views/helpers"?

> So, you''d then want to add complexity to that to say when
autoloading,ensure that if there is another autoloaded directory under that directory, 
then ignore that directory when autoloading the higher level autoloaded 
directory.

Sorry, wasn''t thinking. Since the constants would be loaded in a prior 
autoload path, it wouldn''t attempt to load them again. I''ll
try to be
helpful:

In config/application.rb, you''d just:

config.autoload_paths += %W(#{config.root}/app/views/helpers)

if you want to remove the old autoload dir then also add:

config.eager_load_paths -= %W(#{config.root}/app/helpers)

then at command-line:

mkdir app/views/helpers
mv app/helpers/* app/views/helpers/
rmdir app/helpers

then:

rails c

and autoload_paths is the first of the autoload paths evaluated you can see 
from evaluating:

MyRailsApp::Application._all_autoload_paths

But, Rails generators and any other gems that create helpers may expect the 
app/helpers path to exist, be writable, and/or be autoloaded.

So, you could symlink app/helpers to app/views/helpers or remove 
app/helpers and then do pull requests for gems/etc. as they break.

You could also suggest making each of the autoload paths configurable in 
Rails, but, like I said, you''d have compatibility issues with gems that
mod
or read files in autoloaded dirs like annotate, modelist, etc. so probably 
a no-go.

On Tuesday, December 18, 2012 12:43:03 PM UTC-5, Gary Weaver
wrote:>
> Historically, helpers can be and have been included in controllers by 
> some, as they are modules. As you said, "any methods in there are
intended
> *primarily* for the views"- primarily being the operative word. I
would
> think moving them would hurt more than it would help. In addition, right 
> now autoloading works under the premise that everything under the 
> autoloaded directory has the same fully-qualified path to the constant as 
> the relative path under one of the autoload directories. So, you''d
then
> want to add complexity to that to say when autoloading, ensure that if 
> there is another autoloaded directory under that directory, then ignore 
> that directory when autoloading the higher level autoloaded directory. That
> would get too messy. The alternative would mean adding a Helpers module for
> each helper which would be cumbersome and break things.
>
> On Tuesday, December 18, 2012 11:38:34 AM UTC-5, Jeff Cohen wrote:
>>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I know this would break a long-standing tradition, but I really think
the
>> "app/helpers" folder should really by
"app/views/helpers".
>>
>> I think it helps communicate that any methods in there are intended 
>> primarily for the views to use.
>>
>> I''m not sure how big a job it would be to make this change,
but I''m ready
>> to investigate if the core team agrees that this would be something
nice
>> for Rails 4.
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Jeff
>>
>>
>>
>>
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Gary Weaver

2012-Dec-19 14:58 UTC

head link

Re: Can we move the "helpers" folder to "views/helpers"?

Some more reasons that you would not want to remove app/helpers from load 
path. In Rails 3.2.9, here are the hardcoded usages of that path, so even 
though Rails console loads, it could break elsewhere in addition to just 
the generators:

grep -r "app/helpers" * | grep -v
"_test.rb\|_tests.rb\|README\|USAGE"

actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal/helpers.rb:      # Extract helper 
names from files in <tt>app/helpers/**/*_helper.rb</tt>
railties/guides/source/command_line.textile:        Helper:     
app/helpers/credit_card_helper.rb
railties/guides/source/command_line.textile:        Helper:     
app/helpers/admin/credit_card_helper.rb
railties/guides/source/command_line.textile:     create    
app/helpers/greetings_helper.rb
railties/guides/source/command_line.textile:    exists  app/helpers/
railties/guides/source/command_line.textile:    create  
app/helpers/high_scores_helper.rb
railties/guides/source/command_line.textile:      create  app/helpers
railties/guides/source/command_line.textile:      create  
app/helpers/application_helper.rb
railties/guides/source/configuring.textile:*+prepend_helpers_path+* Adds 
the directory +app/helpers+ from the application, railties and engines to 
the lookup path for helpers for the application.
railties/guides/source/engines.textile:create      
app/helpers/blorgh/posts_helper.rb
railties/guides/source/engines.textile:create    
app/helpers/blorgh/comments_helper.rb
railties/guides/source/generators.textile:      create      
app/helpers/users_helper.rb
railties/guides/source/generators.textile:    create_file 
"app/helpers/#{file_name}_helper.rb", <<-FILE
railties/guides/source/generators.textile:And it will generate the 
following helper file in +app/helpers+:
railties/guides/source/generators.textile:      create      
app/helpers/posts_helper.rb
railties/guides/source/generators.textile:    create_file 
"app/helpers/#{file_name}_helper.rb", <<-FILE
railties/guides/source/generators.textile:      create      
app/helpers/comments_helper.rb
railties/guides/source/getting_started.textile:|app/helpers/posts_helper.rb
|Helper functions to be used from the post views|
railties/guides/source/getting_started.textile:| 
app/helpers/comments_helper.rb              | A view helper 
file                       |
railties/guides/source/getting_started.textile:View Helpers live in 
<tt>app/helpers</tt> and provide small snippets of reusable
railties/guides/source/getting_started.textile:Open up 
<tt>app/helpers/posts_helper.rb</tt> and add the following:
railties/lib/rails/engine/configuration.rb:          paths.add 
"app/helpers",         :eager_load => true
railties/lib/rails/engine.rb:  #     paths["app/helpers"]         #
=>
["app/helpers"]
railties/lib/rails/engine.rb:      paths["app/helpers"].existent
railties/lib/rails/engine.rb:        
app.config.helpers_paths.unshift(*paths["app/helpers"].existent)
railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/helper/helper_generator.rb:        
template ''helper.rb'',
File.join(''app/helpers'', class_path,
"#{file_name}_helper.rb")
railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/plugin_new/plugin_new_generator.rb:        
empty_directory_with_gitkeep "app/helpers"
railties/lib/rails/tasks/statistics.rake:  %w(Helpers            
app/helpers),

