Question

I am working on my first Rails application and want to create an admin section.

Do I want to keep my views and controllers completely separate (that is, in separate directories) for the admin section and the rest of the site?

How can I organize my views/controllers in custom directories (how do I configure the routing)?

Answer 1

You could also keep the apps and controllers in their usual places and use Rails filters to control access, which is what I think you’re looking for here.

If you have the AWDWR Book handy, flip to Chap11 Task F Administrivia

• Basically define an authorize method in app\controllers\application.rb, which checks authorization, redirects to login page if not logged in et.all
• Mark controllers you want to restrict access to with before_filter s

.

class AdminController < ApplicationController    before_filter :authorize    #  ... the rest of the code end 

This will intercept all calls to actions defined in AdminController and force them to go via authorize