How can I escape HTML in a Rails 3.1 controller method? - ruby-on-rails-3

h / html_escape don’t work within a controller method.
I know, it’s for views. (Or was — haven’t done much Rails since v2.3). But I’m just building an eensy-weensy string and want to use this method in my controller.
So how can I escape HTML from within a controller method?

ERB::Util.html_escape
You can include ERB::Util in your controller to use these methods directly.

Related

ASP.NET MVC 4 changing contents of div without reloading

I'm new to web development and ASP.NET MVC 4
My question is: Is it possible to replace the content of div tag without needing to refresh the whole page?
If so, what is the best practice of it (best use of MVC 4)?
In order to refresh partial content of a page, you have to use AJAX. There are plenty of resources available online describing how to implement this in ASP.NET MVC. One of the possibilities is using partial views, on which you can find a good tutorial here. However, if you're comfortable with javascript/jQuery a partial view might be overkill if you're just looking to update one div.
Use javascript and make an ajax call. MVC has a JsonResult for the controller you can use if you like.
Not 100% sure but if I remember right, jQuery is bundled with MVC4. Correct me if I'm wrong.
// Javascript code
$('#mydiv').load('/Content/html/mySnippet.html');
Would replace the contents of a <div id="mydiv"></div> with the contents of the /Content/html/mySnippet.html.
You can also call an action and return a partial view if you wish to have dynamic content instead of a static html template.

Render layout without a controller

I'm writing a Rails 3.2 app with backbone, and since I only need rails to render one page, I have no need for a controller to back the index page.
Is there a way to render the layout (application.html.erb) without a controller? I imagine it would be a configuration in the routes.rb file?
My first thought was to move it to index.html in the /public directory, but I need to take advantage of erb for javascript includes and CSRF helpers, etc.
I get that you don't need the controller to do anything, but Rails is "opinionated" software; it expects a controller and a view, because that is the way it was designed, and trying to work around that is going to give you a lot of trouble.
Just
create an empty controller class in /app/controllers/main_controller.rb
create an empty view file /app/views/main/index.html.erb
set up a route like :root => 'main#index'
Easy peasy.

Rails render partial (with action code)

Is there a way to render a partial view with accompanying code in rails?
For instance: I want to be able to create a partial view which will show the top 5 foobars on my site. This partial needs accompanying code to retrieve some foobars from the database, rank them according to an algorithm, and then output the view with the top 5.
I want to be able to include this partial on any page I fancy, preferably just by using something like
<%= render :action => "top_five_foobars" %>
Is this doable? I'm used to asp.net mvc where you can create an action that runs some code and returns a partial, but it seems like in rails it returns simply the template...
If google get you here, you might be looking for cells
Cells are view components for Rails. They are mini-controllers with
their own MVC stack, can invoke logic and render views. They bring
back OOP to Rails' view layer and make writing reusable portlets for
your applications fun.
You need something like a shopping cart, which appears on almost
every page of your app.
You wouldn't use a partial and a helper, would you?
It might not be the cleanest way, but what I did is that I created a helper method in the Application Controller that retrieves the top 5 foobars. Then I call this method in the views. I also cached the part of the view that shows the results.

Understanding Rails helpers

I have two helper files. events_helper.rb and users_helper.rb.
Both of these helper files have a method called foobar. In events controller, index view. If I call foobar. Shouldn't it load the helper foobar thats in events_helper.rb?
Or is this not the way helpers work?
Seems like all helpers are available - so not sure which it would choose in your case, ideally the events controller one... and from your comment, it seems like its chosen the wrong one.
Could you give them distinct names?
Why are all Rails helpers available to all views, all the time? Is there a way to disable this?

Rails : Can I use forms from the public/index.html file?

Am currently using Rails 3.0 to develop my app.
How to handle a form in the public/index.html file which I'm planning to use as my Home page.
Usually a view's action buttons gets paired with the corresponding method of its controller.
But how to handle this in case the index file in public directory?
This is possible, so long as the form's action attribute is pointing at an action of a Rails controller. However, it is not the norm in Rails to use a static HTML page to capture data. The norm is to use the MVC architecture of Rails.
I have to ask: Have you read the documentation provided on the Ruby on Rails website? Check out http://edgeguides.rubyonrails.org and read the Getting Started section.
Now, I think you might be using public/index.html because you don't know how to use a controller to serve the root of your website. Here's a quick example of how to use a controller instead of public/index.html:
Create a controller (i.e., home via rails g controller Home index)
Modify routes.rb and add root :to=>"home#index"
Delete public/index.html
The above is actually in the Edge Guides, Getting Stated section. So again, I strongly recommend you read the documentation. It will honestly save you a lot of trouble.