Can we use a custom action with inherited_resources in a DRY manner?

Question

We have a custom action (:register) for our Location model. The supporting code is very similar to a standard :update. Since inherited_resources provided a "template" for us, we copied the update code from actions.rb, changing 'update_attributes' to 'register' and the flash message reflects the different action. This doesn't feel very DRY. We would like to utilize :update instead. Any ideas?

class LocationsController < InheritedResources::Base
  def register(options={}, &block)
    #TODO: copied update from actions.rb.  I expect there is a better way.
    # All I changed was the flash message (to reflect the action)
    #  and the method call on the object (update_attributes -> register)
    object = resource

    if object.register
      set_flash_message!(:notice, '{{resource_name}} was successfully registered.')
      options[:location] ||= resource_url rescue nil
      respond_with_dual_blocks(object, options, true, block)
    else
      set_flash_message!(:error)
      respond_with_dual_blocks(object, options, false, block)
    end
  end

Answer 1

Inherited resources provides helper methods for CRUD actions which you can override on your controller. The one you look for is

  # Responsible for updating the resource in :update method. This allow you
  # to handle how the resource is gona be updated, let's say in a different
  # way then the usual :update_attributes:
  #
  #   def update_resource(object, attributes)
  #     object.reset_password!(attributes)
  #   end
  #
  def update_resource(object, attributes)
    object.update_attributes(attributes)
  end

You override it like this:

class LocationController < ApplicationController
  inherit_resources

  protected

  def update_resource(object, attributes)
    object.register(attributes)
  end