Rails: generating URLs for actions in JSON response

Posted by Chris Butler on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Chris Butler
Published on 2011-01-17T16:50:27Z Indexed on 2011/01/17 16:53 UTC
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In a view I am generating an HTML canvas of figures based on model data in an app. In the view I am preloading JSON model data in the page like this (to avoid an initial request back):

<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"> 
  <% ActiveRecord::Base.include_root_in_json = false -%>
  var objects = <%= @objects.to_json(:include => :other_objects) %>;
  ...

Based on mouse (or touch) interaction I want to redirect to other parts of my app that are model specific (such as view, edit, delete, etc.).

Rather than hard code the URLs in my JavaScript I want to generate them from Rails (which means it always adapts the latest routes).

It seems like I have one of three options:

  1. Add an empty attr to the model that the controller fills in with the appropriate URL (we don't want to use routes in the model) before the JSON is generated
  2. Generate custom JSON where I add the different URLs manually
  3. Generate the URL as a template from Rails and replace the IDs in JavaScript as appropriate

I am starting to lean towards #1 for ease of implementation and maintainability.

Are there any other options that I am missing? Is #1 not the best?

Thanks!

Chris

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