Question

This is a rails newb question. I have a Contents model that has a content_type attribute. I have a few different content_types that I would like to filter, passing the type through the URL like so: /contents?content_type=blog

I understand I can get the contents based on that parameter like so:

@contents = Content.where({:content_type => params[:content_type]})

But when the URL parameter is not present, it’s not getting any contents. I would prefer that when a URL param isn’t being passed, that all contents (regardless of type) would be retrieved. How do I do that?

Answer 1

I would define a scope, like this (inside your model)

class Content

  scope :by_content_type, lambda { |contenttype|
    where({:content_type => contenttype}) unless contenttype.blank? 
  }

end

and then you use this in your controller as follows:

@contents = Content.by_content_type(params[:content_type])