Rails - Jul 2005 - Proper Controllers

Hi everyone
I''ve read the book "Agile Web Development using Ruby on
Rails" and was
impressed.  One thing the book didn''t teach me was when it is proper
to use a new controller, or add actions to an existing controller.  I
have a website: returnofsimple.com that I want to convert to
RoR.  I want the pages (Shows, News, Music) etc. to be read only to
the public, but if an Administrator logs in, I want to re-use the same
basic pages, but add a few edit/delete links here and there.  What is
a good way to set up Controllers and Actions to do this?  It differs
from the depot application in the book because users and
administrators are using the same pages, but in different ways.  The
book separated controllers by type of user!

Thanks,
Dave Roberts

On 14/07/2005, at 5:51 AM, Dave Roberts wrote:
> Hi everyone
> I''ve read the book "Agile Web Development using Ruby on
Rails" and was
> impressed.  One thing the book didn''t teach me was when it is
proper
> to use a new controller, or add actions to an existing controller.  I
> have a website: returnofsimple.com that I want to convert to
> RoR.  I want the pages (Shows, News, Music) etc. to be read only to
> the public, but if an Administrator logs in, I want to re-use the same
> basic pages, but add a few edit/delete links here and there.  What is
> a good way to set up Controllers and Actions to do this?
So it''s the same controller for each thing (eg news_controller is used 
by both the public and admin users for news items), and you scatter 
your views with conditionals for things that only admin users can see:

<% if @current_user.admin? %>
   <%= link_to "new", :action=>"new"
<% end %>

Now, for actions that only admin users should have access to (like 
edit, delete, new, etc), you create a before_filter (eg 
"require_admin_user") and make sure that all protected actions use
this
before_filter, eg:

before_filter :require_admin_user, :only => [ :edit, :delete, :new ]

And require_admin_user() would check @current_user.admin? and redirect 
to a login screen, error message, or whatever you like to protect those 
actions from public users.

---
Justin French
justin.french-zULN+VWqVOIpAS55Wn97og@public.gmane.org
justin-xKtDo/uLHBtl57MIdRCFDg@public.gmane.org