#Valid Route

Purpose

valid_route ensures that your routes that are dynamically generated do not conflict.

Requirements

• rails >= 4.0.0.beta1
• valid_route expects that your model's records can be found by passing the results of Model.to_param into Model.find() and Model.exists?()
  • You can implement the methods yourself (see below) or use a gem such as friendly_id to accomplish this for you.

Usage

Let's assume you want valid a Page model with a :permalink property that dynamically determines what URL the page is accessible at.

Gemfile:

gem 'valid_route'

page.rb:

class Page < ActiveRecord::Base
    # rails g scaffold Page name:string permalink:string content:text

    validates :permalink, :route => true

    # The code below is not necessary if you're using a gem such as friendly_id to accomplish this for you.
    validates_format_of :permalink, :without => /^\d/, :multiline => true
    
    def self.find(input)
        input.to_i == 0 ? find_by_permalink(input) : super(input)
    end

    def self.exists?(input)
        input.to_i == 0 ? super(permalink: input) : super(input)
    end

    def to_param  # overridden
        self.permalink
    end
end

That's it! Your routes are now protected against conflicts for all dynamic routes. Let's look at an example:

routes.rb:

MyGreatApp::Application.routes.draw do
  resources :users

  resources :pages

  root :to => 'pages#show', :id => 'home'

  match 'home' => redirect("/"), :via => :get

  resources :pages, :only => [:show], :path => "/", :as => :page_permalink

end

You'll automatically be protected from overwriting routes already defined in routes.rb:

p = Page.new
p.permalink = "about"
p.valid? # => true

Resourceful routes taken:

p.permalink = "pages"
p.valid? # => false

p.permalink = "users"
p.valid? # => false

Other records for the Page model that have already been taken:

Page.exists?("home") # => false
p.permalink = "home"
p.valid? # => true

p.save # TODO: WHAT DOES THIS ACTUALLY RETURN?

p = Page.new

Page.exists?("home") # => true
p.permalink = "home"
p.valid? # => false

You can also check across multiple models:

app/constraints/page_constraint.rb:

# http://robotslacker.com/2012/01/rails-3-routes-configuration-dynamic-segments-constraints-and-scope/
class PageConstraint
    def initialize
    end

    def matches?(request)
        Page.exists?(request.path_parameters[:id])
    end
end

user.rb:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
    # rails g scaffold User username:string password:string first_name:string

    validates :username, :route => true

    validates_format_of :username, :without => /^\d/, :multiline => true

    def self.find(input)
        input.to_i == 0 ? find_by_username(input) : super(input)
    end

    def self.exists?(input)
        input.to_i == 0 ? super(username: input) : super(input)
    end

    def to_param
        self.username
    end
end

routes.rb:

Dummy::Application.routes.draw do
  resources :users

  resources :pages

  root :to => 'pages#show', :id => 'home'

  match 'contact_us' => 'pages#show', :id => 'contact', :via => :get

  match 'home' => redirect("/"), :via => :get

  resources :pages, :only => [:show], :path => "/", :as => :page_permalink, :constraints => PageConstraint.new

  resources :users, :only => [:show], :path => "/", :as => :user_profile

end

Let's take a look:

p = Page.new

Page.exists?("home") # => false
p.permalink = "home"
p.valid? # => true
p.save

p = Page.new

Page.exists?("about") # => false
p.permalink = "about"
p.valid? # => true
p.save

u = User.new
u.username = "coolperson"
u.valid? # => true
u.save

u = User.new
u.username = "home"
u.valid? # => false

u.username = "about"
u.valid? # => false

u.username = "pages"
u.valid? # => false

p = Page.new
p.permalink = "coolperson"
p.valid? # => false

Reserving Additional Routes

You can also reserve additional routes to prevent them from being used in a particular model:

page.rb:

class Page < ActiveRecord::Base
    # rails g scaffold Page name:string permalink:string content:text

    validates :permalink, :route => {reserved_routes: ["reserved", "fake_page"]}

    # ...
end

p = Page.new
p.permalink = "fake_page"
p.valid? # => false

Unreserving Routes

Conversely, if you want to avoid checking certain routes for validity, you can do so as well:

page.rb:

class Page < ActiveRecord::Base
    # rails g scaffold Page name:string permalink:string content:text

    validates :permalink, :route => {reserved_routes: ["reserved", "fake_page"], unreserved_routes: ["users"]}

    # ...
end

p = Page.new
p.permalink = "users"
p.valid? # => true

Credits

• vince.montalbano@gmail.com

Note on Patches/Pull Requests

• Fork the project.

• Make your feature addition or bug fix.

• Add tests for it. This is important so I don't break it in a future version unintentionally.

• Commit, do not mess with rakefile, version, or history. (if you want to have your own version, that is fine but bump version in a commit by itself I can ignore when I pull)

• Send me a pull request. Bonus points for topic branches.

Copyright

Copyright © 2013 Vince Montalbano. See LICENSE for details