Method Common to Several Actions

Rails
1

If one wanted to write a method to be used by several different
actions, where would that method be placed? Thanks for any input.

     ... doug
2

you can put it in application.rb

depending on what the method does, you may instead want to put it in a
library, or in a model.

3

you can put it in application.rb

depending on what the method does, you may instead want to put it in a
library, or in a model.

Good suggestions. The thing about application.rb is that I’m thinking
that it would be nice if I reserved that for methods that applied to
more than one controller. Probably the same philosophy would apply to
a library although I could make separate libraries for each controller
for which I was providing some sort of special method. That would
seem like a good solution. Placing it in a model would also seem like
a really good choice. Frankly, I’ve never understood how one knows
exactly what should go into a model. I know that (for whatever
reason) I always use a model when I’m connecting to a database or
using Action Mailer. Your suggestion of using the model in this case
strikes me as a very good one. I just wish I understood exactly WHY
it’s a good idea. Thanks for the input.

      ... doug
4

If one wanted to write a method to be used by several different
actions, where would that method be placed?

What is the method related to?

  1. If it is related to the dispatching/redirection of the actions
    within a specific controller (rights, authentication, etc), you could
    use a private method on that controller class.
  2. If it is related to the view, how a link should show up/or not, or
    how a section of the view will be rendered, then you use the helper
    class for that controller.
  3. If it has to do with the business logic surrounding the model
    related to the action, then add the method to the model class.

My 0.02 anyway.