lib/action_controller/metal/helpers.rb
require 'active_support/core_ext/array/wrap' require 'active_support/core_ext/class/attribute' 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., <tt>MyController</tt> will automatically # include <tt>MyHelper</tt>. # # Additional helpers can be specified using the +helper+ class method in <tt>ActionController::Base</tt> 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 <tt>EventController</tt>, the <tt>format_time</tt> method can be called: # # <% @events.each do |event| -%> # <p> # <%= format_time(event.time, :short, "N/A") %> | <%= event.name %> # </p> # <% 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 config_accessor :helpers_path self.helpers_path ||= [] end module ClassMethods def helpers_dir ActiveSupport::Deprecation.warn "helpers_dir is deprecated, use helpers_path instead", caller self.helpers_path end def helpers_dir=(value) ActiveSupport::Deprecation.warn "helpers_dir= is deprecated, use helpers_path= instead", caller self.helpers_path = Array.wrap(value) end # Declares helper accessors for controller attributes. For example, the # following adds new +name+ and <tt>name=</tt> instance methods to a # controller and makes them available to the view: # helper_attr :name # attr_accessor :name # # ==== Parameters # *attrs<Array[String, Symbol]>:: 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<Array[String, Symbol, Module, all]>:: 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 # Extract helper names from files in app/helpers/**/*_helper.rb def all_application_helpers helpers = [] Array.wrap(helpers_path).each do |path| extract = /^#{Regexp.quote(path.to_s)}\/?(.*)_helper.rb$/ helpers += Dir["#{path}/**/*_helper.rb"].map { |file| file.sub(extract, '\1') } end helpers.sort! helpers.uniq! helpers end end end end