Question

If I’m on a route alias such as /register and I have a form error and I render :new, is it possible for the path to be /register still?

At the moment it is rendering /new

I could do a redirect_to register_path but then I would lose the params?

It’s making the following test fail:

  Scenario: Try registering with a bad staff number
Given I am on the registration page
When I fill in "email" with "[e-mail]"
And I fill in "First Name" with "Kevin"
And I fill in "last name" with "Monk"
And I fill in "Employee Number" with "something barking123"
And I press "Register"
Then I should be on the registration page
And I should see "Your employee ID number looks incorrect."

Answer 1

An alternative would be to set up two “register” routes. One that accepts only GET requests (and goes to the :new action) and the other that accepts only POST requests (and goes to the create action, but renders the same template as for new).

This might look like:

map.get_register 'register', :controller => :registrations, 
                 :action => :new, :conditions => { :method => :get }
map.post_register 'register', :controller => :registrations, 
                 :action => :create, :conditions => { :method => :post }

Then in your controller:

def new
   @registration = Registration.new
   # renders the 'registrations/new' template
end
def create
   @registration = Registration.new(params[:registration])

   # render the 'registrations/new' template if we fail validation
   return render(:action => :new) unless @registration.save
   # otherwise renders the "create" template which is likely a thank-you
end

There seems to be more in a similar vein on this question:
Use custom route upon model validation failure