Question

I’ve created a helper method in ApplicationController that allows access to the most recent posts on all pages.

Is there any way I can cache this to stop my application from hitting the database so often?

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  protect_from_forgery
  helper_method :recent_posts

  def recent_posts
    @recent_posts = Post.published.recent
  end
end

I’ve tried cache_action :recent_posts but, from looking at the logs, the application still appears to hit the database.

Answer 1

It sounds like you are looking for fragment caching.

Try putting it in a partial and doing something like this:

<% cache do %>
  <% Posts.published.recent.each do |p| %>
    <%= link_to p.name, post_url(p) %>
  <% end %>
<% end %>