Question

The dilemma

I’m using a before_filter in my controller that restricts access to admins. However, I want to allow access public access to some methods based on request format. See the index method to understand what I’m talking about.

application_controller.rb

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base

  # ...

  def current_user
    @current_user ||= User.find_by_id(session[:user])
  end

  def superuser_required
    redirect_to login_path unless current_user.superuser?
  end


end

items_controller.rb

class ItemsController < ApplicationController

  before_filter :superuser_required
  layout 'superuser'

  def index
    @items = Item.all
    respond_to do |format|
      format.html
      format.js # I want public to have access to this
    end
  end

  def show
    @item = Item.find(params[:id])
    respond_to do |format|
      format.html
    end
  end

  def new
    @item = Item.new
    respond_to do |format|
      format.html
    end
  end

  # remaining controller methods
  # ...

end

Answer 1

Way easier than I expected

2 days later

class FoosController < ActiveRecord::Base

  # use :except to open `show` action for public js access
  before_filter :superuser_required, :except => 'index'

  # before_filter does not apply here
  def index
    @foos = Foo.all

    respond_to do |format|

      # restrict behavior on html access for superusers
      format.html do
        superuser_required  # functions same as before_filter
      end

      # unrestricted on js access for public but only shows foo.id and foo.name
      format.js do
        render :text => @foo.to_json(:only => [:id, :name])
      end

    end
  end

  # restricted to superuser per before_filter
  def new
    @foo = Foo.new
    respond_to do |format|
      format.html
    end
  end

  # restricted to superuser per before_filter
  def show
    @foo = Foo.find(params[:id])
    respond_to do |format|
      format.html
    end
  end

end

Either I totally missed something when I was learning about respond_to or my original question was completely incoherent. I just read it again, though, and it still seems like this only (and most) appropriate way to address my issue.

Surprisingly, I couldn’t really find any examples of this kind of behavior on the web either. Oh well. Now I know more about respond_to, right?