Rails - Dec 2005 - Extending ApplicationController with actions from plugin

Hi,

I am trying to create a plugin to implement Dojo (instead of prototype 
enc). For this to work I need to define a action in the 
ApplicationController from the plugin (I don''t want to mess with the 
applicationController file). And I want to add a filter. So is there a 
way to extend it?

we I try to add a method to module ActionController rails can''t find
the
action. When I add a method to class ActionController::Base, rails 
requires a template (but I want to render a inline string without 
template).

I don''t understand what I am doing wrong here....

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Hi !

2005/12/6, abou ihsaan <abouihsaan@advany.com>:
> I am trying to create a plugin to implement Dojo (instead of prototype
> enc). For this to work I need to define a action in the
> ApplicationController from the plugin (I don't want to mess with the
> applicationController file). And I want to add a filter. So is there a
> way to extend it?
Take a look at the Flash Helper Plugin
https://opensvn.csie.org/traccgi/flash_helper_plugin/trac.cgi/

ApplicationController is extended in
https://opensvn.csie.org/traccgi/flash_helper_plugin/trac.cgi/file/trunk/init.rb

Hope that helps !
--
François Beausoleil
http://blog.teksol.info/

_______________________________________________
Rails mailing list
Rails-1W37MKcQCpIf0INCOvqR/iCwEArCW2h5@public.gmane.org
http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails

I can only add methods to the application controller, can''t access them
from the browser as actions...

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

abouihsaan wrote:
> I can only add methods to the application controller, can''t access
them
> from the browser as actions...
There must be a variable that "contains" the available actions...

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

abouihsaan wrote:
> I can only add methods to the application controller, can''t access
them
> from the browser as actions...
@action_methods in base contains the accessable methods, these are only 
the methods of Base class and the subclasses. But I think its gathered 
before the plugins are loaded somehow... maybe a dev can shed some light 
on this...

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

abou ihsaan wrote:
>abouihsaan wrote:
>  
>
>>I can only add methods to the application controller, can''t
access them
>>from the browser as actions...
>>    
>>
>
>@action_methods in base contains the accessable methods, these are only 
>the methods of Base class and the subclasses. But I think its gathered 
>before the plugins are loaded somehow... maybe a dev can shed some light 
>on this...
>
>  
>
@action_methods is a class instance variable and gets assigned during processing
the first request for any given controller class. By that time, your plugin
should have been loaded. I suspect there''s a bug in your code.

-- stefan

http://railsexpress.de/blog

skaes wrote:
> abou ihsaan wrote:
> 
>>before the plugins are loaded somehow... maybe a dev can shed some light
>>on this...
>>
>>  
>>
> 
> @action_methods is a class instance variable and gets assigned during 
> processing the first request for any given controller class. By that 
> time, your plugin should have been loaded. I suspect there''s a bug
in
> your code.
> 
> -- stefan
> 
> http://railsexpress.de/blog
Well my init.rb contains

require_dependency ''dojotoolkit''

ActionController::Base.send(:include, 
DojoToolkit::DojoHelperPlugin::ApplicationController)

and the dojotoolkit/dojotoolkit.rb file contains

module DojoToolkit #:nodoc
  module DojoHelperPlugin #:nodoc
    module ApplicationController
	def test
		render( :inline => ''test'' )
	end
    end
  end
end

I try to call any controller with the action test like /catalog/test/ 
but that doesn''t work.

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

abou ihsaan wrote:
>skaes wrote:
>  
>
>>abou ihsaan wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>before the plugins are loaded somehow... maybe a dev can shed some
light
>>>on this...
>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>@action_methods is a class instance variable and gets assigned during 
>>processing the first request for any given controller class. By that 
>>time, your plugin should have been loaded. I suspect there''s a
bug in
>>your code.
>>
>>-- stefan
>>
>>http://railsexpress.de/blog
>>    
>>
>
>Well my init.rb contains
>
>require_dependency ''dojotoolkit''
>
>ActionController::Base.send(:include, 
>DojoToolkit::DojoHelperPlugin::ApplicationController)
>
>and the dojotoolkit/dojotoolkit.rb file contains
>
>module DojoToolkit #:nodoc
>  module DojoHelperPlugin #:nodoc
>    module ApplicationController
>	def test
>		render( :inline => ''test'' )
>	end
>    end
>  end
>end
>
>I try to call any controller with the action test like /catalog/test/ 
>but that doesn''t work.
>
>  
>
Sorry, my mystake. Methods from ActionController::Base are excluded 
automatically. If you want an action added to each controller, you must 
add it to class ApplicationController.