On Wednesday, December 19, 2012 9:44:02 AM UTC-5, Gary Weaver
wrote:>
> > So, you''d then want to add complexity to that to say when
autoloading,
> ensure that if there is another autoloaded directory under that directory, 
> then ignore that directory when autoloading the higher level autoloaded 
> directory.
>
> Sorry, wasn''t thinking. Since the constants would be loaded in a
prior
> autoload path, it wouldn''t attempt to load them again.
I''ll try to be
> helpful:
>
> In config/application.rb, you''d just:
>
> config.autoload_paths += %W(#{config.root}/app/views/helpers)
>
> if you want to remove the old autoload dir then also add:
>
> config.eager_load_paths -= %W(#{config.root}/app/helpers)
>
> then at command-line:
>
> mkdir app/views/helpers
> mv app/helpers/* app/views/helpers/
> rmdir app/helpers
>
> then:
>
> rails c
>
> and autoload_paths is the first of the autoload paths evaluated you can 
> see from evaluating:
>
> MyRailsApp::Application._all_autoload_paths
>
> But, Rails generators and any other gems that create helpers may expect 
> the app/helpers path to exist, be writable, and/or be autoloaded.
>
> So, you could symlink app/helpers to app/views/helpers or remove 
> app/helpers and then do pull requests for gems/etc. as they break.
>
> You could also suggest making each of the autoload paths configurable in 
> Rails, but, like I said, you''d have compatibility issues with gems
that mod
> or read files in autoloaded dirs like annotate, modelist, etc. so probably 
> a no-go.
>
> On Tuesday, December 18, 2012 12:43:03 PM UTC-5, Gary Weaver wrote:
>>
>> Historically, helpers can be and have been included in controllers by 
>> some, as they are modules. As you said, "any methods in there are
intended
>> *primarily* for the views"- primarily being the operative word. I
would
>> think moving them would hurt more than it would help. In addition,
right
>> now autoloading works under the premise that everything under the 
>> autoloaded directory has the same fully-qualified path to the constant
as
>> the relative path under one of the autoload directories. So,
you''d then
>> want to add complexity to that to say when autoloading, ensure that if 
>> there is another autoloaded directory under that directory, then ignore
>> that directory when autoloading the higher level autoloaded directory.
That
>> would get too messy. The alternative would mean adding a Helpers module
for
>> each helper which would be cumbersome and break things.
>>
>> On Tuesday, December 18, 2012 11:38:34 AM UTC-5, Jeff Cohen wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi everyone,
>>>
>>> I know this would break a long-standing tradition, but I really
think
>>> the "app/helpers" folder should really by
"app/views/helpers".
>>>
>>> I think it helps communicate that any methods in there are intended
>>> primarily for the views to use.
>>>
>>> I''m not sure how big a job it would be to make this
change, but I''m
>>> ready to investigate if the core team agrees that this would be
something
>>> nice for Rails 4.
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>> Jeff
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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Rails core - Dec 2012 - Can we move the "helpers" folder to "views/helpers"?

Can we move the "helpers" folder to "views/helpers"?

Re: Can we move the "helpers" folder to "views/helpers"?

Re: Can we move the "helpers" folder to "views/helpers"?

Re: Can we move the "helpers" folder to "views/helpers"?

Re: Can we move the "helpers" folder to "views/helpers"?