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Max Williams

2010-Jan-26 15:18 UTC

Cleanest way to give the body tag an id?

I''m implementing a design where on every page the body has a different
id, which sets some of the styling rules.  There''s only a couple of
distinct layouts which get re-used on every page.  I can think of a few
different ways to set the body id but i''m not super-happy about any of
them and thought i''d see what you guys think.

approach 1) use an instance var from the controller

#controller - in each action
@body_id = "createQuiz"

#layout
<body id="<%= @body_id %>">

I''m not keen on this as it seems like bad seperation of concerns - to
have something that purely relates to styling defined in the controller.
Also, it pollutes my controller actions - i use the resource_this plugin
which dynamically generates the standard restful controller actions
which i tend to try to stick as closely to as possible.  With
resource_this you don''t even define the action unless you want it to
deviate from the norm.    So, i''d need to start defining all my actions
just so i could stick this @body_id definition in there.  urggh.

approach 2) set in the controller in a before_filter

#controller class
before_filter :set_body_id

protected
def set_body_id
  ids = {"edit" => "createQuiz",
         "show" => "viewQuiz",
          etc}
  @body_id = ids[action_name]
end

approach 3) yield in the layout

#layout
<body id="<%= yield :body_id %>">

#view
<% content_for :body_id do %>
createQuiz
<% end %>

or something similar.  This is good as everything''s now on the actual
view page in question but it seems like an ugly, hacky and error prone
solution.

Any thoughts?
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Marnen Laibow-Koser

2010-Jan-26 16:09 UTC

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Re: Cleanest way to give the body tag an id?

Max Williams wrote:> I''m implementing a design where on every page the body has a
different
> id, which sets some of the styling rules.  
Don''t ever do that.  If you need a special stylesheet for a particular 
page, then include a special stylesheet
>. There''s only a couple of
> distinct layouts which get re-used on every page.  
Then use an application-wide CSS file and a page-specific one.  The body 
tag shouldn''t have an ID attribute.

Best,
--
Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
marnen-sbuyVjPbboAdnm+yROfE0A@public.gmane.org
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Seirie

2010-Jan-26 16:28 UTC

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Re: Cleanest way to give the body tag an id?

While I completely agree with Marnen, I feel that still leaves you
with almost the same issue, when and how to call in the needed
stylesheet. Here is my input:

Define a function that will determine which file to include in the
helper file for the class in question (app/helpers/xxx_helper.rb). It
would look something like this:

  def custom_css_include
    css_file = case controller.action_name
      when ''edit'': ''createQuiz.css''
      when ''show'': ''viewQuiz.css''
    end
    "#{story_type}"
  end

and then in your view (in the <head>):

  <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"
src="file/path/<%custom_css_include %>" />

you may even be able to shorten that by still being able to use the
rails stylesheet_link_tag. Not sure, I haven''t tested it.

On Jan 26, 11:09 am, Marnen Laibow-Koser
<li...-fsXkhYbjdPsEEoCn2XhGlw@public.gmane.org>
wrote:> Max Williams wrote:
> > I''m implementing a design where on every page the body has a
different
> > id, which sets some of the styling rules.  
>
> Don''t ever do that.  If you need a special stylesheet for a
particular
> page, then include a special stylesheet
>
> >. There''s only a couple of
> > distinct layouts which get re-used on every page.  
>
> Then use an application-wide CSS file and a page-specific one.  The body
> tag shouldn''t have an ID attribute.
>
> Best,
> --
> Marnen Laibow-Koserhttp://www.marnen.org
> mar...-sbuyVjPbboAdnm+yROfE0A@public.gmane.org
> --
> Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.
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Seirie

2010-Jan-26 16:31 UTC

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Re: Cleanest way to give the body tag an id?

oops, that story_type there should be css_file. I copied it out of one
of my projects.

On Jan 26, 11:28 am, Seirie
<sei...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:> While I completely agree with Marnen, I feel that still leaves you
> with almost the same issue, when and how to call in the needed
> stylesheet. Here is my input:
>
> Define a function that will determine which file to include in the
> helper file for the class in question (app/helpers/xxx_helper.rb). It
> would look something like this:
>
>   def custom_css_include
>     css_file = case controller.action_name
>       when ''edit'': ''createQuiz.css''
>       when ''show'': ''viewQuiz.css''
>     end
>     "#{story_type}"
>   end
>
> and then in your view (in the <head>):
>
>   <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"
src="file/path/<%> custom_css_include %>" />
>
> you may even be able to shorten that by still being able to use the
> rails stylesheet_link_tag. Not sure, I haven''t tested it.
>
> On Jan 26, 11:09 am, Marnen Laibow-Koser
<li...-fsXkhYbjdPsEEoCn2XhGlw@public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
> > Max Williams wrote:
> > > I''m implementing a design where on every page the body
has a different
> > > id, which sets some of the styling rules.  
>
> > Don''t ever do that.  If you need a special stylesheet for a
particular
> > page, then include a special stylesheet
>
> > >. There''s only a couple of
> > > distinct layouts which get re-used on every page.  
>
> > Then use an application-wide CSS file and a page-specific one.  The
body
> > tag shouldn''t have an ID attribute.
>
> > Best,
> > --
> > Marnen Laibow-Koserhttp://www.marnen.org
> > mar...-sbuyVjPbboAdnm+yROfE0A@public.gmane.org
> > --
> > Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.
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Max Williams

2010-Jan-26 16:50 UTC

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Re: Cleanest way to give the body tag an id?

