Ok, so, I have a method that I need to use in several models and two
controllers. I don't want to duplicate code, and initially, rail's
concept of a helper seemed like a good fit, but it looks like maybe it
only works with controllers, so maybe not. I'm a pretty much a nuby,
but I think maybe I want to do a mixin? If so, where would the module
with my method go within the rails application folder structure? And
how do I do a mixin?
--
Bob Aman
A module’s methods can be added to a class using SomeClass.extend. For example
What if I have both class and instance methods in my module?
–
Bob Aman
I have run into the same problem. I'll give you two ways (that I can think of) to implement this. There may be better ways, but I used the first option.
OPTION #1
Create a new model.
app/models/common_model.rb
class CommonModel < ActiveRecord::Base
# class method you want to share
def self.some_method
# do something
end
# instance method you want to share
def some_other_method
# do something
end
end
Then you can have all of your other models inherit from CommonModel
app/models/existing_model.rb
require_dependency 'common_model'
class ExistingModel < CommonModel
# model specific code goes here
end
OPTION #2
Another alternative would be to use mixins as you suggested, possibly like this.
app/models/common_methods.rb
module CommonMethods
def some_method
end
end
app/models/existing_model.rb
require_dependency 'common_methods'
class ExistingModel < ActiveRecord::Base
# mixin the module to get instance methods
include CommonMethods
end
Either of these implementations would make the common methods accessible to your models, and therefore accessible to any controllers that can access those models.
Hope this helps,
Pete
Bob Aman wrote:
Ok, so, I have a method that I need to use in several models and two
controllers. I don't want to duplicate code, and initially, rail's
concept of a helper seemed like a good fit, but it looks like maybe it
only works with controllers, so maybe not. I'm a pretty much a nuby,
but I think maybe I want to do a mixin? If so, where would the module
with my method go within the rails application folder structure? And
how do I do a mixin?