Hey Justin,
I'll recommend that every data used to load drop down lists on the
views should be loaded on the views, that avoids repetition on the
controllers. For example a list of post categories you can load it
like this:
<%= collection_select(:post, :post_category_id,
PostCategory.find(:all), :id, :name, {}) %>
Hope it helps,
Elías
On Nov 8, 12:30 pm, Justin Holzer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I have some questions regarding how to avoid having to duplicate code
> in the controller between certain actions such as "new", "create",
> "edit", "update", etc.
>
> Currently, my "new" and "update" actions both load a couple
> collections of reference data used to populate drop-down/select
> controls in the view. To avoid duplicating the same code in both
> actions, I am defining a before_filter:
>
> [code]
> class MyController
> before_filter :find_states, :only => [:new, :edit]
> before_filter :find_categories, :only => [:new, :edit]
>
> ... # action definitions
>
> private
>
> def find_states
> @states = State.find(:all, :order => "name")
> end
>
> def find_categories
> @categories = Category.find(:all, :order => "name")
> end
> end
> [/code]
>
> So this is all well and good, the new and edit actions are just fine.
>
> However, my issue is really with the "create" and "update" actions
> which are responsible for actually updating the DB. In the case where
> the save or update operations fail, these methods will try to render
> the "new" or "edit" views. In this case, I need to make sure the
> reference data that is required is populated.
>
> I see several solutions to this problem, but none of them particularly
> strike me as great solutions, or seem particularly DRY. So I guess I'm
> just looking for something a little better/cleaner/DRYer, however you
> want to put it.
>
> Anyhow, my current ideas for solutions, none of which I really like,
> are as follows:
> 1. In the "create" and "update" actions, call the filter methods
> prior to rendering the new/edit views (don't like this, since if
> additional reference data is added later, I will have to add/remove
> more method calls)
>
> 2. Add additional helper methods that set all of the reference data
> for a particular action (i.e. find_ref_data_for_new) (this is better
> than option 1, but would still potentially have to modify code in
> multiple locations)
>
> 3. Add "create" and "update" to the list of actions included in the
> before_filter (this would work, but it just doesn't make sense, since
> "create" and "update" are really DB related actions, and only display
> data when some DB operation, or validation, fails)
>
> Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
> - Justin
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