Thanks guys.

I agree - i don''t like having an id on the body tag - but for the sake 
of argument let''s say that i''m unable to do anything about
this and have
to work with the styling rules i''ve been given (which are all in a 
single stylesheet btw).  This isn''t necessarily true but i
don''t want to
make an issue out of it right now.

As i said i have a single stylesheet, so deciding which stylesheet to 
include isn''t the issue. If you were forced to set the id of the body 
(for the sake of argument), how would you do it?

thanks a lot, max
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Marnen Laibow-Koser

2010-Jan-26 16:52 UTC

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Re: Cleanest way to give the body tag an id?

Max Williams wrote:> Thanks guys.
> 
> I agree - i don''t like having an id on the body tag - but for the
sake
> of argument let''s say that i''m unable to do anything
about this and have
> to work with the styling rules i''ve been given (which are all in a
> single stylesheet btw).  This isn''t necessarily true but i
don''t want to
> make an issue out of it right now.
If it isn''t necessarily true, then I''m not going to act as if
it is.
> 
> As i said i have a single stylesheet, so deciding which stylesheet to 
> include isn''t the issue. If you were forced to set the id of the
body
> (for the sake of argument), how would you do it?
I wouldn''t.  I''d take the stylesheet I was given and split it
into
several stylesheets.
> 
> thanks a lot, max
Best,
--
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http://www.marnen.org
marnen-sbuyVjPbboAdnm+yROfE0A@public.gmane.org
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Peter Hickman

2010-Jan-26 16:53 UTC

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Re: Re: Cleanest way to give the body tag an id?

Is there are reason why the part you want to manipulate can''t be in a
div of
it''s own and that have an id?

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Max Williams

2010-Jan-26 16:57 UTC

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Re: Re: Cleanest way to give the body tag an id?

Peter Hickman wrote:> Is there are reason why the part you want to manipulate can''t be
in a
> div of
> it''s own and that have an id?
Hi Peter

I''m not sure what you mean, sorry.  Can you give an example that
relates
to my earlier examples?

thanks, max
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Marnen Laibow-Koser

2010-Jan-26 16:57 UTC

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Re: Re: Cleanest way to give the body tag an id?

Peter Hickman wrote:> Is there are reason why the part you want to manipulate can''t be
in a
> div of
> it''s own and that have an id?
That would work, but in this case it''s really no better.  The 
body-with-id pattern is an all-too-commonly seen kludge that results 
from not understanding how to organize CSS properly.  The solution is to 
organize the CSS properly!

Best,
--
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http://www.marnen.org
marnen-sbuyVjPbboAdnm+yROfE0A@public.gmane.org
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Alpha Blue

2010-Jan-26 16:58 UTC

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Re: Cleanest way to give the body tag an id?

I''ve already completed a themes / layout based system and it works very
well.

You should divide the stylesheets up and handle the different pages with 
page-specific layouts which include the specific stylesheet for that 
page.

Then you just render the layout in your controller for that page.

respond_to do |format|
  format.html { render :layout => @layout_name }
end



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Max Williams

2010-Jan-26 16:59 UTC

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Re: Re: Cleanest way to give the body tag an id?

Marnen - i totally get your point, i should stick my feet in the mud and 
refuse to go along with this crazy scheme.

However, let''s exercise our fantasy muscles and stick with the 
science-fiction scenario where i have to implement the design i''ve been
given, as is. :)
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Marnen Laibow-Koser

2010-Jan-26 17:02 UTC

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Re: Re: Cleanest way to give the body tag an id?

Max Williams wrote:> Marnen - i totally get your point, i should stick my feet in the mud and 
> refuse to go along with this crazy scheme.
Good.  Then stop trying to do otherwise.> 
> However, let''s exercise our fantasy muscles and stick with the 
> science-fiction scenario where i have to implement the design i''ve
been
> given, as is. :)
No.  It''s a bad idea, and you don''t have an actual use case
for it.
There is no reason for either of us to spend any more effort on it -- 
particularly since you already have several answers hidden in this 
thread (not all of them by me).

Best,
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Rails - Jan 2010 - Cleanest way to give the body tag an id?

Cleanest way to give the body tag an id?

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