Does rails have a previous_path/url ?

Question

If not, is there a gem I can install that lets me do something like:

<%=h link_to "Back", previous_path %>

???

Answer 1

Could you use the built in :back facility?

link_to "Back", :back

This will link to the referring page, or to the browser's 'back' action. See the docs.

Answer 2

:back works remarkably well for cancels and back buttons.

For redirecting them after a submission I needed to set a session variable.

I do something like this for my feedback form (which can be accessed from any page):

In my feedback controller

def new
  session[:referrer] = request.env["HTTP_REFERER"]
end

def create
  # blah blah, create actions
  redirect_to session[:referrer]
end

Can you do that with back?

/ JP