module ActionController # The Rails framework provides a large number of helpers for working with +assets+, +dates+, +forms+, # +numbers+ and model objects, to name a few. These helpers are available to all templates # by default. # # In addition to using the standard template helpers provided in the Rails framework, creating custom helpers to # extract complicated logic or reusable functionality is strongly encouraged. By default, the controller will # include a helper whose name matches that of the controller, e.g., MyController will automatically # include MyHelper. # # Additional helpers can be specified using the +helper+ class method in ActionController::Base or any # controller which inherits from it. # # ==== Examples # The +to_s+ method from the Time class can be wrapped in a helper method to display a custom message if # the Time object is blank: # # module FormattedTimeHelper # def format_time(time, format=:long, blank_message=" ") # time.blank? ? blank_message : time.to_s(format) # end # end # # FormattedTimeHelper can now be included in a controller, using the +helper+ class method: # # class EventsController < ActionController::Base # helper FormattedTimeHelper # def index # @events = Event.find(:all) # end # end # # Then, in any view rendered by EventController, the format_time method can be called: # # <% @events.each do |event| -%> #

# <% format_time(event.time, :short, "N/A") %> | <%= event.name %> #

# <% end -%> # # Finally, assuming we have two event instances, one which has a time and one which does not, # the output might look like this: # # 23 Aug 11:30 | Carolina Railhawks Soccer Match # N/A | Carolina Railhaws Training Workshop # module Helpers extend ActiveSupport::Concern include AbstractController::Helpers included do # Set the default directory for helpers extlib_inheritable_accessor(:helpers_dir) do defined?(Rails.root) ? "#{Rails.root}/app/helpers" : "app/helpers" end end module ClassMethods def inherited(klass) klass.class_eval { default_helper_module! unless name.blank? } super end # Declares helper accessors for controller attributes. For example, the # following adds new +name+ and name= instance methods to a # controller and makes them available to the view: # helper_attr :name # attr_accessor :name # # ==== Parameters # *attrs:: Names of attributes to be converted # into helpers. def helper_attr(*attrs) attrs.flatten.each { |attr| helper_method(attr, "#{attr}=") } end # Provides a proxy to access helpers methods from outside the view. def helpers @helper_proxy ||= ActionView::Base.new.extend(_helpers) end private # Overwrite _modules_for_helpers to accept :all as argument, which loads # all helpers in helpers_dir. # # ==== Parameters # args:: A list of helpers # # ==== Returns # Array[Module]:: A normalized list of modules for the list of # helpers provided. def _modules_for_helpers(args) args += all_application_helpers if args.delete(:all) super(args) end def default_helper_module! module_name = name.sub(/Controller$/, '') module_path = module_name.underscore helper module_path rescue MissingSourceFile => e raise e unless e.is_missing? "#{module_path}_helper" rescue NameError => e raise e unless e.missing_name? "#{module_name}Helper" end # Extract helper names from files in app/helpers/**/*.rb def all_application_helpers extract = /^#{Regexp.quote(helpers_dir)}\/?(.*)_helper.rb$/ Dir["#{helpers_dir}/**/*_helper.rb"].map { |file| file.sub extract, '\1' } end end end end