InferredRoutes plugin

for Rails 2.0
==============

DESCRIPTION

This plugin lets you do shorter versions of named nested RESTful
routes.  I've written it because I don't like to have to inline
the objects from which the route elements need to be gleaned, if
those objects can be inferred from ONE object.  

For example: given a nest of routes:

  map.resources :schools do |s|
    s.resources :departments do |d|
      d.resources :teachers
    end
  end

I don't like to have to specify all of the components of the nest,
like this:

  teacher_url(@school,@department,@teacher)

I would rather just do:

  teacher_url(@teacher)

and have the nest be inferred, as if I'd written:

  teacher_url(@teacher.department.school, @teacher.department, @teacher)

Similarly, I'd like a plural route:

  teachers_url(@department)

to be interpreted as:

  teachers_url(@department.school, @department)

I'd even like to "fall off the cliff" and specify a route using
something that isn't technically part of it:

  teachers_url(@teacher)

expanding to:

  teachers_url(@teacher.department.school, @teacher.department)

There's no teacher in the route, but this lets me generate, say, a URL
for creating a new teacher in the same department as a known teacher.

(The variables don't have to be instance variables; that's just for
consistency in the examples.)


USAGE

SINGULAR:

  a_url(z,y,x,...c,b,a)

becomes:

  a_url(a)

and z,y,x...c,b will be inferred.  The nest has to match the object
associations; that is, all of these must be present:

  a.b      == some_b
  some_b.c == some_c
  ...
  some_y.z == some_z 


PLURAL:

  as_url(z,y,x,...b)

becomes:

  as_url(b)

You can also use an 'a':

  as_url(a)

and the b-object will be gleaned from the a.  The cascade of object
associations has to work all the way through the list.  


LIMITATIONS

The plugin doesn't handle cases where a routing segment might not have
the same name as an association; it just dumbly walks through the segments
and calls the same-named methods on the objects as it goes. 


TESTING

See test/inferred_routes_test.rb. It uses an sqlite3 database and contains
everything it needs to create the database, create some objects, and test
some routes. 


BUGS

I don't know of any, but there may well be some. Please report any bugs or
improvements to me.  Thanks.


AUTHOR

inferred_routes is by David A. Black, Director of Ruby Power and
Light, LLC.  dblack@rubypal.com, http://www.rubypal.com


VERSION

This is inferred_routes version 0.2.0, April 2008. 


COPYRIGHT AND WARRANTY

See file "MIT-LICENSE"