Rails - Jul 2006 - Instance Variables within Controller during AJAX request

Hey all,
I''m trying to do something sorta simple...
There are three button ids: ''view'', ''build'',
''search''

My controller looks like this:

class RandomController < ApplicationController
  before_filter :login_required, :except => [:index, :initialize]
  def initialize
    @mode = ''view''
  end
  def index
    store_location
  end

  def update_mode
    render :update do |page|
      page[@mode].className = ''tab''
      page.alert(@mode)
      @mode = params[:id]
      page[@mode].className = ''tab active''
    end
  end
end

Now, I''m using link_to_remote for all of the buttons and the id of each
button when clicked is coming through fine. Each tab is correctly set to 
"tab active" when clicked on.  However...the problem is that it seems 
during an AJAX (remote) request it makes a NEW instance of the 
controller when it dispatches and thus the @mode = ''view''
every time in
spite of setting it during the update_mode function.  I tried putting a 
:before_filter in application.rb to set mode instead but that didn''t 
work either.  Is there any way to have the AJAX request see an updated 
@mode variable when it executes the update_mode code (that rhymes!)?

Thanks,
Russ

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

Russ wrote:
> Hey all,
> I''m trying to do something sorta simple...
> There are three button ids: ''view'',
''build'', ''search''
> 
> My controller looks like this:
> 
> class RandomController < ApplicationController
>   before_filter :login_required, :except => [:index, :initialize]
>   def initialize
>     @mode = ''view''
>   end
>   def index
>     store_location
>   end
> 
>   def update_mode
>     render :update do |page|
>       page[@mode].className = ''tab''
>       page.alert(@mode)
>       @mode = params[:id]
>       page[@mode].className = ''tab active''
>     end
>   end
> end
> 
> Now, I''m using link_to_remote for all of the buttons and the id of
each
> button when clicked is coming through fine. Each tab is correctly set to 
> "tab active" when clicked on.  However...the problem is that it
seems
> during an AJAX (remote) request it makes a NEW instance of the 
> controller when it dispatches and thus the @mode = ''view''
every time in
> spite of setting it during the update_mode function.  I tried putting a 
> :before_filter in application.rb to set mode instead but that
didn''t
> work either.  Is there any way to have the AJAX request see an updated 
> @mode variable when it executes the update_mode code (that rhymes!)?
> 
> Thanks,
> Russ

Russ, the way to share data between requests is to the session hash. 
Instead of @mode, try session[:mode]

@mode is only good for sharing data with the view during the processing 
of a single request.

Steven


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

Steven,
> Russ, the way to share data between requests is to the session hash. 
> Instead of @mode, try session[:mode]
> 
> @mode is only good for sharing data with the view during the processing 
> of a single request.
> 
> Steven
Yup, I ended up going this way shortly after my post.  Thanks for the 
help, I appreciate it! =)

Russ

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