Question

In my application_controller I’ve added:

def instantiate_controller_and_action_names
          @current_action = action_name
          @current_controller = controller_name
      end

so that I show/hide certain fields in my views depending on the current action. For example, when adding a new user, I want the ability to show a password field to be filled out, but when editing a user, I don’t want the password field to display.

The problem I’m having is that @current_action only returns a value of ‘new’ when creating a new record, but isn’t returning a value when I’m editing a record (e.x.- http://localhost:3000/users/6/edit), or if I use the inverse and check if the @current_action != ‘new’…in both cases my field is still being displayed.

<%if @current_action != 'new'%>
   <tr><td>AAAAAAA</td></tr>
   <%else%>   
   <tr>
    <th class="">Password</th> 
    <th class="">Password Confirmation</th> 
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td><%= f.password_field :password %></td>
    <td><%= f.password_field :password_confirmation %></td> 
  </tr>
<%end%>

What is happening that ‘edit’ isn’t being returned and/or is there a better/best practice way to accomplish this? Thanks!

Answer 1

Rather than use the controller action, why do you not test your object? You can see if your object is a new record or not with this method

<% if f.object.new_record? %>
  Your code for new object
<% else %>
You code to edit object
  <%end%>