-- stefan

skaes wrote:
> abou ihsaan wrote:
> 
>>>> 
>>>http://railsexpress.de/blog
>>and the dojotoolkit/dojotoolkit.rb file contains
>>
>>I try to call any controller with the action test like /catalog/test/ 
>>but that doesn''t work.
>>
>>  
>>
> Sorry, my mystake. Methods from ActionController::Base are excluded
> automatically. If you want an action added to each controller, you must
> add it to class ApplicationController.
> 
> -- stefan
well thats the problem, how do I add it when extending the plugin?

ActionController::Base::ApplicationController.send(:include, 
DojoToolkit::DojoHelperPlugin::DojoApplicationController) doesn''t work.
And when I add require_dependency
''app/controllers/application''

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

skaes wrote:
> abou ihsaan wrote:
> 
>>>> 
>>>http://railsexpress.de/blog
>>and the dojotoolkit/dojotoolkit.rb file contains
>>
>>I try to call any controller with the action test like /catalog/test/ 
>>but that doesn''t work.
>>
>>  
>>
> Sorry, my mystake. Methods from ActionController::Base are excluded
> automatically. If you want an action added to each controller, you must
> add it to class ApplicationController.
> 
> -- stefan
well thats the problem, how do I add it when extending the plugin?

ActionController::Base::ApplicationController.send(:include,
DojoToolkit::DojoHelperPlugin::DojoApplicationController) doesn''t work.
And when I add require_dependency
''app/controllers/application''

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

abou ihsaan wrote:
>skaes wrote:
>  
>
>>abou ihsaan wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>>http://railsexpress.de/blog
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>and the dojotoolkit/dojotoolkit.rb file contains
>>>
>>>I try to call any controller with the action test like
/catalog/test/
>>>but that doesn''t work.
>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>Sorry, my mystake. Methods from ActionController::Base are excluded
>>automatically. If you want an action added to each controller, you must
>>add it to class ApplicationController.
>>
>>-- stefan
>>    
>>
>
>well thats the problem, how do I add it when extending the plugin?
>
>ActionController::Base::ApplicationController.send(:include, 
>DojoToolkit::DojoHelperPlugin::DojoApplicationController) doesn''t
work.
>And when I add require_dependency
''app/controllers/application''
>
>  
>
Something seems to be missing from your mail.

Anyway, this can''t work, as the class is just ApplicationController,
not
ActionController::Base::ApplicationController. But even if you change 
this, it won''t work, due to way classes are reloaded.

Why do you need such a feature?

-- stefan

skaes wrote:
> abou ihsaan wrote:
> 
>>>>and the dojotoolkit/dojotoolkit.rb file contains
>>>add it to class ApplicationController.
>>
>>  
>>
> Something seems to be missing from your mail.
> 
> Anyway, this can''t work, as the class is just
ApplicationController, not
> ActionController::Base::ApplicationController. But even if you change
> this, it won''t work, due to way classes are reloaded.
> 
> Why do you need such a feature?
> 
> -- stefan
yeh sorry, some of part of my mail broke I think, but I want dojo to 
include a file with the generated javascript code (seperate 
javascript/html/css). The javascript code is genereated when the page is 
completely parsed (helpers like link_to_remote generate javascript that 
is added to flash[''dojo_file'']).

I output the javascript when a action is called. And I replace the <dojo 
input tag> (I output this tag with javascript_include_tag) with a 
filter. Both methods need to be called by assigned to all controllers...

a.t.m I have implemented it by adding the actions to application.rb, but 
I want to make the integration of dojo very easy.

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

If anyone knows a other sollution beside defining own methods in 
Application Controller I would be really happy. Because this kind of 
sucks : )


-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

On 6-dec-2005, at 20:09, abou ihsaan wrote:
> If anyone knows a other sollution beside defining own methods in
> Application Controller I would be really happy. Because this kind of
> sucks : )
Look how the Scaffolding module is built.


--
Julian ''Julik'' Tarkhanov
me at julik.nl

Well, I''m not terribly clear on what you''re trying to achieve.

If I hear you say "I have a bunch of canned actions that I want to  
ship as a library and I want all controllers to have those actions"  
then I''d say do this:

in my_canned_actions.rb

module MyCannedActions
   def action_one
     # stuff here
   end
   def action_two
     # stuff here
   end	
end

Then you instruct people who want to use your library to do this:

in application_controller.rb

require_dependency ''my_canned_actions''
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
   include MyCannedActions
end

If your my_canned_actions.rb file is shipped in a plugin then your  
init.rb file can take care of the require for them so it wouldn''t be  
needed.

The reason you can''t ''send'' the include to
ApplicationController in
your plugin''s init.rb file is because your ''send'' is
only evaluated
once (which is a *good* thing, trust me) while, at least in  
development mode, the controllers/application.rb file is evaluated  
for each request.

One final thing, and this is just my personal preference, but I would  
be uncomfortable using a plugin that defined controller actions for  
me.  Actions are entry points into my application so I want to have  
complete control over them for reasons of security and  
extensibility.  If that means some extra typing and/or integration  
work to use a 3rd party library then so be it.  It''s my  
responsibility as the application author.  (self.preach_mode = :off)

HTH,
Trevor


On 6-Dec-05, at 11:09 AM, abou ihsaan wrote:
> If anyone knows a other sollution beside defining own methods in
> Application Controller I would be really happy. Because this kind of
> sucks : )
>
>
> -- 
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails-1W37MKcQCpIf0INCOvqR/iCwEArCW2h5@public.gmane.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
Trevor Squires
http://somethinglearned.com

Check out engines @ http://rails-engines.rubyforget.org .
It allows you to override any MVC class/action from a plugin. Great
stuff.

Luke Amdor

On Tue, Dec 06, 2005 at 03:49:22PM +0100, abou ihsaan
wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am trying to create a plugin to implement Dojo (instead of prototype 
> enc). For this to work I need to define a action in the 
> ApplicationController from the plugin (I don''t want to mess with
the
> applicationController file). And I want to add a filter. So is there a 
> way to extend it?
> 
> we I try to add a method to module ActionController rails can''t
find the
> action. When I add a method to class ActionController::Base, rails 
> requires a template (but I want to render a inline string without 
> template).
> 
> I don''t understand what I am doing wrong here....
> 
> -- 
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails-1W37MKcQCpIf0INCOvqR/iCwEArCW2h5@public.gmane.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
> 
-- 
Luke Amdor
luke-Hk3lrmVzaNfBeN7rVTv1SdHuzzzSOjJt@public.gmane.org

/usr/bin/fortune |

"I''ve seen, I SAY, I''ve seen better heads on a mug of
beer"
		-- Senator Claghorn

Jup, really great, I use it for a project a.t.m. but it doesn''t serve 
the purpose of making dojo available easily, but I have aborted the 
project. Its just to much work...

luke wrote:
> Check out engines @ http://rails-engines.rubyforget.org .
> It allows you to override any MVC class/action from a plugin. Great
> stuff.
> 
> Luke Amdor
> 
> On Tue, Dec 06, 2005 at 03:49:22PM +0100, abou ihsaan wrote:
>> requires a template (but I want to render a inline string without 
>> 
> --
> Luke Amdor
> luke-Hk3lrmVzaNfBeN7rVTv1SdHuzzzSOjJt@public.gmane.org
> 
> /usr/bin/fortune |
> 
> "I''ve seen, I SAY, I''ve seen better heads on a mug
of beer"
> 		-- Senator Claghorn

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.